Environmental Chemistry vs. Instrumental Analysis

[philosonista]

Hi, all --

I've googled this to death to no avail. I have to take another chemistry course and course conflicts has led me to choose between instrumental and environmental. I'm also taking two upper division math and two upper division CS courses the same semester, so I'm concerned about difficulty.

Which one is more difficult? If you haven't taken both, can you gauge the difficulty of the one you took?

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[Gibbward]

Environmental chem would be way easier for sure. You're most likely going to spend A TON of hours in lab or doing annoying lab reports in instrumental, and it might be tough to handle since you have 4 upper div math/cs classes to work on.

 

[philosonista]

Environmental chem would be way easier for sure. You're most likely going to spend A TON of hours in lab or doing annoying lab reports in instrumental, and it might be tough to handle since you have 4 upper div math/cs classes to work on.

Thank you so much, Gibbward. It is much appreciated.

 

[Lawpy]

If instrumental analysis is similar to analytical chemistry, I will drop it like it's hot and run far from it. Total waste of time with some really bitter TAs/profs punishing you for not having incredibly precise measurements and yields... on top of absurdly tiresome lab reports. Focus on environmental chemistry, since your schedule is more than enough to take your time.

 

[Glandzburg]

If instrumental analysis is similar to analytical chemistry, I will drop it like it's hot and run far from it. Total waste of time with some really bitter TAs/profs punishing you for not having incredibly precise measurements and yields... on top of absurdly tiresome lab reports. Focus on environmental chemistry, since your schedule is more than enough to take your time.

That lab gave me nightmares. Static electricity due to the dry winter air actually caused enough variation in my mass measurements to completely ruin one of my labs. WTF.

 

[ParamagicCCP]

Personally, I love Instrumental Analysis. Learning the applications of physics, basic chemical concepts, and the how to each instrument really was enjoyable. It was a ton of work though. I can't comment on Environmental yet, Im taking it in the spring.

 

[bcemslayer]

Instrumental analysis labs are the worst, in my opinion. In my school, your grade was based entirely off how accurate your techniques were, and it sucks being at the mercy of the machines. The lecture material wasn't so bad I guess.

 

[flapjack3d]

No contest environmental chem will be way more interesting AND you'll likely get a better grade