Simple, Low Cost Demonstrations For Uo Ii (Mass Transfer Operations)

Abstract

Hands-on activities were developed to demonstrate mass transfer principles to students unable to take the concurrent laboratory. The exercises were simple, could be performed during class time and cost less than $250 to purchase the materials for five or six groups. Most materials could be purchased at Home Depot or WalMart. The students enjoyed the activities, and referred to them on exams when asked to explain the principles of how the mass transfer operations worked. The exercises are summarized below. INTRODUCTION For learning to be meaningful, students should be actively engaged in identifying principles for themselves, rather than relying on an instructor’s explanations. Inductive reasoning (the process by which a general conclusion is reached from evaluating specific observations) is a highly important aspect of learning. Studies have shown that when students learn by induction, the learning is deeper and the material is retained longer. As an instructor, I strongly believe that this is a valuable method of teaching. Often, the learning occurs during the laboratory sessions that usually accompany a Unit Operations course. However, due to major renovations to the engineering building, the seniors in the fall 2002 section of the course would not take the lab until the spring 2003 semester. Therefore, I developed a series of simple experiments for a unit operations course that would require the students to use inductive reasoning to identify some principles of mass transfer. The course was taught during a two-hour time block, twice a week. About five class sessions were devoted to each mass transfer operation. The experiment or demonstration was done during the first class for the new separation method.