Difference between a university analytical chemistry course and first-year chemistry class?

[Genecks]

I'm reading through a couple analytical chemistry books. They look awfully similar to first-year chemistry books. I don't understand where the difference is. Supposedly, analytical chemistry can be like a third-year university course, but somehow the book material is the same as a first-year chemistry course. Is there something I'm not understanding here? Because it looks like nothing new is really learned.

[hypervalent_iodine]

I never took analytical chemistry courses at uni as they weren't on offer, but I think they usually cover information on error, accuracy, precision and specific information about different types of equipment and their associated measurements as well as general information about sample prep and experimental techniques. I don't seem to recall my first year general chemistry text going into any detail on those fronts, if they covered them at all.

[Ringer]

At my university, the main difference is in the expectations during lab. Your basic chemistry course will teach you the basic information about measurement, equipment, precision, etc. and the analytical chem lecture only goes into a little more detail. But what is expected in lab in regards to detailed notebook, percent yield, standard errors, etc goes above and beyond what most first year chem students believe possible.

[CharonY]

Good analytical chemistry classes are usually also more instrumental, especially if the include bioanalytical techniques. I.e. instead of basic chemistry it will be much more focused on how it can be exploited e.g. for differentiation of molecules.

[studiot]

All technical courses/education involve what I call the spiral approach.

 

That is because in order to study one areas you need results from another.

 

So any course will run through all areas picking out a (hopefully) coherent set of results, so that you encounter what you need around the time you need it.

 

The the spiral ramps up a notch as the course revisits each area in the light of the newly gained knowledge form other areas and so the process continues.

 

In the sixties, I did a heck of a lot of analytical chemistry in my first year of 'industrial chemistry'.