Department of Chemistry Prof. Scott H. Northrup Tennessee Technological University Office: Foster Hall Room 219 Office Phone: 931-372-3421 Office Hours: email me Home Phone: 931-528-6291 E-mail: snorthrup@tntech.eduCourse Calendar & Schedule of topics
Prerequisites: CHEM 112 and MATH 151 or equivalent.
Course Description: CHEM 2530 is a one-semester, non-calculus-based survey of physical chemistry designed for those desiring the B.S. degree with a major in chemistry, education, pre-professional studies, biology, or students in general. No credit will be allowed toward the ACS-accredited B.S. Chem Degree.
Course Overview and Objectives: Physical chemistry is concerned with the principles of physics which underlie the structure and behavior of matter. It provides the mathematical foundation for all of chemistry, and so is mathematical rather than descriptive in nature. As such a fair amount of mathematical background is required to understand physical chemistry. This course provides a one-semester overview of the subject leaving out the complex mathematical derivations which usually accompany the one-year course. In doing so the basic concepts and techniques of the subject will be discussed without the mathematical rigor. The major areas of physical chemistry will all be discussed at length - thermodynamics, kinetics, quantum mechanics, and spectroscopy, omitting statistical mechanics.
Required Materials
General Information: You are signed up for the self-paced Web/Video-based version of this course. The ordinary lecture-based courses is taught every Spring semester, while this On Line version may be taken during any regular TTU session with Dr. NorthrupUs prior consent.
We will have 4 Hour Examinations during the semester and then a comprehensive Final Examination. The times these can be taken are flexible, but do require you to come on campus to Foster Hall Room 219 for the administering of these exams. This is to preserve the integrity of the process. You will arrange a time with Dr. Northrup as you become ready for each test. The Course Schedule page is a good guide to letting you know when is the appropriate time during the course material to take each exam. These exams will be a mixture of multiple choice,true/false, short answer, and problems worked out in detail. You will need to bring a scientific calculator capable of taking logarithms, roots, exponential notation, raising to powers, trig functions, etc. You are strongly encouraged to use pencil. These 4 hourly exams will constitute 45% of your total grade. I will DROP YOUR LOWEST. For the first exam you will be allowed to bring a 3x5 index card filled with formulas and conversion factors to help you with the exam. For the second exam you may bring TWO index cards, three cards for the third exam, and four cards for the 4th exam, and 5 cards for the Final Exam. (see Grading below).
Dr. Northrup's video lectures will follow the textbook according to the schedule given on the Web. You will be provided a copy of the video lectures, comprised of 5 VHS-format tapes that will play in a standard VCR. To obtain a copy of these tapes and the accompanying lecture notes, you will need to come to Foster Hall 219 or make some other arrangement with Dr. Northrup. The tapes will be loaned out to you with a $20 deposit, which you will receive back in full when you return the tapes. The lecture notes cost you $8. Please do not make a copy of these tapes. You will be responsible for watching the video tapes and accompanying lecture notes, reading the corresponding assigned chapters in the textbook, and being able to answer questions about every assigned section. You will find Dr. Northrup's close adherence to the flow and material of the textbook to be a great benefit to your reading and studying. When you purchase the lecture notes, you will receive an identical copy of the overhead transparencies Dr. Northrup uses on the videos. Therefore, the difficulty in seeing what's written on the transparencies will be mitigated by being able to follow along with identical lecture notes. You will notice that the first day's lecture uses somewhat smaller size font on the transparencies. This was changed for subsenquent lectures for your benefit.
On Line Homework Sets which correlate with the lectures and reading assignments are posted to you on the Web. Each student will receive their own personalized set of homework problems. Answers to homework will be submitted back to Dr. Northrup by the Web form, and will be worth 30% of your grade. You may submit the answers to a homework set whenever you feel you are ready. It will be graded and the results available for your inspection within 24 hours on the Feedback page. You may see what you missed, rework the problems, and then get one chance to resubmit to improve your grade. While working your homework, feel free to email Dr. Northrup if you get stumped, and he will send you helpful hints. However, you need to work independently on the homework.
The Final Exam will be comprehensive.
Students with a Disability: Students with a disability requiring accommodations should contact the Office of Disability Services (ODS). An Accommodation Request (AR) should be completed as soon as possible, preferably by the end of the first week of the course. The ODS is located in the Roaden University Center, Room 112; phone 372-6119.
Grading:
For more information, contact Prof. Northrup snorthrup@tntech.edu
TTU Chemistry Home Page