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ChNE 318L- Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Laboratory Syllabus

Lab Times and Days: 1:00pm- 3:50pm, TuTh Cent 1039

Instructor: Lab Supervisor:

Jamie R. Gomez

253 FEC

Phone: 277-2642

jrgomez@unm.edu

Geoff Courtin

277-1335 Office

249-8728 Cell

gcourtin@unm.edu

Objectives

Conduct chemical engineering experiments

Integrate chemical engineering theory and principles to examine data and understand results

Communicate by written and oral report the experimental purpose, method, data, results and

recommendations to a technical audience

Demonstrate individual and team effort in achieving course objectives

Major Course Topics

Vapor Liquid Equilibrium (VLE)

Description: Study and predict binary vapor-liquid equilibrium.

Heat of Combustion (HOC)

Description: Study enthalpy change associated with combustion of a compound in a bomb

calorimeter.

Rankine Cycle (RC)

Description: Study a model steam power plant in action.

Course Policies

1. The instructor and/or lab supervisor takes attendance each lab day with a sign-in-out sheet. The

instructor expects students to arrive early which will factor into the attendance grade. Excused

absences include illness, death in the family or other emergency beyond your control, religious

holy days, active military or jury duty and official university activities. Students in officially

campus recognized groups such as athletic teams will be accommodated by the instructor

accordingly. Vacations, student events, jobs, etc. can easily be planned around the lab schedule.

2. Pre-Lab day as specified in the lab schedule is an opportunity to gain technical knowledge about

your assigned experiment. It is highly recommended before pre-lab day to read the assigned

experiment and procedure. It is expected that on entering the lab at 1pm on pre-lab days, team

members will sign in and proceed to the assigned experiment area. Each team member will take

time to familiarize themselves with the experiment operations and direct questions to the instructor

or lab supervisor. Within the last hour of pre-lab day, each team member is expected to

demonstrate a working knowledge of the experiment to the instructor or lab supervisor. Oral

quizzes on operation and basic theory will be given at this time.

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3. Pre-Lab Reports are due by email to the instructor no later than 9:00 AM on the preceding Friday

for the Tuesday Section and no later than 9:00 AM on Monday for the Thursday Section). Pre-labs

must be approved before the experiment can be conducted.

4. Post-Lab Reports are due by email to the instructor no later than 1:00 PM within one week

following the day of conducting the experiment as specified in the laboratory schedule. Late

submissions will absolutely not be accepted.

5. Short and Full Reports are due no later than 1:00 PM on the assigned date as specified in the

laboratory schedule. A hardcopy of the report should be turned in to the instructor’s box in the

ChNE office and an electronic version of the report sent by email to the instructor. Late

submissions will absolutely not be accepted.

6. Oral Presentation Reports will be held in room CEC 1038A on specified dates as specified in the

lab schedule. These group presentations will be for a period of 20-minutes (15-minute oral

presentation and a 5-minute question-answer session). The instructor expects members of each

team to be punctual.

7. Plagiarism and/or falsifying results will not be tolerated and will lead to removal from class

with a failing grade F and possibly further disciplinary action. “Academic dishonesty is defined by

the UNM Code of Student Conduct (http://pathfinder.unm.edu/campus-policies/student-code-of-

conduct.html#studentcode) as including, but not limited to, dishonesty in quizzes, tests, or

assignments; claiming credit for work not done or done by others; hindering the academic work of

other students; misrepresenting academic or professional qualifications within or without the

University; and nondisclosure or misrepresentation in filling out applications or other University

records. Any instances of academic dishonesty will be taken very seriously and handled by

guidelines elaborated at the UNM Dean of Students web site (http://dos.unm.edu/student-

conduct/academic-integrityhonesty.html). This can range for partial or zero credit to failing the

class or worse. Note: cutting and pasting text or graphics from web sites, electronic books, etc.,

without appropriate credit or referencing is plagiarism, and a form of academic dishonesty that is

becoming increasingly common. Don’t do it! If you need guidance on appropriate referencing,

talk with the instructor.”

8. “THIS IS NOT YOUR TYPICAL CHEMISTRY LAB COURSE. You will not simply keep a

journal of your observations. That is science – this is engineering. In this course, you will have to

critically analyze data, perform complex analyses, and correlate theory with practice. This course

demands a good deal of your time and effort. However, as we only spend about 4 hours per month

in lab class, you have plenty of time outside of the classroom to complete your assignments. You

will certainly need to plan accordingly and use your time wisely. Students who are proactive and

do not procrastinate will find this class enjoyable and extremely valuable. This is your opportunity

to finally use all of the theory and math you have been suffering through in your other courses.

You will be able to see how those theories play out in the real world and learn to recognize why

real systems may deviate from theoretical ones. Success in these laboratory courses results in the

ability to work in teams, plan and execute efficient experiments, write scientific/engineering

reports, effectively communicate with an engineering group, and apply theory to real problems.

You will find that these are the primary skills employers will be looking for in new engineers.

Accordingly, these lab courses serve as excellent mileposts for your true ability as an engineer.”

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Course Grading

The final grade and total point accumulation for this course is as follows:

Final Grade Total Point Accumulation

A 540 -600 points

B 480-539 points

C 420-479 points

D 360-419 points

F below 360 points

The points awarded towards the final grade will be based on three pre-lab reports, three post-lab

reports, one short report, one full report and one oral presentation report as follows:

Assignment Who is Responsible? Point Weighting

Pre-Lab I Individual 25

Post-Lab I Individual 50

Short Report Individual 80

Pre-Lab II Individual 25

Post-Lab II Individual 50

Full Report Group 160

Pre-Lab III Individual 25

Post-Lab III Individual 50

Oral Presentation Report

Participation

Group

Individual

120

15

Total 600

Note: I, II, III refer to experiment titles, that is, either VLE, HOC or RC.

Refer to your team number in the laboratory schedule to view assigned

experiments.

Report Guidelines

Refer to your course section (ChNE 318L 002 or ChNE 318L 003) in UNM Learn for detailed

guidelines on pre-lab, post lab, short report, full report and oral presentation report.