Chemistry 12 | Spring, 2008 |
Chemical Principles
Chemical Thermodynamics (the extent to which chemical reactions occur)Chemical Kinetics (the speed at which chemical reactions occur)
Prerequisites
Chemistry 11 or 15
Mathematics 11
Lecturer
Joseph N. Kushick
523 Merrill Center
Telephone extension 2590
E-mail jnkushick@amherst.edu
Office Hours Thursday 10:00 - 11:00, and by appointment
Lectures
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 10:00 - 11:00
Merrill Lecture Room 2
Please realize that you are expected to take an active role in your education, even while you are attending a lecture. A passive attitude in class inhibits your ability to absorb and integrate the lecture material. Questions during lecture meetings are encouraged, and your active participation in discussion meetings will enter into my evaluation of your work. In addition, you are advised that careful review of your lecture notes after each lecture will enormously benefit your understanding of the course content.
Textbook
Chemical Principles, Fifth Edition, by Steven S. Zumdahl, available at the Jeffrey Amherst Bookshop
Laboratories
(Merrill 426, unless otherwise instructed)
| Section | Lab Day & Hour Teaching Assistant | Instructor, Office, Phone Office Hours, E-Mail |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tuesday 8:00 am | Dr. Richmond Ampiah-Bonney, Merrill 431, x2148 Monday 8:30 – 9:30am, Tuesday 6 – 8pm, and by appointment rampiahbonney@amherst.edu |
| 2 | Tuesday 2:00 pm TBA | Prof. Amira Choucair, Merrill 521, x5153 Wednesday 11-12, Thursday 1-2, and by appointment achoucair@amherst.edu |
| 3 | Wednesday 2:00 pm TBA | Prof. Amira Choucair, Merrill 521, x5153 Wednesday 11-12, Thursday 1-2, and by appointment achoucair@amherst.edu |
| 4 | Thursday 2:00 pm | Prof. Amira Choucair, Merrill 521, x5153 Wednesday 11-12, Thursday 1-2, and by appointment achoucair@amherst.edu |
| 5 | Friday 1:00 Thuzar Thein | Dr. Richmond Ampiah-Bonney, Merrill 431, x2148 Monday 8:30 – 9:30am, Tuesday 6 – 8pm, and by appointment rampiahbonney@amherst.edu |
A manual containing the lab schedule and descriptions of the experiments will be distributed separately. Don't lose it! Duplicates will be made at your own expense.
You will be issued a pair of goggles during your first laboratory session. It is required that you wear your goggles at all times that experiments are being conducted in the laboratory.
You may use the lab notebooks that you purchased for Chem 11 or 15. If you no longer have your notebook, you can buy a new one at the stockroom. An inexpensive calculator will also be necessary.
The first lab meeting will be devoted to check-in and the last meeting will be devoted to check-out. A $25 charge will be assessed against students who fail to check out of the laboratory at the end of the semester.
Prior preparation for the weekly labs is necessary. In order to encourage preparation, unannounced quizzes may be given at the beginning of lab meetings. You are asked, in addition, to write a brief (100 word) summary of each week's experiment to be handed in at the beginning of the lab meeting.
Since laboratory experience is essential to one's education in science, no student can expect to receive a passing grade in Chemistry 12 unless all laboratory work, including written reports, is completed.
Discussion Meetings
Informal discussion meetings will take place on Monday afternoons at 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00, in rooms 401 and 403. You may elect which of these to attend, but you must attend the same discussion section each week.
The main purpose of these sessions will be to discuss any concepts that puzzle you and to go over the problem sets. Problem solving is certainly one of the best ways to test your knowledge of chemical thermodynamics and kinetics, and it is important that you attempt all assigned problems before the discussion meeting. The time you invest in working problems will give you a better appreciation of the discussion sessions and should aid substantially in preparation for exams. The weekly problem sets will generally be collected and graded.
Teaching Assistants
In addition to the laboratory teaching assistants listed above, Alexandra Chang-Graham and TBA will be grading the problem sets, and the lecture teaching assistant will be Lauren Benson.
A Guide for the Perplexed
Though you may have developed firm study habits by now, our past experience has shown that students often underestimate the amount of quality study time that is necessary to master the concepts taught in this course. A rough guide that might be helpful as you progress through the semester would include the following elements:
- Carefully review and digest your lecture notes after every single lecture, and formulate questions to be asked in section or in office hours.
- Do the assigned problems without referring to the lecture notes and assigned reading, after you have thoroughly reviewed the week's material. Homework will assigned each Monday and will be due on Wednesday of the following week. Start working on the homework early in the week, well before the Wednesday that it will be due.
- Study and work on the homework with a study partner or in a study group.
- BRING YOUR UNANSWERED QUESTIONS TO DISCUSSION MEETINGS AND OFFICE HOURS. Don't wait until the last minute, however, before seeking faculty help. The teaching staff have experience in calmly dealing with all levels of chemistry questions and offering advice about study habits. We are not particularly adept at crisis management. Seek our help early and often.
- A teaching assistant will be present at all lectures and will establish regular meeting times to provide assistance. In addition, a free tutoring service is offered through the office of the Dean of Students. If you believe that you need private tutoring, please discuss the matter with your instructor.
Examinations
There will be two exams during the semester in addition to the final exam in May. At present they are scheduled for 7:30 pm (until 9:30) on the evenings of February 25 and April 7, in Merrill Lecture Rooms 1 and 2.
There will also be four quizzes during the regular Monday discussion meetings: February 11, March 10, March 24, and April 28.
Handouts
Photocopied materials will be distributed in class from time to time. If you should miss a class (definitely not recommended!) or lose a handout, you will find extra copies in a file in the Chemistry Department Office, 507 Merrill Center.
Department Staff
Department Office (507 Merrill Center, telephone extension 2342): Ms. Sally Campbell and Ms. Cathy Stillerman.
Stockroom (400 Merrill Center): Dr. Kristi Ohr.
Grading
Grades will be determined on the basis of performance on the final exam, the two evening exams, quizzes, laboratory reports, graded problem sets, and our subjective evaluation of such factors as class participation and effort.
Intellectual Responsibility
The statement of intellectual responsibility to which you are expected to adhere contains, among other things, the following statement:
"...the College considers it a violation of the requirements of intellectual responsibility to submit work that is not one's own or otherwise to subvert the conditions under which academic work is performed by oneself or by others."
In particular, this means the following:
- All work on exams must be solely your own. This applies to regularly scheduled exams, make-up exams, and any subsequent discussions concerning exams.
- While many laboratory experiments are done in pairs and while we encourage you to discuss experimental design and interpretation with your classmates, the data you collect and the final written report, including answers to the questions posed in the manual, must be your own. Copying or paraphrasing others' lab reports constitutes a violation of the code of intellectual responsibility. Where you have collaborated in obtaining data or discussing the results of an experiment, you must acknowledge the collaboration in your report. All data used in a lab report must appear in your own notebook, and when the data have been obtained from someone else, the source must be indicated.
- We encourage you to discuss problem assignments with your classmates. When your discussions are over, however, we expect you to be able to work through all the problems by yourself. Any problem assignments that are submitted must be the result of your own understanding.