Aluminum + HCl experiment assignment

A few people have asked questions that lead me to believe that there may be a little confusion about the assignment that is due for "The Reaction of Aluminum with a Strong Acid".
This semester in Gen Chem Lab I, you will not have to write a full lab report for any of the experiments. Each experiment will have a hand-in assignment provided in MSWord format with questions that you will have to answer. {All answers and calculations must be typed. No exceptions.} For a number of these assignments, there will be a part of a full lab report included as one of the questions, but you will not have to do all the parts of a formal lab report for any single experiment.
The questions that are included in the lab procedure (either inserted in the experiment or at the end of the procedure) do not have to be included or handed in separately, the only things that have to be turned in are your carbons and the hand-in assignment. The questions in the experimental procedure are often similar to the questions on the hand-in, so it's a good idea to jot down some answers to the questions in the procedure while you're in lab, but these do not have to be turned in separately.
To help with some of the questions that might come up, I've posted "Features of a Sample Lab Report Format" (http://www.drbodwin.com/teaching/genchemlab/labrep01.pdf) so you can see what each part of a lab report looks like when you need it. A couple questions or problems that come up are...

Drawing the experimental setup - A drawing can be helpful for complex setups that are difficult to describe well with words. A drawing is a waste of space if the setup can be described effectively and concisely with words. For example: "The test tube was filled approximately half full with the mysterious blue liquid, see figure 1."

Figure 1: A half full test tube

Hopefully this is ridiculous enough to make my point... Is the figure really needed to clearly communicate what a test tube half full of blue liquid looks like? Um, no. The same is true for your "Experimental" section when you eventually have to write one. Don't draw trivial things unless your intent is to be trivial, which should never be your intent in a lab report.

Can I hand draw/write in by hand? - This question often comes up regarding drawing experimental setups and showing sample calculations. The quick answer is... no. Why not? There are a few reasons, but the most important one is for your own reference. If you just leave a big blank space for a hand-drawn experimental setup and then "the dog ate my homework" happens before you turn it in, you have to redraw everything rather than just re-print. Similarly, if later in the semester or year you want to look back at an experiment but you can't find the paper copy that you turned in, opening up the computer file and seeing a big blank box isn't too helpful. This is even more important with calculations, if you write out 2 pages of carefully thought out sample calculations and then spill your coffee (or juice or lasagne) on them, you'll have to re-think and re-write 2 pages of calculations. Just do everything electronically in the first place and at least 4 things will happen: 1) you'll have nice looking assignments; 2) you'll actually catch a few errors you might have missed; 3) you'll never have to re-write a page that gets lost or destroyed; 4) with a little practice, you'll get good at doing all these things electronically. Speaking of calculations...

Do I have to use one of those equation editor thingies or can I just use tabs and spaces to type my sample calculations? - Use an equation editor. They're not that hard to use (with a little practice) and they can make really nice looking equations. If the sample calculation you're trying to show is very simple, it's OK to just type it in-line, for example:

7.3 + 2.9 + 14.82 + 1.4 = 26.4

There's no reason to use an equation editor for that one, it's perfectly clear and clean typed in-line. On the other hand...

(2.635g Cu)(1 mole Cu / 63.546g Cu)(4 moles NH₃ / 1 mole Cu)(1L NH₃(aq) / 2.83 moles NH₃) = 0.0586L NH₃(aq)

Looks horrible and is hard to follow when typed in-line, it would look much better if an equation editor was used:

There are a couple good equation editor options. MSWord has at least one (sometimes 2) built in, Open Office has a good one built in, and the Daum Equation Editor (I got it in the Chrome web store...) also does a good job. As with any software, practice makes these things easier to use.

Good luck and let me know if there are any other questions.