Lab Reports

[Hitman47]

I need help writing lab reports. I keep getting 35 out of 60 points on them. I don't know how to make it good

 

Abstract

Introduction

Procedure

Results

Conclusion

 

I keep messing up on them. I just don't know why. Can u guys explain to me how to do good ones and can u guys show me examples of good lab reports.

 

they are usually 3-6 pgs.

[Radical Edward]

could you post one of yours or something so we can advise you asto where you are going wrong?

[Hitman47]

kinda long well here it goes:

 

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Periodic Trends and Properties of Elements

 

Abstract

Periodic Trends were important in the experiment to classify the elements used and explain and predict their properties. In the result, Calcium came to be the most reactive through the reaction it gave when put in water and HCI. During the testing a human error was detected. One of our group members accidentally mixed calcium with magnesium, which occurred a modification to the theoretical values obtained.

 

Introduction:

The periodic table is the most recognized symbol of chemistry worldwide. It is a useful tool for scientists to classify the elements and explain and predict their properties. Similarities and differences among the elements show periodic trends, across rows and within columns of the periodic table. In the experiment the theory of periodic trends was adapted to predict the properties of compounds. How does this apply to me? You might be saying. Periodic trends and predictions of properties of elements help the world how to handle them. I don’t use elements in my life? Wrong. Every person in the world uses and works with elements that is why this experiment will test the properties of three elements: Magnesium, Calcium, and Aluminum. These elements are found in everyday products and people should know how to handle them when in difficult situations. Like for example, can one of these elements be disposed down the drain of a regular sink? No. Elements such as Magnesium, Calcium, and Aluminum should not be disposed down the drain of a regular sink. Properties of elements restrict us from that action; elements can be reactive and flammable, which can damage the sewage system of your home. You see, we need background information of these elements so that people can handle them correctly. Periodic trends and predictions of properties of elements is the main purpose of this lab to find out how to use elements correctly.

Procedure

The experiment deals specifically with three elements: Magnesium, Calcium, and Aluminum. Two small pieces of Calcium turnings and two magnesium ribbons of approximately one centimeter were obtained. A piece of Aluminum foil was obtained from a gum wrapper. A twenty-four well reaction plate was placed on top of a sheet of white paper. A pipit was used to add twenty drops of distilled water. These drops were dropped in the reaction plate, in the holes labeled A1 through A3. The water was tested in wells A1 through A3 with pieces of red litmus paper. The result was recorded as initiated color for “litmus test” in Data Table A. Forceps were used to add one piece of calcium to well A1 as well as Magnesium ribbon to well A2. Two centimeters of aluminum foil was torn and rolled into a loose ball, and was added to A3. Each well was observed and was recorded into observations in Data Table. The water was tested in wells A1 through A3 with litmus paper and the color changes were recorded. The pipit was used to add twenty droplets of 0.5 cm. Of HCI to wells C1 through C3 and the values were recorded to observations in Data Table A. Forceps were used to add one piece for calcium turnings to well C1 and one piece of magnesium ribbon to well C2. Two centimeters of aluminum foil was torn off and rolled into a loose ball and was added to well C3. The reactions were observed and recorded to Data Table A. A thermometer was used to measure the temperatures of wells C2 through C3 and the temperatures were recorded to Data Table A. The contents were then disposed and rinsed off. The twenty-four-reaction plate was placed on top of black paper. The pipit was used to add twenty drops of alkaline earth solutions. Magnesium Chloride was added to wells A1-C1. Calcium Chloride was added to wells A2-C2. Strontium Chloride was added to wells A3-C3, and Barium Chloride was added to wells A4-C4. The pipit was then used to add twenty drops of testing solutions to the following: Sodium Carbonate was added to wells A1-A5, Sodium Sulfate was added to wells B1-B5, and Potassium iodate was added to wells C3-C5. The reactions were observed and recorded to Data Table B. A solid was in well, it was recorded as PPT and no reaction was recorded as NR. The contents were disposed and reaction plates were cleaned in sink.

Results:

In Data Table A, two sections are represented as: Reaction with H2O and Reaction with HCI. In the reaction with H2O, Calcium moved and bubbled during the reaction and at the end Calcium dissolved, Magnesium turned black during the reaction, and Aluminum floated. Calcium was the only element that reacted in the litmus test, the color turned blue in the litmus test and Magnesium and Aluminum didn’t react during the litmus test.

