I
T. G. Dunne
College Portland, Oregon 97202 Reed
I
Magnetic Moment Measurement of a Coordination Complex An experiment in undergraduate inorganic chemistry
The measurement of the magnetic moment of a coordinat,iori complex containing unpaired elect.ron spins is useful in the establishment of the valency of the metal atom, and in many cases also helps to determine the geometrical structure of the complex (I-). It is thought to be desirable to introduce students to this important technique early in the sophomore inorganic course at Reed, so that they may, if they wish, make use of magnetic moment measurements in independent laboratory work on the structure and reactivity of complexes during the latter part of this course. The Gouy met,hod for determining magnetic susceptibility (2, 4, 5) is based on the measurement of the force exerted on a sample by an inhomogeneous magnetic field. The force, d F , exerted in the x direction of an element of matter with volume, du and mass, dm, by a magnetic field of strength, I
