Learning Outcomes:
By the end of this module, you will should be able to:
1. Compare and contrast the relative properties of main group elements and predict outcomes of their reactions with hydrogen, oxygen, water and halogens
2. Use Lewis structures and the Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion Theory (VSEPR) to predict and explain molecular shapes
3. Draw the unit cells of solid state structures of selected elements, ionic, molecular and network solids, and comment on the nature of alloys
4. Calculate coordination number, formula units per unit cell, symmetry and stoichiometry of simple solid state structures (A, AB, AB2 and AB3 systems)
5. Calculate the translational, rotational and vibration partition functions of molecules
6. Calculate the equilibrium constant and reaction quotients for various reversible chemical processes.
7. Calculate the transport properties of gases and liquids from first principles.
8. Determine the order, rate and mechanism of advanced chemical reactions
9 Calculate the rate constants of gas and liquid chemical reactions.
10. Calculate rate constants of gas phase reaction from transition state theory
Indicative Module Content:
Main group chemistry: Classifying the elements (metals, semimetals and nonmetals); predicting molecular shape using valence electron pair repulsion model; survey of the reactivity and properties of s- and p-block elements, including their reactions with hydrogen, oxygen, water and halogens; allotropes of main group elements and their properties.
Solid state chemistry: Crystalline and amorphous solids; detailed discussion of cubic unit cells and examples of metallic, ionic, network and molecular solids; Bravais lattices; packing efficiency in the solid state; calculation of density and particle radius from solid state structure; interstitial sites, AB and AB2 binary solids and AB3 ternary structures (rock salt, zinc blende, rutile, fluorite, etc); solid-state of carbon allotropes; solid state defects, including semiconductors and alloys.
We will start by examining the kinetics of several common classes of chemical reactions. This will be followed by the examination of thermodynamic and kinetic behavior of chemical reactions at the molecular scale. Quantum and statistical mechanics will be introduced to describe the energetics of simple molecules in the gas phase. This will allow us to describe the molecular origins of thermodynamic variables, such as, heat capacity, enthalpy and entropy. The origin of equilibrium and kinetic parameters will be derived from first principles.