GENERAL CHEMISTRY I, CHEM104A
FALL 2008

Instructor:	Dr. David R. Burgess
Office:	ST239 Office hours are posted on my door.
Phone:	603-897-8264 (office)
Internet:	dburgess@rivier.edu (E-mail) http://www.rivier.edu/chemistry (To Class Homepage)

Required text: CHEMISTRY The Central Science, 11^th ed., by Brown, LeMay, Bursten, and Murphy
Optional text: Study Guide to accompany CHEMISTRY The Central Science

On the first day of General Chemistry it is likely that a fellow student is reading this syllabus, her mind filled with apprehension. She has visions of strange men and women in white coats standing over bubbling glass contraptions which are emitting mysterious odors. These scientists speak in a strange language, and the threat of explosion hangs in the air. The student thinks of chemists and chemistry like they belong to another world and have no relation to everyday life. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Everything from the food you eat and the clothes you wear to the concrete you walk on and the cars you drive are studied by chemists and are part of chemistry. Acid rain, smog and other environmental concerns are studied by chemists. Sources of energy, such as coal and nuclear energy, are also within the domain of chemistry. As a matter of fact it would be hard to find an important area of concern today that isn't in some way connected with chemistry.

Those aspects of chemistry that encourage the stereotype described in the first paragraph are only a small part of chemistry and we all have attributes in common with those "spectacled men with lab coats". One area of chemistry, for example, is classification of substances. We all know water is different from sand, sugar, lead, iron or alcohol. We also know that lead and iron are metals and are able to designate this "subclass". You might even know that lead is "softer" than iron and be able to group metals according to some physical characteristics.

Everyone has also had experience with substances changing. Fireworks displays, which are beautiful and sometimes loud, are a good example. We are also familiar with cars rusting, fuel burning and food cooking. When crystals of sugar are placed in water they disappear, but we are fairly sure that the sugar is still there since the water tastes sweet. If sugar is spilled on a hot stove it readily turns into a black mass that isn't sweet. Is the black mass sugar?

If some lead is placed on a hot stove it turns liquid without much change in color. If the liquid lead is cooled it returns to its original appearance. Why didn't lead turn into a black mass? A study of the changes that occur in substances under various conditions is a second major area of chemistry that most students are somewhat familiar with.

Many people think of turpentine, which is produced by trees, as a "chemical". Maple sugar, rubber, and olive oil are also produced by trees. Are they "chemicals"? The answer is yes! Aluminum, aspirin, vitamin C and nylon are also chemicals and all are common everyday materials. Chemistry is concerned with the composition and change of all materials; it matters not whether they are rare or common, edible or poisonous, explosive or inert. Also, chemical reactions are nothing more than a change in composition, whether it involves the digestion of food, the drying of paint, or the explosion of gun powder.

If you will combine the chemical knowledge you now possess with a desire to know more about what things are made of and how they change, chemistry will become fascinating. The objective of this course is to provide you with an opportunity to gain a basis of principles, concepts, and reasoning skills that will allow you to explore and better understand the world we live in. This course will also provide a sound beginning for future work in chemistry and the sciences. Understanding chemistry depends on a good working foundation. You are well advised to learn all you can from this course since this is where that foundation is obtained.

Chemistry is also an excellent opportunity to work on the college-wide competencies listed on the page titled Academic Assessment at Rivier. The nature of chemistry requires you to apply an understanding of course content to solve a variety of problems. In the process you will need to think critically and synthesize concepts. It is also an opportunity to make judgments about the appropriateness of solutions, not only in a physical sense, but often in more global ways. The ability to communicate will be important when explaining concepts and working in groups.

This class will not be strictly lecture, but will also involve student participation. The more you participate, the more meaningful the material will be. Feel free to ask questions during the "lecture" period or at any other time. It is a general rule in chemistry that if one person doesn't understand, there are at least three or four others who also don't understand.

The specific topics to be covered this semester are given in the accompanying course schedule. The schedule also specifies exam dates. There will be four exams given during the semester and an optional exam given on the last day of classes. The optional exam will cover ideal gases, which will get minimal coverage in class, but it can replace one of the semester exams when calculating your exam average. A comprehensive final exam will also be given.

Homework problems are shown on a separate sheet. Homework from the text will not be collected, but a quiz will be given at the beginning of the laboratory period covering the text homework up to that point. One quiz will be dropped when calculating the quiz average. The quiz average will contribute to the lecture grade.

Final grades will be determined using the following scale:

Exam Average	65%
Quiz Average	15%
Comprehensive Final Exam	20%

Letter grades will be assigned as established by the college (see page titled Academic Assessment at Rivier). For example, if a student had an exam average of 86%, a quiz average of 81%, and a final exam score of 78%, she would have a final score of

(.65)(86) + (.15)(81) + (.2)(78) = 83.7

and receive a B in the course.

COURSE SCHEDULE

Note: Exams will be on the scheduled dates. The specific material covered on an exam will generally be as indicated in this schedule, but may include material from other sections as determined in class.

