snowbeltmom Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Ds is going to study Organic Chemistry next year using MIT Opencourseware, and I am trying to figure out a lab component for this course. Ds is currently using the lab kit from Quality Science Labs for his chemistry class this year. This company has an Organic lab kit. Does anyone have any experience with this particular kit or any other recommendation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheHomeScientist Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 The QSL organic lab supplement is just a molecular model set and a couple chemicals to do the famous slime experiment. Other than that trivial experiment, there's no organic chemistry lab work there. There are a few kits that touch on organic chemistry, but they're more oriented towards an overview of organic for a highschool AP chemistry course than for a dedicated organic chemistry course like the one you intend to do. I suspect there just aren't enough highschool kids doing a full-blown organic chemistry course to make it worthwhile for kit makers to produce such kits. Also, real college-level first-year organic chemistry labs are typically pretty equipment-intensive, assuming that you have access to UV/IR/Visible spectrometers, NMR, GC/MS, and so on. To some extent, you can work around that in a home environment by doing only labs that don't require a lot of expensive equipment, but even then you'd have to spend at least several hundred dollars on glassware and other equipment, chemicals, and so on if you want any kind of realistic organic lab experience. Realistically, I think your best bet is to see if there's a local community college or university that would allow your son to take the lab portion of organic using their facilities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheHomeScientist Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Incidentally, the MIT course is excellent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowbeltmom Posted February 15, 2012 Author Share Posted February 15, 2012 Thanks for your replies. I'm glad to hear your comments about the MIT course. My son has plans (at least now) to hopefully attend medical school, so we are avoiding taking an official Organic class, but he wants to continue his progression in chemistry as he still has two more years of high school. I have already purchased the textbook and modeling kit suggested on MIT's site. Maybe he will end up doing the course without a lab.:confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheHomeScientist Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Thanks for your replies. I'm glad to hear your comments about the MIT course. My son has plans (at least now) to hopefully attend medical school, so we are avoiding taking an official Organic class, but he wants to continue his progression in chemistry as he still has two more years of high school. I have already purchased the textbook and modeling kit suggested on MIT's site. Maybe he will end up doing the course without a lab.:confused: I'd hate to see that happen. Doing a chemistry course with no lab component is kind of like doing a driver's training course without ever actually getting into a car. I did the equivalent of a first-year organic chemistry course in my home lab when I was 14 or 15 years old, although that was back in the 60's. If you email me, I'll be happy to make some suggestions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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