January 19653 TRAINING OF THE ANALYTICAL CHEMIST IN PHYSICAL METHODS 11 Training of the Analytical Chemist in Physical Methods The following are summaries of the papers presented at the Meeting of the Midlands Section and Special Techniques Group held on October 27th 1964 and reported in the December 1964 issue of the Proceedivcgs (p. 129). Course work Training in Physical Methods in Technical Colleges By F. R. WILLIAMS (Laiton College of Technology Lwton Bedfordshire) MR. WILI~IAMS said that the great increase in recent years in the use of physical methods of analysis had inevitably raised problems in connection with training in such methods. The r61e of the technical college was an important one though until comparatively recently the demand for such training had been met almost exclusively by the provision of short courses at postgraduate level.More recently such training had been introduced into chemistry courses at lower levels though not of course indiscriminately. It was the aim of this paper to give a personal viewpoint of those courses into which such training could be profitably introduced. A brief review of the range of courses provided by a typical technical college was given and the case for each course for introducing such training was examined. Only a brief mention was made of degree courses in which the limited time available and the requirements of the externally set syllabus would severely limit such course work. 1 here the experimental work would be concerned with the illustration of physical principles covered in the syllabus this being done by means of clear-cut well tried experiments.The H.N.C. and Grad.1i.I.C. courses were next examined. In the former there was the advantage of a college-set syllabus into which such material could be incorporated but there was much necessary fundamental work that had to be covered. In the (usually) 3 years from H.N.C. to Grad.R.1.C. Part 11 there was much more time and also the added stimulus that the material was of considerable use to students in their final examination. The H.N.C. Endorsement and other courses that lead to the Licentiateship of the Royal Institute of Chemistry were left till last. These new courses were undoubtedly the most important recent development in the training of chemists in physical methods many of them being precisely that. The background to the introduction of the Licentiate grade in 1962 was mentioned.The favoured route of H.N.C. plus endorsement plus experience was dis- cussed as was the course content of the numerous endorsement schemes approved by the R.I.C. (e.g. in May 1964 no fewer than 52 of the 91 approved schemes were in advanced analytical chemistry). The form of the examinations was discussed as was the pass rate the contention being that this was high the students having already shown their calibre in having passed their H.N.C. The appropriate number of students who have proceeded to L.1I.I.C. by this route was given. Finally in order to remove the possible false impression that all who have L.R.I.C. have had such training in physical methods the other routes to this qualification were stated. r - Unit Apparatus for the Teaching of Physical Methods of Analysis By A.L. GLENN (The School of Pharmacy University of London 29-39 Br.tlnswick Squave London W.C. 1) INSTRUMENT physics Mr. Glenn said was essential to the enlightened use of instruments and should therefore receive substantial emphasis in any course on chemical instrumentation. To exclude it was to reduce the instrumental aspects to mere gadgetry and so a good deal of weight had been given to instrument physics when a comprehensive course in physical methods of analysis was established at the School of Pharmacy University of London in 1948. Although a t the outset it had been natural to use commercial equipment the educa- tional limitations of grey-painted boxes with arrays of black knobs had soon been discovered. The regular dismantling of certain instruments to satisfy students’ curiosity about “the 12 TKAINING OF THE ANALYTICAL CHEMIST IN PHYSICAL METHODS [ R o c .SOC. AfiaE. Chem. works” had not only deviated from the principles of good maintenance but had also led to inadequate accounts of the basic theory. Such disadvantages could only be overcome by means of specialised equipment. The initial intentions behind the design of this apparatus had been justified by many years of experience. Thus after having absorbed the theoretical principles from printed schedules the student constructed his equipment by linking together several units that were sufficiently simple to be understood by those without specialised electronic or optical know- ledge. In the absence of precise details of the necessary links between units the student would have to use his theoretical ltnowledge to work out the mode of assembly.Failure of the assembled units to work or to give satisfactory readings was therefore indicative of a theoretical misunderstanding. Hence no student could proceed with measurements in ignorance of the underlying theory and by inspecting the assembled units the instructor had no difficulty in locating a misapprehension. In the interest of good instruction the number of unit types had been kept to a minimum and although this had led to otherwise intolerable compromises in design all complete assem- blies gave useful results. This point was rather important for students had little enthusiasm for constructing useless toys. By housing each unit in a Perspex box the student could not only see the kind of components that were used in commercial instruments but might also compare theoretical and practical circuits if he so desired.The list of complete instruments that could be constructed included an absorptiometer a photo-electric spectrophotometer a manual polarograph and a pH meter together with low-impedance d.c. potentiometers for measurements in the millivolt and microvolt ranges. This equipment gave the student a useful approach to instrumentation in general because even the most complex circuits and instruments might be regarded as assemblies of commonly understood units. It had also helped to maintain a proper balance between instrument physics and the rest of the course since the student received an unobtrusive introduction to instrument physics without losing sight of the main objective namely physical methods of analysis.The Training of Analytical Chemists in Physical Methods An Industrial Viewpoint BY A. G. JONES ( Tiq5erial Chemical Industries Limited Plastics Division Welzuym Garden. City Wertfordshive) THE task of the analytical chemist in industry was to provide a service. He would be responsible for analyses checking the quality of raw materials process intermediates and final products and he must support any research development and technical-service organisations. To do this he must keep in touch with new developments in analytical technique so that he could be in a position to devise any new methods of analysis that were required. He must be sufficiently familiar with plant operations to be able to play his part in the development of on- line automatic analysers where these could be shown to be economically feasible.It was inevitable that in any large industrial laboratory the tendency would be towards rapid methods non-destructive of samples where possible and thus there would inevitably be considerable use of physical methods. To make the best possible use of such methods staff training was necessary to get the utmost flexibility of working and to make the work as interesting as possible for the greatest number of staff specialisation should be reduced to a minimum and do-it-yourself working should be encouraged as much as was practicable. The speaker asked to what extent training in physical methods was necessary and who should do such training. The staff of a laboratory might be broadly considered as divided into senior men (qualified) and juniors (unqualified but pursuing a course of study) ; the senior staff could be subdivided into specialists and non-specialists.The extent of training necessary for these three groups of people was considered and the contribution to this that could be expected from a university or college of technology was discussed. Physical methods depended on accurate calibration and it was therefore necessary that all analysts had a good grasp of the fundamentals of analysis and of basic chemistry and physics so that they might obtain the utmost advantage from such methods. In conclusion the effects of recent trends in instru- mentation upon the knowledge and skill demanded of the analyst were considered. January 1965J MEMBERSHIP CHANGES Changes in the Register of Members DEATHS WE record with regret the deaths of Hendrik Jan Hardon Reginald Francis Hayns. 13