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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 2001  > June  >
In the Laboratory
Graphical Interface for the Study of Gas-Phase Reaction Kinetics: Cyclopentene Vapor Pyrolysis
Ronald E. Marcotte and Lenore D. Wilson
Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, TX 78363
Cover
June 2001
Vol. 78 No. 6
p. 799
Abstract
The undergraduate laboratory experiment on the pyrolysis of gaseous cyclopentene has been modernized to improve safety, speed, and precision and to better reflect the current practice of physical chemistry. It now utilizes virtual instrument techniques to create a graphical computer interface for the collection and display of experimental data. An electronic pressure gauge has replaced the mercury manometer formerly needed in proximity to the 500 °C pyrolysis oven. Students have much better real-time information available to them and no longer require multiple lab periods to get rate constants and acceptable Arrhenius parameters. The time saved on manual data collection is used to give the students a tour of the computer interfacing hardware and software and a hands-on introduction to gas-phase reagent preparation using a research-grade high-vacuum system. This includes loading the sample, degassing it by the freeze-pump-thaw technique, handling liquid nitrogen and working through the logic necessary for each reconfiguration of the diffusion pump section and the submanifolds.
Supplement
Notes for the instructor and detailed laboratory instructions for students are available.
*  Contents JCE2001p0799W.doc (Microsoft Word)
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*  Citation
 Marcotte, Ronald E.; Wilson, Lenore D. J. Chem. Educ. 2001 78 799.
*  Keywords
 Gases; Kinetics; Laboratory Computing / Interfacing; Laboratory Equipment / Apparatus; Laboratory Instruction; Physical Chemistry
*  History
 Created:
Last Updated:		 May 8, 2001
August 31, 2005
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