Calculating Partial Molar Volume

In this project, students access data on the density of aqueous zinc sulfate solutions, available through a ChemLibre assignment designed by Tandy Grubbs. (Data from the CRC handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 66th edition, 1985-1986). The density data can be used to find solution volumes and moles of zinc sulfate. These data can then be plotted and fit to a polynomial, and student can use sympy to integrate the fitting function and thus calculate the partial molar volume at a given molality of zinc sulfate. The exercise further prompts students to plot a tangent line at a user-selected molality.

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before attempting this assignment, students should have experience with python basics, such as through the Python for Chemists tutorial. The project also assumes that students have already completed a nonlinear fitting project in python, such as through the Temperature-Dependent Heat Capacity project or the Michaelis-Menten Fitting Code project. This project is easily adaptable to accept experimental data from an undergraduate laboratory exercise. 

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The assignment prompt is available as a PDF. If you are an instructor and would like access to the processed source data and completed fitting code, please email me from your institutional account for access to the project GitHub repository.