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CH-0001 Foundation Year Chemistry

24 lectures that provide a general introduction to Chemistry. The course is divided into three sections:

General and Inorganic Chemistry covers the structure of the atom, atomic absorption and emission spectra of hydrogen, the Rydberg equation, atomic orbital shapes and energies, Hund's rule, the Aufbau principle, Lewis structures, chemical bonding, the Octet rule, Lewis acidity and basicity, molecular shape and VSEPR theory, molecular orbital theory and the concept of sigma and pi bonds, Mendeleev's Periodic Table, orbital filling and electronic configurations, periodic behaviour of the elements, radioactivity, isotopes and their detection using mass spectrometry, the belt of stability, half life, mass defect, applications of nuclear energy, solid state structure, X-ray diffraction, metallic bonding, Close packing, hexagonal and close packing and lattices, non-metallic structures, ionic bonding, Cationic and anionic radii and the concept of radius ratio.

Organic Chemistry covers nomenclature, pictorial conventions, hybridisation, isomerism, hydrocarbon chemistry, Markovnikov's rule, aromaticity, resonance and Kekulé models, Friedel-Crafts reactions, alkyl halide chemistry, nucleophilic substitutions, alcohol, phenol and ether chemistry, aldehyde and ketone chemistry, carboxylic acid chemistry, amine chemistry, homolytic and heterolytic fission, free radical chemistry, addition reactions, substitution reactions, macromolecules - synthetic and natural polymers.

Physical Chemistry covers the states of matter, the gas laws, Graham's law, partial pressure, the kinetic theory of gases, real gases, liquids, Raoult's law, azeotropes, distillation, solutes, solutions and colligative properties, the first law of thermodynamics, enthalpy changes, Hess' law, bond enthalpy, Born-Haber cycles, the second law of thermodynamics, entropy, free energy and chemical equlibria, chemical kinetics, reaction rates, molecularity, reaction order, chemical equilibrium, reactive intermediates and transition state theory.

The examination is divided into three sections A, B and C. You are advised to spend approximately 30 minutes on section A which is worth 25 marks and comprises 25 multiple choice questions each one of which is followed by five alternative responses A, B, C, D and E, only one of which is correct. There is no negative marking so you are advised to attempt ALL questions in this section. You are advised to spend approximately 50 minutes on section B which is worth 40 marks and comprises 4 compulsory short answer questions. You are advised to spend approximately 40 minutes on section C which is worth 35 marks and comprises 3 long answer questions. You should only answer one question in this section.

CH-2016 Further Solution Chemistry

10 lectures that build on the first year course CH-1008 Ionic Solutions. The course covers thermodynamics, definition and interrelation of different descriptions of composition, ideal and non-ideal liquid mixtures, ideal and non-ideal solutions, Gibb's energy of mixing, activity coefficients, chemical potential, thermodynamic equilibrium constants, ionic strength, ionic atmospheres, the Debye Hückel Law, the common ion-effect, solubility products and activity products. There is a strong emphasis on the useful calculations that can be performed with the concepts taught.