Office Hours

DVB will hold office hours Tuesday, Wed, and Thursday (12/7-12/9) from 2-3:30.

Only HW8 & 9 on exam 4!!!

No office hours Wed 11/24

HW 9

On my problem #4 for the expansion let's make it simple and just assume that all the expanision is to the iron bar getting longer.

Diffusion example

Note my diffusion example from class today (11/16) had the wrong units. My diffusion coeficient was actually in units of meters squared not centimeters squared. Thus the rms displacement in one second for a sucrose molecule in water at 20C was about 10-5 m. Still not too far but 100x farther than I calculated in class.

Extra Credit

Yes, I realize we have had more than three extra credit assignment if you count the bonus problems from the 2nd exam. However, as those were for making up points on exam 2, I didn't count them in the send me an email numbering scheme.

Extra Credit #3

This will be the last of the three extra credit assignments that we will have. This third one is to encourage you to dream up problems to develop a deeper understanding of the concepts. Write a problem that we could use on the final exam. Not too long with too many parts. Not ridiculously simple. Something you think might actually appear on the final.

To get credit you will need to follow these simple instructions. The email must have the following. Your name, Your EID, what exam covered the topic (of the four in class exams), the problem and its solution.

Most importantly it must have the following subject line

CH301H Fall 2010 extra credit #3

Note: that does not mean something kind of like that. It must be exactly like that. I was leanient the first time. I will not be this time.

For this simple task I will add one point onto your final grade in the course. This might seem small, but it is in fact a large addition to your grade. If your question is selected for the final you will not get any extra extra credit (beyond having a question you wrote on the final!). I will need to receive the email by Monday 12/06/10 at midnight.

Extra Credit #2

This will be the second of three extra credit assignments that we will have. This second one is simply to encourage you to talk about science beyond our classroom. There are many means in which you can do this, but for our assignment I would like you to go and find someone and teach them something that you've learn in this class. If you haven't learned anything in the class, then teach them something you already knew and that other people learned in the class. You could pick one of our "think/share" questions from the class to test other people's knowledge. Or come up with a new excercise that I could use in class in the future. Whatever you want. Just teach someone something relevant to the class. Then write me an email tellling me about it.

To get credit you will need to follow these simple instructions. The email must have the following. Your name, Your EID, what you taught the person, and summary of how you taught them.

Most importantly it must have the following subject line

CH301H Fall 2010 extra credit #2

Note: that does not mean something kind of like that. It must be exactly like that. I was leanient the first time. I will not be this time.

For this simple task I will add one point onto your final grade in the course. This might seem small, but it is in fact a large addition to your grade. I will need to receive the email by Tuesday 11/30/10 at midnight. This will give you something to do over the Thanksgiving break.

Final Exam

FYI. The final exam schedule can be found at the Registrar's homepage Exam Schdule. The exam for our class will be on Friday 12/10 from 2-5 in ECJ 1.202. I cannot change this time so there is no need to ask.

Chapter 9

We covered a lot of stuff today in class (11/11). Please make sure you have both a conceptual understanding of the IG law as well as the ability to do equations. For the kinetic theory the important points are the ones I emphasized. Don't dwell on the derivations in the book.

Exam 3 prep

The key to HW7 along with answers to the "more problems" are posted on the HW page.
Review today in 2.308 from 3-5. This is the classroom next to our regular class room.

More Problems for Exam 3

There is a set of more problems to work for Exam 3 on the homework page.

short handout

There is a shorter version of the organic nomenclature handout on the TOD page.

Extra Credit Exam 2

For the first problem you need to calculate the potential energy of the electrons. Use a +1 nucleus.

Extra Credit Exam 2

And now for a different kind of extra credit. I have posted the bonus questionsfrom exam 2. If you do these by next Thursday (10/28) you can get 9 points added to your exam 2 score. The key will be up later today. You'll need this if you don't have the correct answers to the previous problems that are used in the bonus material.

Review Session for Exam 2

The review is in WEL 2.224. 3-4:30 on 10/13. That is on the 2nd floor with all the classrooms. It is the very large 500 seat lecture hall. I think I gave the wrong room number in class.

A quick survey about the Thoughts of the Day

All responses are anonymous

Do you actually read the Thoughts of the Day?
   After every class
   Right before the exam
   Once in a while
   Never

StatPac Online Survey

Extra Credit

This will be the first of at least three extra credit assignments that we will have. This first one is simply to encourage you to think about science beyond our classroom. There are many means in which you can do this, but for our assignment I would like you to go and read and learn something new that is happening in the world of science today. For this I would like you to read an article on a recent scientific discovery or story and send me an email with a summary. The summary should be brief (a paragraph or so) and highlight three things. What you learned from the article, a question it raised in your mind, and why you found it interesting. You should send this summary to me as an email. To get credit you will need to follow these simple instructions. The email must have the following. Your name, Your EID, the title of the artilce, the source, and your summary with the three points.

