Comedy of Errors
A small sampling of the problems I've run into in this current lab report. My apologies for those who don't fully understand what I'm talking about.
The major purpose of the report is to determine the magnetic mass susceptibility of a group of metal complexes. From this, we are supposed to determine in turn the magnetic molar susceptibility, the magnetic moment, and the number of unpaired electrons of the metal ion in the complex.
After all of my calculations in this part were complete, here were some of my findings, along with why they're absolutely terrible.
- Zinc has four unpaired electrons in its outer shell. This is wrong. As a d10 transition metal, zinc's outer shell of five orbitals should be fully paired with its ten electrons, filling it completely. There shouldn't be any unpaired electrons at all.
- Nickel has three unpaired electrons in its outer shell. This is impossible. Nickel is a d8 transition metal, meaning it has eight electrons in its outer shell. There is no way to arrange an even number of electrons into pairs and have an odd number left over.
- Iron has four unpaired electrons and manganese five unpaired electrons in their outer shells. This is correct. Unfortunately, I forgot to adjust for what is called the "diamagnetic correction" before determining the magnetic molar susceptibility. Therefore, my "correct" values are actually skewed somewhat and may be changed when I go back and factor in this correction.
- The determination of the magnetic moment of the cobalt complex involves taking the square root of a negative number. I think it's safe to say we know what's wrong with this one. Not even applying a really heavy diamagnetic connection helps yield a positive value. And the best BS'd answer I could come up with in warping my value to become positive results causes the answer to come out to zero unpaired electrons. Since cobalt is d7, it has an odd number of electrons (seven) in its outer shell, so it is obviously impossible for them all to be paired.
- Copper has four unpaired electrons in its outer shell. Well, holy shit, I got one right.
On top of this, another purpose of the experiment involves using a second method to determine the magnetic moments of the nickel and copper complexes in a solution state, as opposed to the solid state in part 1. The basic assumption here is that the magnetic moment of the nickel complex must change, while the magnetic moment of the copper complex must remain the same.
For nickel, the two values for magnetic moment are 3.517 and 3.510. For copper, the two values are 2.598 and 1.676.
I have absolutely no way to explain away any of these errors, and my lab report is going to be mostly me saying "oh, crap, would you look at that, my values yielded the wrong answer" over and over again. Sigh.
The major purpose of the report is to determine the magnetic mass susceptibility of a group of metal complexes. From this, we are supposed to determine in turn the magnetic molar susceptibility, the magnetic moment, and the number of unpaired electrons of the metal ion in the complex.
After all of my calculations in this part were complete, here were some of my findings, along with why they're absolutely terrible.
- Zinc has four unpaired electrons in its outer shell. This is wrong. As a d10 transition metal, zinc's outer shell of five orbitals should be fully paired with its ten electrons, filling it completely. There shouldn't be any unpaired electrons at all.
- Nickel has three unpaired electrons in its outer shell. This is impossible. Nickel is a d8 transition metal, meaning it has eight electrons in its outer shell. There is no way to arrange an even number of electrons into pairs and have an odd number left over.
- Iron has four unpaired electrons and manganese five unpaired electrons in their outer shells. This is correct. Unfortunately, I forgot to adjust for what is called the "diamagnetic correction" before determining the magnetic molar susceptibility. Therefore, my "correct" values are actually skewed somewhat and may be changed when I go back and factor in this correction.
- The determination of the magnetic moment of the cobalt complex involves taking the square root of a negative number. I think it's safe to say we know what's wrong with this one. Not even applying a really heavy diamagnetic connection helps yield a positive value. And the best BS'd answer I could come up with in warping my value to become positive results causes the answer to come out to zero unpaired electrons. Since cobalt is d7, it has an odd number of electrons (seven) in its outer shell, so it is obviously impossible for them all to be paired.
- Copper has four unpaired electrons in its outer shell. Well, holy shit, I got one right.
On top of this, another purpose of the experiment involves using a second method to determine the magnetic moments of the nickel and copper complexes in a solution state, as opposed to the solid state in part 1. The basic assumption here is that the magnetic moment of the nickel complex must change, while the magnetic moment of the copper complex must remain the same.
For nickel, the two values for magnetic moment are 3.517 and 3.510. For copper, the two values are 2.598 and 1.676.
I have absolutely no way to explain away any of these errors, and my lab report is going to be mostly me saying "oh, crap, would you look at that, my values yielded the wrong answer" over and over again. Sigh.