How to Write a Conclusion Part of a Chemistry Lab Report
A student drafting a conclusion part of a chemistry lab report |
This part is the end of the climax of your chemistry lab report. Strive to write it in an ending tone. So, what are the requisites in the conclusion of a chemistry lab report? When writing an excellent lab report students must include the restatement of the experimental objectives, summary of the experiment and recommendation for the future experiment. Though, some conclusion lacks recommendation for the future study. Therefore, students should adhere to the provided instructions.
I
will use conclusion parts of previous chemistry lab reports (lab reports discussed in previous lessons) as examples.
Example 1
Restatement of the experimental
objectives
The
experiment investigated the values of pKa, pKb and the concentration of a weak
base (aqueous ammonia) and a weak acid (acetic acid) using the titration
curves.
Summary of the experiment
The
determined pKa value of acetic acid was less than the accepted pKa value of
acetic acid (4.7). Surprisingly, the experimental Ka value (5.012 X 10-5)
of acetic acid was greater than the expected Ka value of acetic acid (1.08 X 10-5).
On the other hand, the experimental pKb value (9.57) of aqueous ammonia was
greater than the accepted pKb value (4.75). Moreover, the experimental Kb value (2.692 X 10-10) of aqueous
ammonia was greater than the accepted Kb value of aqueous ammonia (1.76 X 10-5). The
comparison of percentage errors between pKa and Ka of acetic acid indicated that
pKa of acetic acid had smaller percentage error as compared to Ka of acetic
acid. Additionally, percentage error comparison between pKb and Kb of aqueous
ammonia pointed out that pKb of aqueous ammonia had smaller percentage error
than the percentage error of its Kb values.
Kb values of aqueous ammonia recorded the highest percentage error.
Percentage error of Kb values of aqueous ammonia was greater than 100%.
Contaminated
apparatus and chemicals used might have negatively affected the accuracy and
precision of the experimental results, thus resulting in percentage errors. The
evaluation between monitoring titration of sodium hydroxide-acetic acid and
monitoring titration of aqueous ammonia-hydrochloric acid shows sodium
hydroxide-acetic acid titration was helpful than aqueous ammonia-hydrochloric
acid since it had few experimental errors.
Example 2
Restatement of the experimental
objectives
The
experiment helps the students to understand different functional groups of
organic compounds. Moreover, it enables learners to appreciate the use of IR
spectroscopy in the determination of structures of organic compounds.
Summary of the experiment
From Figure 1, Figure 2, and Table 1 the
unknown organic solution #1 was 2-pentanone while the unknown solution #2 was
ethyl benzoate. The experimental results were confirmed by the peak values for
C=O stretch and C-O stretch for aliphatic ketones and unsaturated esters in
literature. The contaminated apparatus and chemicals used might have affected
the validity of the experimental results.
Final remarks
In
both examples, the experimental future recommendations are not provided. This
happened because the experimental instructions did not require experimental
future recommendations. Therefore,
students should write their chemistry lab report according to the institutions’
guidelines. I have used subtitles (restatement
of the experiment and summary of the experiment) to show you where you
should include them. However, your restatement of the experimental objectives
and summary of the experiment should be within the body of your conclusion
without using subtitles as I have used.
Kindly
check previous lessons here. If you have a question regarding writing a
conclusion of a chemistry lab report then comment below.
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