PCC-12303 General Chemistry 1

Course

Credits 3.00

Language of instruction:

Dutch or English (depending on your study programme)

Assumed knowledge on:

Chemistry at Dutch VWO level.

Continuation courses:

PCC-12403 General Chemistry 2, PCC-13803 General Chemistry 2 MLS, PCC-21802 Introductory Thermodynamics A, PCC-23303 Introductory Thermodynamics B

Contents:

Many disciplines in the fields of life sciences, environmental sciences and technology build on concepts from physics and chemistry. The courses General Chemistry 1 and 2 intend to make you familiar with these general concepts. Among the concepts are matter and energy, size and scale, quantization of energies, driving forces, change and equilibrium. The starting point for the exploration of the various concepts is observation of the world we live in. From there, a journey is undertaken in search of the physical and chemical laws that govern the world around us. Concepts are worked out both theoretically and experimentally in tutorials and practical classes within themes and contexts from various fields. In General Chemistry 1 the emphasis is on the concepts of size and scale, probability distributions, thermal motion, Boltzmann distribution law, driving forces behind processes, equilibrium and change, adsorption, acids and bases, and kinetics of reactions.

Learning outcomes:

After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to:
- identify aspects of the molecular motion of gases (kinetic molecular theory, collisions) and apply these to topics like the distribution of molecular speeds and the mean free path in a gas;
- identify and examine driving forces (total entropy change, reaction Gibbs energy, Boltzmann distribution law) behind chemical reactions and apply these to topics like the direction of spontaneity and equilibrium constants of chemical reactions;
- apply principles of reaction kinetics (reaction order, reaction rate, reaction rate law, Arrhenius equation, mechanism of a reaction) to chemical reactions;
- identify properties of aqueous solutions of acids and bases and mixtures of these and apply these to topics like the pH of acidic, alkaline or buffer solutions;
- explain adsorption and apply the Langmuir adsorption isotherm;
- execute experiments in the domain of general and physical chemistry following a given protocol and analyze the outcomes.

Activities:

- participation in lectures;
- participation in tutorials;
- participation in practicals;
- independent study.

Examination:

Written exam with multiple choice questions . All practical exercises need to be completed successfully (go/no go). Partial results are valid for six years.

Literature:

Syllabus and practical manual are available at the WUR-shop.