Most importantly it must have the following subject line

CH301H Fall 2010 extra credit #1

Note that does not mean something kind of like that. It must be exactly like that.

For this simple task I will add one point onto your final grade in the course. This might seem small, but it is in fact a large addition to your grade. Especially as we will have more such opportunities, and it requires only that you spent a little time thinking about the world of science. While I have given you this assignment now, you should really work on HW5 as it is long and difficult. We also have an exam on Thursday 10/14. As such to get credit I will need to receive the email by Tuesday 10/19/10 at midnight. This will give you something to do after the exam.

I hear you now saying "Where should I find such an article?". I would suggest the following sources that report the latest in high profile scientific journal.

The Science Times at the NY Times

The Science section at the Independent

or any other newspaper you'd like. These simply devote a decent amount of coverage to science.

Both the journals Science and Nature have news and perspectives that are meant for non expert readers. Look for the sections "news" and "perspectives". Also, Nature has many more topical journals such as Nature Biotechnology or Nature Materials or even Nature Chemistry

Enjoy

HW5 is now posted

HW Confusion

Due to great confusion on the dates of the HW we will accept HW4 up to this Thursday 10/7. HW5 will be due 10/12.

HW 5

HW 5 will be due 10/12. We will have only HW4 and HW5 for Exam 2.

HW 4

Homework 4 is posted. It will not be due next class, but next Thursday. However, I plan on trying to have HW 5 due the following Tuesday so we don't get too far behind.

Review Session

Monday's office hours will be in WEL 2.122 from 3-4

HW3 corrections

The molecule in problem #3 (other problems) is AlCl3.

HW3 is posted

Ionic Bonding

The HW was a bit shy on the ionic bonding model. As such I have come up with another problem for you to work on. It is not part of the HW in that it you don't have to turn it in. However, you should give it a try. The last part is the most challenging.

A problem on Ionic Bonding

The Key to HW1 is posted

HW 2 is posted

Articles about elements

Here are a couple of recent news/editorials about elemental resources. I have given you the links as a point of interest. Any opinions expressed in the articles are the authors own. I have not posted them here as a means of endorsement (not that they are particularly wildly controversal). I simply would like to encourage you all to make connections between chemistry and the world beyond the University.

Article from The Independent (a British Newspaper) on Helium resources

A recent Op-Ed piece from the NY Times on Rare Earth Elements

Energy

Sign convention is very important in energy as we are alway comparing the energy between two states. For changes in energy we define the change as the energy in the final state (now) compared to the initial state (where things used to be). When the final state is lower in energy (more stable) then the change is negative. A negative change means that the energy is released out of the system into the rest of the world (the surroundings). A positivie change is energy into the system. When looking at absolute values of energies the sign is also useful if we know how the zero energy point is defined. For electrostatic interactions between two particles we have defined zero potential energy as the energy when the two particles are at infinite distance. Thus negative energies at finite distance mean that the system is at a lower energy at this distance compared to infinite. Such potentials are referred to as a attractive. Positive potentials in contrast are repulsive as the system would have a lower energy (zero) if the particles were infinitely separated. One has to be careful with the words bigger or smaller as they often refer to magnitude no sign. I will try to stick with higher and lower. Lower is closer to negative infinity. For example. Which is lower V=-1 or V=-1.5. Answer => V=-1.5.

ALEKS for Chemistry

The average ALEKS Chemistry score for the students in CH301H is an 85. This includes a number of people who clearly stopped after they had hit the 70% mark (they had nearly perfect scores until zero on the last modules). Completion rate is approaching 90% of the class. I am pleased to see that most everyone did the work and is well prepared. A very nice start to the year.

For next week

Work on reading chapter 3. Check out the thoughts of the day page as it now has the schedule for the year. HW1 will be due at the start of class on Thursday. There are some problems that are based on what we have (or will) cover in class. There are some that will simply require you to think.

ALEKS

I am assuming that at this point everyone has successfully completed their ALEKS assessment. (I will get a real list later today). If you ignore it, didn't get a 70% you are unprepared for the regular section of CH301 much less this section. If you stuggled to get a 70% you are unlikely ready to deal with the material we will cover. If you total ignored it, you are giving me a heads up on your potential work ethic.

Molecules you should know

We all need to know some common compounds to communicate. You should know all of the following. Click the following link to find out what you should know.

  • Chemicals I should know