3 Sept. – 22 Sept.	Introduction, Atoms, Molecules, Ions, Stoichiometry (Ch. 1-3)
23 Sept.	Exam I
24 Sept. – 13 Oct.	Aqueous Reactions, Oxidation States (Ch. 4, Sections 20.1, 20.2)
14 Oct.	Exam II
15 Oct. – 3 Nov.	Thermochemistry (Ch. 5)
4 Nov.	Exam III
5 Nov. – 1 Dec.	Electronic Structure and Chemical Bonding (Ch. 6-9)
2 Dec.	Exam IV
3 Dec. – 5 Dec.	Gases (Ch. 10)
8 Dec.	Exam V (Optional)
12 Dec.	Final Comprehensive Exam (8 am)

HOMEWORK

Text: Chemistry The Central Science, 11^th ed., by Brown, LeMay, and Bursten.

Ch. 1: 1, 4, 5, 17, 19, 27, 29, 43, 53
Ch. 2: 4, 11, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 31, 35, 37, 39, 41, 43, 45, 47, 49, 51, 53, 55, 57, 59, 61, 65, 67, 71
Ch. 3: 1, 10, 11, 13, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 33, 35, 37, 39, 41, 43, 45, 47, 49, 51, 53, 57, 59, 61, 63, 65, 67, 69, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79
Ch. 4: 1, 5, 7, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 31, 39, 43, 49, 51, 53, 59, 61, 63, 65, 67, 69, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, 83, 85, 87
        Ch. 20: 15, 19, 21 (Do these with Chapter 4.)
Ch. 5: 25, 29, 31, 39, 41, 43, 45, 47, 49, 51, 53, 55, 57, 61, 63, 67, 69, 71, 73, 75,
Ch. 6: 49, 51, 53, 63, 65, 67, 69, 71, 73
Ch. 7: 11, 23, 25, 29, 31, 45, 47, 49
Ch. 8: 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 31, 33, 37, 39, 45, 47, 49, 53, 61
Ch. 9: 1, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 35, 43, 47, 51, 59, 61, 63, 65, 67, 69, 71
Ch. 10: 33, 37, 39, 41, 53, 55, 57, 61, 63, 65, 69

GENERAL CHEMISTRY LABORATORY, CHE104L, FALL 2007

Instructor: Dr. David R. Burgess

Text: No text is required, but each student is required to buy and use a bound laboratory notebook.

The first semester of General Chemistry is a time for students to solidify the base of knowledge needed to understand the basic concepts of chemistry. Some students will be learning the material for the first time; others will be reviewing material from their high school experience. By the end of the semester each member of the class should be at a level that will allow the class as a whole to progress more rapidly. In this light, the first semester laboratory includes material that is more general in nature and is intended to build a background, not only in the "nuts and bolts" of chemistry, but also in the process and reality of chemical investigation. This is expressed in the following objectives:

1. Expose the students to different forms of modeling and show an interrelation with other disciplines.

2. Provide experience with some basic chemistry laboratory skills.

3. Complement the lecture material by performing laboratory experiments investigating some of the concepts discussed in lecture.

4. Provide experience with documenting data and writing laboratory reports.

5. Develop the ability to work in groups to develop laboratory investigations.

6. Develop reasoning skills.

Most laboratory reports should be organized as follows:

I. Title, Name, Date.

   II.  Objective or Purpose of the Experiment.

  III. Theory.

A. Underlying Concepts.

B. Mathematical Models.

  IV. Materials Needed.

   V. Procedure.

  VI. Tabulated Data and Result.

 VII. Error Analysis. (How confident are you in the result?)

VIII. Implications. Where can this be used?

All data should be recorded in a bound laboratory notebook. It is also a good idea to write a preliminary report in your notebook, before doing the experiment, when possible. A separate report, based on the notebook material is required for each student. The reports are due one week after completion of the experiment or as assigned. Late reports will be penalized. Some reports may require a modified format. This will be discussed in class for each laboratory or exercise. It is expected that all written material will be grammatically correct. A word processor should be used (equations and the like can be hand written).

The laboratory grade will be determined by averaging all laboratory assignments and exercises, each carrying equal weight.

Late assignments: There will not be any penalty for up to three late lab assignments. If there are four or more late assignments at the end of the semester, all of the late assignments, including the first three, will be penalized 20% when calculating the final grade. Only the late assignments will be penalized and this will be done when final grades are calculated, after the assignments have been graded (all assignments will be graded as if they came in on time).

CHEMISTRY 104 DIAGNOSTIC SHEET

I. Have you previously taken:

A. A high school level chemistry course?    yes   no

B. A high school level physics course?     yes   no

C. A ninth grade level algebra course?     yes   no

D. An advanced algebra or higher math course?     yes   no

II. Write the chemical formula for the following (if you can):

water     sodium chloride     carbon dioxide     ammonium sulfate

  III. Perform as many of the following mathematical operations as you can.

A. 10² = _____ (in decimal notation)

B. 0.0135 = 1.35 x 10 ^---- (what power of ten?)

C. 4³ = ____

D. 9^1/2 = ____

E. sqrt(10^-4) = ____

F. sqrt(400) = ____

G. (2 x 10^-3)/(4 x 10²) = ____

H. (1.3 x 10²) x (1.3 x 10^-2) = ____

I. If d = m/v, then v = ____ and m = ____

J. If x² + x = 2, then x = ____

IV. Why are you taking this course? What are your expectations concerning this course?