FUNDAMENTALS OF GENERAL CHEMISTRY
- Overview
- Assessment methods
- Learning objectives
- Contents
- Bibliography
- Delivery method
- Teaching methods
- Contacts/Info
A necessary knowledge to tackle this course is the ability in reasoning through models and analogies, and in recognizing, within a complex set of cases and phenomenologies, the fundamental trends, by analysing and simplifying the problems in a critical manner. A good preparation in chemistry, physics and mathematics (at the secondary school level), a high curiosity and the availability of a personal deepening of the different subjects will act as a firm and solid starting point, and an undisputable advantage for understanding most topics.
The students will be evaluated in a single exam:
An oral interview, with attribution of a mark expressed as n/30, to verify the knowledge on all the topics taught in the course.
This class aims to present to the first-year students the foundations of General Chemistry, starting from the definition of atomic and molecular structure, up to the discussion of simple and more complex theories and models of chemical bonding. Intermolecular interactions will then be used to rationalize the stability and reactivity trends of ions, molecules and condensed systems, such as liquids and solids. A special focus will be given to energetic aspects (thermodynamics and kinetics), experimental laws and interpretative models of equilibria of different types.
As an outcome of the first semester lessons, students are expected to dominate the topics of General Chemistry and fruitfully use them as a basis to tackle the topics of following courses.
The topics presented in this course (72 hours) are present in what is normally included in many University-level textbooks of General Chemistry dedicated to Chemistry students. Therefore, only the main topics illustrated in the classroom are briefly listed hereafter.
Atoms and quantum models: from first theories to the contemporary model. Periodic properties. The chemical bond (covalent, ionic, metallic). Shape and size of molecules. Intermolecular forces. Gases, liquids and solids. Phase transition diagrams. Thermodynamics (enthalpy, entropy and Gibbs free energy) and the chemical equilibrium. Chemical kinetics. Introduction to radioactivity and nuclear chemistry. Electrochemistry. Oxidation states, redox reactions, Nernst and Faraday laws. Galvanic cells and electrolysis.
This course is not directly linked to a single specific textbook, even if a large portion of the slides presented in the classroom will be organized following: Peter William Atkins, Loretta Jones, Chemical Principles, 5th Ed. W.H.Freeman and Co., NY, 2010. Several university-level General Chemistry textbooks will be however presented (English or Italian versions), as alternative choices for the students.
Teaching of this course will be done in the classroom only, during the first semester.
The teacher is available to meet the students any day, preferably by appointment. His office is located on the third floor of the building in via Valleggio 9, Como.