Facilities

Pearce Science Center

The Pearce Science Center houses the biology, biochemistry, chemistry, psychology, and physics disciplines. Facilities within the building include:

Refractometry

Bausch and Lombe Abbe 3-L Refractometer

The refractive index for any compound is the ratio of the velocity of light in a vacuum to its velocity in a substance. Because every compound has a specific refractive index, students use this instrument to identify or characterize many of their samples.

Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy

SpectrAA55 Varian Atomic Absorption Spectrometer

Atomic-absorption (AA) spectroscopy uses the absorption of light to measure the concentration of gas-phase atoms. Students in Analytical Chemistry use this instrument to determine the analyte concentration of a sample.

Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

Hewlett Packard 5890 Series II Gas Chromatograph (GC) equipped with a Hewlett Packard 5971 Mass Selective Detector (MS)

The GC separates components of mixtures and passes these components to the MS where they are ionized by a beam of high energy electrons. Ionization causes the molecules to fragment. Analysis of these fragments provides information about the structure and mass of molecules.

Ultraviolet-Visible Spectroscopy

Beckman Coulter DU 640 Spectrometer

Ultraviolet and visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy is a way to measure the wavelength and intensity of absorption of a beam of light after it passes through a sample. Absorption measurements can be taken at a single wavelength or over an extended spectral range. The UV-Vis spectra have broad features that are of limited use for sample identification but are very useful for quantitative measurements.

Infrared Spectroscopy

Avatar Thermo Nicolet 360 Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FT-IR) with OMNIC computer program

Because chemical functional groups are known to absorb light at specific frequencies, students use the IR to characterize many of their samples.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometry

Hitachi R-1200 Permanent Magnet RS-Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer (NMR)

This instrument analyzes hydrogen atoms in molecules. Students have opportunities to work with this instrument when analyzing many of their samples.

Gas Chromatography

Varian 3400 Gas Chromatograph equipped with a Varian 4270 Integrator

Gas chromatography is an analytical method that is widely used for separation, identification, and determination of chemical components in a mixture. This Gas Chromatograph has a flame ionization detector and a fused phenyl-methyl silicon column.

High Pressure Liquid Chromatography

Main Campus: Staunton, Virginia
Regional Centers: Charlottesville, Peninsula, Richmond, Roanoke, South Boston, Staunton, Weyers Cave

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