Beer's Law Overview

Overview

The purpose of this experiment is to investigate the interaction of light and matter, and to quantify the concentration of a chemical species in solution. The law that relates the amount of light absorbed by a solution to its concentration is called the Beer-Lambert Law, or simply Beer's Law.

Computer display of absorbance spectra from dye solutions.

Learning Objectives

Upon successful completion of this lesson, students will be able to:

Develop the correct laboratory technique of spectrophotometry.
Prepare standard solutions from a stock solution.
Quantify the concentration of an unknown compound based on Beer’s Law from a calibration curve.
Write a full report including the sections of introduction, procedure, results, and discussion.

Complete Before Lab

READ

Overview
Lab manual

WATCH

Concepts video(s)
Technical skills video(s)

SUBMIT

Pre-lab concepts quiz
Pre-lab technical skills quiz
Pre-lab notebook quiz and reflection

During Lab

IN LAB ACTIVITY

Students work in pairs.
Complete the lab notebook

Complete After Lab

SUBMIT

The lab notebook
The formal lab report
Post-lab quiz and reflection

LOOKING AHEAD

Next experiment