Chemistry 201: Introduction to Physical Chemistry

Textbook: Ira Levine - Physical Chemistry (McGraw Hill, 5th edition). This text will also be used for Chemistry 304.

This course is in basic Physical Chemistry, particularly elementary chemical kinetics and thermodynamics. Its syllabus is as follows:

Part I. Thermodynamics ( 6 weeks)

  1. Newton's 2nd law: Work, Energy and Pressure
  2. The meaning of temperature
  3. The ideal gas
  4. Heat, enthalpy, and the 1st law of thermodynamics
  5. Heat capacity
  6. The Joule and Joule-Thomson experiment
  7. The equation of state for an ideal gas
  8. Nonideal gases and the van der Waals equation of state
  9. Extensions to ideal gases of polyatomic molecules
  10. Reversible P-V work
  11. The Carnot heat engine
  12. The second law of thermodynamics
  13. Entropy
  14. The statistical meaning of entropy
  15. Irreversible processes and the approach of a system to equilibrium
  16. Gibbs and Helmholtz free energies
  17. The approach to equilibrium of a chemical reaction

Part II. Kinetics (6 weeks)

  1. Reaction kinetics
  2. Measurement of reaction rates
  3. Integration of rate laws
  4. Determination of rate laws
  5. Rate laws and equilibrium constants for elementary reactions
  6. Reaction mechanisms
  7. Temperature dependence of rate constants
  8. Unimolecular reaction
  9. Chain reactions and free-radical polymerization
  10. Catalysis
  11. Enzyme catalysis

Laboratory:

  1. A Homogeneous Catalytic Reaction
  2. Kinetics of the Reduction of Hexacyanoferrate(III) by Ascorbic Acid
  3. Thermochemistry: Enthalpies of Reaction and Formation
  4. Vapour Pressure of a Binary Solution
  5. Adiabatic Expansion of a Gas

a place of mind, The University of British Columbia

Department of Chemistry
2036 Main Mall
Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z1
Tel: 604.822.3266
Fax: 604.822.2847