Chemistry 104
Spring 2001


 
Dr. Sharon J. N. Burgmayer [a.k.a. Dr. B.]  Dr. Ed Wovchko 
office: 289 Park Hall office: 261 Park Hall
phone: x5106 phone: x5084
e-mail: sburgmay@brynmawr.edu e-mail: ewovchko@brynmawr.edu
lecture room: Park 180 - Berliner Lecture room lecture room: Park 243 - Physics Lecture room
what I like to do when I'm not here: watercolors what I like to do when I'm not here: fly fishing

Web Page: http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Chem/Chem104sbew/

How to find us:

office hours:
 
Dr. B Dr. Wovchko:
Wednesday and Thursday, 4:30-5:30 PM Monday and Wednesday, 2:00-3:00 PM:
and by appointment and by appointment

 
 

Really Real Recitations:   Tuesday and Wednesday, 9-10 PM or so

There will be two evening recitations/problem sessions/help sessions each week. No matter what you want to call them, during recitations you can ask questions about lecture material, ask how to work exercises and problems, ask the BIG questions...in fact you can ask just about anything - but we always reserve the right to censor them! Dr. B. will do Tuesday evenings and Ed will do Wednesday evenings. You can attend either night, as suits your schedule, or both! You do not need to attend the evening session run by your lecture professor. This is a time for you and your friends to work together and learn together as a group. It can be lots of fun!
 

Want more help?   Chem Clinic runs again this semester:  Sunday - Thursday, 7-9 PM.

Lecture Schedule:

January
 
Week 1 - Jan. 22  Introduction to Chemistry 104
Chapter 15 - Principles of Chemical Equilibrium
The Equilibrium Constant
Week 2 - Jan. 29  Equilibrium is Death
Equilibria Respond
Fun Calculations with Equilibrium!

February
 
Week 3 - Feb. 5  Chapter 14 - Chemical Kinetics
Reaction rates
Rate Laws
Week 4 - Feb. 12  Why You Shouldn't Keep Ice Creamin Your Home Freezer
(Controlling Reaction Rates)
Reaction Mechanisms
Catalysis
Week 5 - Feb. 19  EXAM 1
Chapter 16 - Acids and Bases
The Hydrangea: Mother Nature's Indicator Factory
Acids & Bases with Muscle - Strong Acids/Bases
 
Week 6 - Feb. 26 Flabby Acids & Bases - Weak Acids and Bases
Schizophrenic Acids and Bases -Polyprotic Acids

March
 
Week 7 - Mar. 5  Chapter 17 - More on Acids, Bases - everybody's doing the pH thing!
Week 8 - Mar. 12 JJJJ Spring Break   JJJJ
Week 9 - Mar. 19 Chapter 17 - Solubility and Complex Ion Equilibria
wherein you will learn how silver polish works
Week 10 - Mar. 26 EXAM 2
Chapter 19- Spontaneous Change: Entropy and Free Energy
Are you obeying the Laws of Thermodynamics?

April
 
Week 11 - Apr. 2 Chapter 20 - Electrochemistry
(almost) all you need to know: "Leo says Ger"
Week 12 - Apr. 9  electrochemical cells & cell potential
& dependence on concentration
Week 13 - Apr. 16 EXAM 3
Week 14 - Apr. 23 Chapter 18- Coordination Chemistry [The d-Block Elements]
The Colorful Personalities of the Transition Metals

May
 
Week 15 - Apr. 30  A Metal can make NINE bonds?!
Why everybody needs a transition metal
May 4  LAST DAY OF CLASSES

COURSE GRADE:

 
3 one-hour in-class exams 42% (14% each)
1 final exam 15%
Friday Group Problems  5%
Monday Morning Ten (Quiz)  5%
Laboratory Grade 33%

"One-A-Day" Homework: do some everyday!

It would be unthinkable to begin learning the Mozart Fantasia the weekend before your piano recital. Or to be taught and master a hook shot the day before a basketball game. Or prepare your acceptance speech (in Swedish) for receiving the Nobel Prize an hour before the ceremony (remember, you don’t speak Swedish!). Likewise, practice is required to succeed in Chem 104.

The topics covered in Chem 104—equilibrium, kinetics, more equilibrium, acids & bases, more equilibrium, thermodynamics, redox reactions, more equilibrium, coordination chemistry—will involve a number of different types of calculations and problems. You will be far more likely to learn the material well, learn how to decipher and solve problems and have fun! if you do some practice ‘once-a-day’ rather than use the time-honored technique of cramming for a Chem 104 quiz or exam the night before. This latter choice will prevent you from doing your best.

With the intent of helping you do a little and learn a little every day, we strongly and with loud voice suggest that you try to do "One-A-Day" Homework. Work a problem every day.…or maybe even two. J
 
 

 "Monday Morning Ten" Quizzes If you are faithful to "One-A-Day" Homework, you will look forward to trying your chemistry-problem-solving muscles to get feedback on your progress. To give you a chance to flex your chemistry-problem-solving muscles on different (sometimes more complex) problems, there will be short (10 minute) in-class quizzes first thing Monday morning—otherwise known as the Monday Morning Ten. These will show us how well you are following the concepts in lecture and mastering the associated calculations. These will give you the opportunity to see what type of complex question (synthesis problem) we might concoct for the upcoming exam. "the Friday Frazzles " Group Problems "In my experience (Dr. B.), it is frequently very useful to have students work problems at the board. It is useful for me because it shows where people are getting hung up on concepts or have holes in their knowledge. It is useful to other students because they see ways of working a problem which are different from the method I might have shown them during lecture."

In Chem 104 this semester we are going to incorporate some student work at the blackboard during one day each week. To help eliminate the panic that might be setting in at the thought of having to work a problem in front of others, know this: youwon't be alone! We will assign you to groups of 4 or 5 and this group will prepare a solution.

This is how it will work. During Monday or Wednesday lecture, a problem will be given*. The problem may be directly related to the lecture or it may be an independent problem. Every group in the class should prepare a written solution to the problem. Every Friday, one group will be chosen by a random drawing (probably from a hat!) to present their solution on the blackboard. Every other group will hand-in their written solutions.

*To ensure clarity, the problem will be emailed to everyone in the class as well.
 

Do you have these Questions?
 
Will our "One-A-Day" homework be graded?

No. Your answers to exercises and problems from the text will not be graded.

What if I am absent the day my group is selected to present a problem?

You should submit to your lecture professor a written solution to the problem.

Are there make-ups for quizzes?

Everyone will be allowed to drop one quiz for any reason—absence from class due to sickness or travel or low score.

Will the lowest exam grade be dropped when my final grade is computed?

No, all exam grades will stand to be averaged into your final grade.

What is the difference between an exercise and a problem?

An exercise is a drill question; it asks you to repeat a well-defined type of calculation. An exercise question is posed in a straightforward manner. Once you learn how to do one type of exercise well, all others of the same type are obvious, easy and you can do them faster and faster. A problem, on the other hand, asks a question to which the solution, or type of calculation required, is not immediately obvious. Or, a problem may require that you combine two different concepts in a new way.

The analogy to music and sports (just two examples) is exact. Practicing scales and arpeggios are exercises that will enable you to perform Mozart’s fantasia (the "problem") well. Ditto those tricky basketball shots needed to score points to win the game (the "problem") in the last 30 seconds!
 

Return to the Chemistry 104 home page.
Return to the Bryn Mawr College Chemistry Department home page.
Return to the Bryn Mawr College Chemistry Department faculty page.
Return to the Bryn Mawr College home page.

http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Chem/Chem104sbew/   -  last update:  Jan. 28, 2001