Module CHEM2041: PROPERTIES OF MOLECULES

Department: Chemistry

CHEM2041: PROPERTIES OF MOLECULES

Prerequisites

• Core Chemistry 1A (CHEM1012) AND EITHER Core Chemistry 1B (CHEM1022) OR Core Mathematics A (MATH1012) OR Single Mathematics A (MATH1561) OR Maths for Engineers & Scientists (MATH1551).

Corequisites

• Core Chemistry 2 (CHEM2012).

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To advance students' understanding of magnetic resonance, and to introduce students to surface chemistry and polymers.

Content

• Surface chemistry: solid surfaces, surface relaxation and reconstruction, steps and defects.
• Adsorption of gases on solids.
• Mechanisms and kinetics of heterogeneous catalysis.
• An introduction to polymers. Initiation, propagation and termination. Chain like nature of polymer molecules.
• Fundamentals of NMR, origins of chemical shifts, applications of magnetic resonance.
• Practical work.

Learning Outcomes

• Explain adsorption of gases to solid surfaces and apply adsorption isotherms to chemical problems; explain and interpret reaction rates of gases in the presence of solid catalysts.
• Carry out thermodynamic calculations involving fluid surfaces.
• Explain how NMR spectra are obtained and understand how the basic principles of NMR relate to the various features of NMR spectra.
• Use simple models to calculate the size of polymers and be able to calculate molecular weight averages.
• Explain and predict the effects of chemical structure on the glass transition temperature.
• Calculate the extent of cross linking in rubbers from mechanical properties.

• Perform more complex experiments in physical chemistry.

• Group working, encouraged and developed through tutorial teaching.
• Written communication, advanced through the use of essay type questions in lecture-support worksheets and laboratory reports.
• Problem-solving, developed through tutorial worksheets.
• Numerical skills applieded through calculations required in practical experiments and in the analysis of data collected in laboratory assignments.
• IT skills, improved through the handling of laboratory data.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Lectures are used to convey concepts and are examined by written papers. This is the best method to assess the knowledge of the students.
• Workshops are larger groups of students where problems are considered and common difficulties shared. This ensures that students have understood the work and can apply it to real life situations. These are formatively assessed.
• Laboratory classes teach students techniques in various aspects of physical chemistry. They are continuously assessed so that the student can learn from one session to the next.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Set work in preparation for workshops.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University