In the reaction with HCI, Calcium and Magnesium just fussed during the reaction and Aluminum didn’t have a reaction. In Table B, Strontium Chloride was found to be the unknown, because of the same results of PPT in the chart.

Data Table A Activity of Metals

Calcium Magnesium Aluminum

Reaction w/H20 Observations: Litmus Test: Moves and bubbles then dissolves.Blue Turns blackNR FloatsNR

Reaction w/ HCI Observations: Temperature: Fusses32.3 C Fusses27.0 C NR23.1 C

Data Table B Solubility of Alkaline Earth Metals

MgCl2 CaCl2 SrCl2 BaCl2 SrCl2 (unknown)

 

Na2CO3

 

Na2SO4 *forget this area, its just a table

KlO3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusion:

Strontium Chloride was found to be the unknown. Periodic Trends as you’ve have read is an important technique to predict properties of elements. This experiment helped me not to presume all elements are handled the same way, but should take several cautions before using them. As in the beginning, elements should not be disposed in the drain, because of the dangerous properties and flammability that can damage the sewage system in your home. These types of cases and more tells me not to take any chemical for granted, because I don’t know what it is nor how it should be used. This experiment helped me strengthen my prediction and experimental skills by observing and recording and then compare carefully. A couple of things went wrong. First a bad beginning happened in the experiment, we accidentally mixed Magnesium and Calcium together in one of the wells and that gave a huge impact on error, because the reaction went wrong. Our group restarted it by cleaning out the twenty-four reaction well and we went through it more carefully for no mistakes to happen again. I had trouble using the pipit, in some moments I dropped more liquid than it should and that brought a difference in our observations. Overall I liked the idea of predicting properties, because it is a useful tool when using unknown chemicals.

 

[Glider]

First of all, if you are receiving poor grades, your teacher should be telling you exactly why, and how to improve them. If they don't, then they are not really teaching you anything. Nonetheless, here's a brief outline of report writing.

 

All scientific reports take the same format. These can be tailored to the needs of the individual report, but section by section, here's how they are generally done.

 

Title

This should provide the reader with some indication as to the nature of the study, but be as short and concise as possible. E.g. "The effects of pre-conscious processing on the perception of pain in healthy adults". This tells the reader what the study investigates, but avoids unnecesary words such as "An experiment to show...". That it is an experiment will be apparent to any qualified reader.

 

Abstract

This is usually written last. It is a precis of the entire report and should include the rationale, very brief methodology, main results and conclusions. Many journals limit the abstract to 150-200 words, so be very concise.

 

Introduction

The function of an introduction is to provide a theoretical framework, a context and a rationale for the study. These are closely related and overlap in many ways. The theoretical framework involves reviewing previous (relevant) work in the area in order to provide a background (context) for your study. Based on that previous work, you need to construct an argument showing how you think your study refutes/extends or in any way adds to knowledge in the area of interest. Done well this will provide the rationale (why the study was done).

 

The introduction should lead the reader along a logical and linear series of arguments to a logical conclusion, which will be your hypothesis(es). If this is done well, the reader should have some idea of your hypothesis before they reach the end of the intoduction. Nonetheless, your hypothesis(es) should be stated clearly at the end of the introduction.

 

Methods

The function of the methods section is to allow a reader (should they wish to) to accurately reproduce your experiment. The methods section usually contains a series of sub-sections according to the nature of the study. For example, Experimental Design, Participants, Materials, Procedure are common sub-sections.

 

Essentially, the methods section should provide all relevant information required to reproduce your experiment exactly, whilst avoiding unnecessary or irrelevant information.

 

Results

The function of the results section is to present your findings in a way that is clear and easy to understand. There are three general stages: First, you need to outline the form of the data (what the data are, e.g. reaction times in milliseconds, and how many samples, e.g. two from independent groups, or two from the same group measured twice and so-on) and any treatment you applied to them.

