Forensic Science Project 2009
ECoS Faculty: Dan Sykes
ECoS Undergraduate Mentor: Cole MacDonald
The Making of a Fluorimeter
A newly graduated scientist with sights set towards either industry or
graduate school must possess a basic knowledge of chemical systems as
well as have an advanced exposure to the technology used to probe these
systems. Instruments are tools which chemists use to do chemistry and
measure chemical processes. Early and repeated exposure to chemical
instrumentation is the most direct and fundamental way of expressing
the intrinsic connections and cooperative nature of concepts and ideas
between the different chemistry courses and programs. By making tools
accessible to the students, they learn how to operate them and also
learn their capabilities and limitations.
Unfortunately, the ability of many programs and institutions to
maintain and improve the quality of their educational missions is
compromised because of the increasing costs to maintain
state-of-the-art instructional facilities and the shrinking nature of
funding sources. These barriers affect curricular programs at the high
school and college-levels. However, it is possible to provide rugged,
low-cost, low maintenance, low-power instruments capable of providing
accurate quantitative information for a fraction of the cost of
commercial instructional- and research-grade instrumentation. For
example, a "student-built" fluorimeter, cyclic voltammeter and
Karl-Fisher apparatus all cost approximately $75 to build whereas the
commercial versions cost between $10K-$50K. The advantages of the
commercial instruments are sensitivity and software ("bells and
whistles"). However, using the student-built instruments along with
appropriately designed instructional exercises with well-tested content
and user-friendly software designed for active, effective,
collaborative and joyful learning removes any advantage by the
commercial instruments.
For the SEECoS program, under the supervision of two faculty and two
undergraduate students from Penn State, the participants will build two
instruments each - a fluorimeter and a Karl-Fischer apparatus - and
design three instructional laboratory experiments for each instrument.
The fluorimeter, cyclic voltammeter and Karl-Fisher apparatus were
selected because of their applicability at all levels in the chemistry
curriculum and because students have successfully built versions of
these instruments in Chem 423 and 425 over the past six years.
Fluorescence spectroscopy is one of the most sensitive and fundamental
methods for probing the structure and dynamics of chemical systems.
Coulometric Karl Fischer titrations are performed more on a daily basis
than any other analytical technique. It is used to quantify the water
content in various substances including solvents, transformer oils,
pharmaceuticals, and food products.
Upon completion of the SEECoS program, the participants will donate the
instruments and experimental protocols to their high school
chemistry/science programs.