Syllabus
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Syllabus

Instructor: Robert A. Northey	Teaching Assistant: Kuntinee Suvarakich
Office: 344 Bloedel	Office: 354 Bloedel
Office Hours: MWF 12:30-1:20	Office Hours:
northera@u.washington.edu	kuntines@u.washington.edu
Phone:206 616-2179	Phone: 206 685-0543

Course Description

In PSE 406, you learned in a classroom setting about the chemistry of the various wood components. In PSE 407, you are to be thrown into a laboratory so that you can demonstrate to yourselves that what you have learned in 406 is true. You will analyze wood using the basic (traditional) procedures to quantify extractive, lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose content. You will also be exposed to more modern chromatographic techniques used in wood chemistry analyses.

The majority of people who take this class are not planning on a career as laboratory technicians running the types of analyses taught in this course. Typically as process engineers, etc. you will be involved in the planning of experiments, the recording of the experimental results, the interpretation of data, and the presentation of these results. This class is not your typical cookbook type of laboratory course. Problems will be given to you in the form you would receive them in the industry (bare bone questions) and you will be expected to determine the course of action. This will require you to spend significant time investigating scientific literature and running ideas past the instructor.

An additional important aspect to be stressed in this class is people skills. Out in the work world you will be required to interact with people. In each of our laboratory sessions, you will be working with different partners and with teams of various sizes. We will work tirelessly at learning ways to work effectively in groups particularly stressing the importance of communication.

Recommended Preparation: PSE 406/Chem E. 470 is a necessary prerequisite for the class. It would also be helpful if the student has some basic laboratory training.

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Assignments and Grading

Grades in PSE 407 will be based on three factors: class performance, notebooks, and reports. Class performance will account for 30% of your grade. The instructor and TA will determine how well you perform in class. Everyone should be able to get a perfect score in this area. Notebooks (30% of the grade) will be graded for completeness and neatness. Typed reports (40% of the grade) will be required for each experimental section. Significant one on one time will be spent with the instructor discussing both your notebooks and reports. These reports will be graded using the PSE scoring rubric. Formats for both the notebooks and reports will be discussed in the first class. There will be no exams.

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Readings

There is no assigned textbook for this class because there has not been a good book published since 1967 on wood chemistry methods. There has been good books written on individual components but not on the whole deal. There will be handouts for each new section so you will be prepared beforehand for the laboratories.

Outside References:
1. Methods of Wood Chemistry, Browning, B. L., Volumes 1&2, Interscience Publishers, New York, 1967
2. Methods in lignin chemistry, Lin, S. Y., Dence, C. W. (eds.). Springer-Verlag , Berlin, 1992.
3. Writing the Laboratory Notebook, Kanare, H. M., American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C., 1985
4. TAPPI test methods., TAPPI, 1998
5. Journal references to be handed out when appropriate for each experiment.

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Other Information

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Last Update:
01/02/01

Contact Bob Northey: northera@u.washington.edu

[ University of Washington ]                         [ College of Forest Resources ]