 

Second you need to present descriptive statistics. These can be tables or appropriate charts. Their function is to present the data in a way that is congruent with your hypothesis(es). E.g. say your experiment tested the effect of alcohol on reaction times, and your design was independent groups, where groups A was given a placebo, and group B was given alcohol, then you measured the reaction times of groups A & B. You have two sample of reaction times measured in millisecond from two independent groups. Your hypothesis may be that "Alcohol will increase reaction times". This suggests that you are comparing the mean reaction times of groups A & B. So, appropriate descriptives aould be a table of means and standard deviations, or a bar chart showing the mean reaction times (& SDs) of each group.

 

third, you need to present the results of any inferential tests you performed (if any). Where the table or bar chart may show the means to be different, you cannot infer anything from descritive statistics. These differences may be due to nois in the data (everybody has slightly different reaction times anyway). To test whether or not the difference is statistically significant, you perform an inferential test (which would be an independent t-test in this case). The results of the test determines your statement of results. An example of this may be: Analysis using an independent t-test showed that the reaction times for group B were significantly longer than reaction times for group A (t= -2.44, df = 38, p = 0.019).. That is all you need to say. The results section is usually the shortest, and most concise; you simply state the results here, you do not discuss them.

 

Discussion

the discussion is where you discuss your results in the context provided by your introduction. The first snentance/paragraph should be a straightforward restatement of your results in plain English (no statistics). You would then go on to discuss what the results mean in terms of the theoretical framework you created in your introduction. Also included in this section would be discussion of the implications of your results; what is the effect of you results on previous research in the area? Do they refute previous findings or extend them? If so, in what way? What has your experiment added to the field of study? and so-on. You would also add some reference to future directions in this research, i.e. in light of your experimental results, what would you consider a reasonable next step?

 

References

These are important. You will have cited previous work in your introduction, and probably again in your discussion. Wherever you cite previous work, you should create a reference section where you include the full references for all the articles you cited in the main body. The format of your reference section will depend on whether you use the Harvard method (Author - date) or the numeric method of citation.

 

Appendices

Any additional material not appropriate for inclusion in the man body is usually placed in the appendices. The appendices are not a bin for junking all your raw data, but should be used to include things of relevance that cannot be included in the main body. These might be things like the questionnaire you used to collect the data, or the original computer output of EEG scans or whatever; things the reader might like to examine that don't fit in any other part of the paper.

 

This (broadly) is what a research report is about. There are a few stylistic things to know also. By convention, lab reports and research papers are written in scientific prose (i.e. in third-party past-perfect tense), avoiding the use of personal pronouns (I, we, me and so-on). This means that the following example: I gave 20ml alcohol in solution to each of the participants. After 20 minutes, we asked them to take the reaction time test, and I measured their reaction times in milliseconds should read: Participants were given 20ml alcohol in solution. After 20 minutes, participants performed the reaction time test, and their reaction times were recorded in milliseconds).

 

Whereaver you refer to other work, you must cite the source. For example, the statement:

 

It has been shown that the medial (affective-motivational) division of the pain matrix has retained a degree of fuctional independence from the lateral (sensory-discriminative) division of the pain matrix.

 

immediately begs the question; shown by whom?

 

To avoid generating such questions (and also accusations of plagiarism), the above should read:

 

It has been shown that the medial (affective-motivational) division of the pain matrix has retained a degree of fuctional independence from the lateral (sensory-discriminative) division of the pain matrix (Ploner, Freund & Schnitzler. 1999).

 

Finally, you should consider your target readers when writing a report, to help you get the right level. In general, you should assume that you are writing for people who are at least as qualified as you, but not necessarily in your particular field of expertise. This means avoiding jargon specific to your field, but taking as a given a basic understanding of the discipline (be it chemistry, physics, psychology or whatever) and scientific methodology, and writing at a level that a qualified individual would understand.

 

I have attached a research report in *.pdf format. It is a simple enough paper, but it might help to give you an idea of the general 'feel' of a lab report. The best way to learn how they are done, is to read them. You don't have to understand the subject, or even have an interest in it, you can still get a feel for the layout, the use of language and the general style.

 

I hope this is of some use to you.

 

References

 

Ploner, M. Freund, H. J. and Schnitzler, A., (1999). Pain affect without pain sensation in a patient with a postcentral lesion. Pain. 81: 211-214.

[Hitman47]

Thanks man i think this will help me

 

 

I HATE SCIENCE :bs: