Laboratory Citizenship

            Good lab citizens create a learning environment that is safe and efficient. Don't rush through the experiment without regard for understanding (i.e., don't treat it as a cookbook recipe to follow blindly); this results in an unsafe atmosphere and poor lab results. One should be prepared for and understand each laboratory before it starts, for safety reasons, and to help finish the laboratory on time. All labs must be finished during the time allotted.

            Each person is responsible for their own space and the maintenance of community resources. Shared resources are the responsibility of everyone who shares them. A loss of citizenship points will occur not only if your space is left dirty but also if someone at your lab bench leaves the melting point apparatus on or if someone in your lab leaves the balances with spilled chemicals. The following guidelines will help you to be a good lab citizen.

 

  1. Always come to lab on time and prepared. You should read and understand the experiment, the theory behind each operation, and the practical descriptions of each operation. Prelabs should be neatly stacked at the front of the room before class starts and you should be present to hear an introduction from the instructor for each new experiment. Your notebook should be prepared before lab starts.
  2. Safety precautions should always be followed vigilantly. Never bring food or drink in lab. Know the hazards of all chemicals. Wear eye protection at all times. Never use flames without being instructed to do so and always check for the presence of flammables. Keep all vapors and hazardous materials in fume hoods.
  3. Keep everything in good order. As you work, return things promptly to their place. At the end of the period always make sure that your lab bench is clean. Turn off hotplates, your melting point apparatus, and other equipment. If anything breaks, report it immediately to your instructor. In particular, make sure that the fuses in the variacs are in working order.
  4. Make efficient use of all resources. Do not take more chemical than what you need (but don't return any to the container--see if someone else can use it). Keep lids firmly on all chemicals to prevent evaporation or contamination and return the chemical bottles to their place promptly. If it looks like the class might run out of any material, warn the instructor before it happens. Do not wait until a container is empty to report that the class is low--if there are less than 10 uses of a chemical left it is your responsibility to notify the instructor at that point. If ice or cold solvents are necessary, make sure that they will be present when you need them. pH paper is more expensive than litmus paper so use the former sparingly and only with good reason. Don’t be a hoarder. Common-use items should not be stored in your lab drawer. Time is another valuable resource—make sure that you are done and out of the lab five minutes before the next timeblock begins.
  5. Practice good science. Always write all of your information directly in your lab notebook as you perform the experiment. Never reconstruct or rewrite your lab notebook (but, you may summarize and restate if you need to make things more clear). Never falsify data, never copy data, and never write what you think should be the right answer.