Chem and Physics labs

[iwtban]

thanks, that's so helpful

[ovhs_soinc_nerd]

This is my first year doing the Chem. Lab and I am really excited. I am a sophomore this year but last year a senior competed for us so I am a tad worried but titration is always fun. We completed a long titration lab in November in my Organic class and I thought it was really neat. Hopefully, my skills are too poor for a race! Any suggestions?

[SuperBeast]

You dont need to study much for physics lab. The test is a joke. The main thing you need to have is a fan that can generate a heck of a lot of voltage

[Sheogorath]

It isn't really a race per say, I do believe that the time is a tie breaker.

[iwtban]

they ask for standard deviation, so how many times you would suggest to do the titration? thanks.

[Sheogorath]

It depends on how the test is setup. At our invintational we only had enough supplies and time for one titration, the rest was a test on acids and bases. I'm not quite sure how regionals will be run. Three sounds like a good number though, but that's just me spitballing.

[adam124218]

they ask for standard deviation, so how many times you would suggest to do the titration? thanks.

Our regional directors said that there will be supplies for three runs. That seems to be what the SO rule-writers have in mind--at least that would be my assumption.

[iwtban]

thanks for all the replies.
for anyone who has competed at invitationals this year, i want to ask if the test was hard and how did the judges grade the titration race?

[dickyjones]

Our test was actually pretty easy. Most of the stuff you would have learned in an AP chem class..just the titration as the lab with a bunch of mostly calculation based questions. Our coach actually ran the event at invites, and I know that only two teams of 14 got close to the actual concentration (we were closest with .003 off...). He took poetic license with the scoring of it, though. He gave a sheet on which you had to show all work/calculations with final answers and the work was worth like 20%, final answer was worth like 20%, and proper lab procedure was worth 10% of the total score. We got like a 47/50. I personally liked the method of scoring a lot better, but it'll likely be MUCH different at real tournaments (closer to how the rules say). There was a huge spread of scores...we won by like 20 with about 84 points, and I know the second to last team had a score of 4.5.

[iwtban]

thanks for your detailed description of the event. So, at your invitational, for the titration, did they ask to calculate the concentration of the acid or anything else? Thanks.