Prerequisites:
CHEM 1066, 2nd semester general chemistry, and MATH 1530, 2nd semester calculus are required prerequisites. As such, you should be comfortable with partial differentiation, integration, and simple 1st order linear differential equations. Other courses, which should be helpful if you have had them, are PHYS 2076, thermal physics, MATH 2510, 3rd semester calculus, and MATH 2236, differential equations.
Text:
Physical Chemistry for the Biosciences, Raymond Chang, University Science Books, Sausalito CA, 2005. Note purchase of this text is highly recommended, but optional.
Course Structure:
The material in this course focuses on chemical thermodynamics and kinetics with some emphasis placed on biochemical and biophysical processes. For a more detailed description of the topics covered in this course see the course outline.
The course is centered around the lecture notes, which are provided to you as a series of Power Point presentations, and a series of problem sets, containing over 200 problems provided to you as MS Word documents. Both the lecture notes and the problem sets are available in the section of this WEB site entitled The Course. Many of the problems in the problem sets were "borrowed" from a similar course taught at the Colorado School of Mines, where they had been developed by an outstanding chemistry faculty over a number of years. I have extended these problems with many of my own devising. Within any problem set, the problems are generally arranged from easiest to most difficult. Most of the problems in the problem sets are provided with numerical answers, and may be collected and graded. You are, of course, expected to work them and the numerical answer will help you determine whether you have worked the problem correctly or not. A number of problems will be assigned to be handed in and graded. The fundamental assumption in this course is that, if you can work the problems in the problem sets or problems of a similar type, then you understand the material at a level that is expected.
Problems worthy of attack
Prove their worth by biting back
(Piet Hein Grook)
To encourage you to work the problem sets and keep current in the course ~ 10 to 11 in-class quizzes will be given during the term. These quizzes will use the essentially same or similar questions that are found in the problem sets or questions that are embedded in the lecture notes. To protect the innocent and/or naive some of the data (and hence the answers) in each question used as a quiz question will have been changed. Missed quizzes cannot be made up, but may be excused for extraordinary reasons (interview trips, illness, etc.) only if you have notified me in advance that you will be absent on the day that the unannounced quiz is given (the best way to notify me ahead of time is by e-mail, which provides both of us with a time-stamped record of notification). The lowest quiz score will be dropped.
To further encourage you to work the problem sets, any mid-term exams that are scheduled will contain some problems that are similar to, if not exactly like, the problems found in the problem sets or questions that are embedded in the lecture notes. One advantage of basing exam questions on the problem sets is that you will know what type of questions will be on the exam! If more than two mid-term exams are given, the lowest exam score will also be dropped.
Detailed worked out solutions to the problems are not provided. Not providing the detailed solutions forces you to have to work the problem in order to understand how to do it and prevents you from falling into the trap of thinking "I'll just read through the solution and I'll know how to do this type of problem" (This is a little like watching someone ski and thinking "That looks easy, I can do that!"). To get help when you are having trouble understanding how to do a problem, you can ask questions in class (a limited amount of class time will be devoted to answering questions), you can ask questions at "Problem Sessions" (the time and dates of "Problem Sessions" will be announced in class), or you can ask me directly during my office hours or at any time I'm not directly busy with something else.
Grading:
| ~ 10 - 11 announced in-class quizzes over the problem sets or questions embedded in the lecture notes (typically these quizzes will occur 1-2 days after we have finished covering the material on which the quiz will be based). The lowest quiz score will be dropped. | ~ 100 points |
| Assigned Problems - In Fall 2005 460 points in problems were assigned (due dates and point value can vary) | ??? points |
| Final Exam | 100 points |
| ------------ | |
| Total Points | > 200 points |
I do not assign letter grades, but just keep track of the percentage of the total available points that you have earned. In the past I have used the following scheme to assign letter grades to these percentages:
| A | 90% to 100% | B | 75% to 89% | |||
| C | 60% to 74% | D | 50% to 59% |
Because I'm interested in testing on whether you can do the problems and not on whether you can work them under pressure, any mid-term exams will be held either in the evenings or in the early mornings, so that time will be less of a factor. If you have any conflicts with the announced exam times, please see me at your earliest convenience so that an alternative can be worked out. Make-up exams will be given only for extraordinary reasons (interview trips, illness, etc.) and then only if you have contacted me well in advance of the scheduled exam.
Honesty:
Quizzes and exams are expected to be a measure of your own effort and ability. A single incident of cheating will result in a grade of zero for that quiz or exam. A second incidence of cheating will result in removal from the class roll.
Evacuation Plan and Emergency Procedures
In the event of an emergency (as indicated for example by the fire alarm) it will be necessary to evacuate completely away from this building to a safe place where individuals can be accounted for. This link gives the evacuation plan and emergency procedures for this classroom.