Module CHEM4411: CHEMICAL PHYSICS 4

Department: Chemistry

CHEM4411: CHEMICAL PHYSICS 4

Prerequisites

• Chemical Physics 3 (CHEM3411), Molecules and their Interactions (CHEM3041), AND Computational Chemistry (CHEM2061).

Corequisites

Excluded Combination of Modules

• Core Chemistry 4 (CHEM4311) AND Contemporary Chemistry (CHEM4321).

Aims

• To build on material taught at level three and provide students with an advanced overview of more specialised areas.

Content

• Photochemistry.
• Molecular reaction dynamics.
• Supramolecular and Nanoscale systems OR Macromolecular chemistry

Learning Outcomes

• appreciate the role of lasers in photochemistry;
• explain how differential cross sections are related to rate constants and how they can be measured;
• deduce the qualitative outcome of a reaction from the key features of the potential energy surface and vice versa;
• calculate and explain how reaction exothermicity is proportioned amongst the internal states of reaction products;
• explain the link between the detailed gas phase properties and averaged observables in gas and solution phase reactions;
• describe the individual steps in charge transfer and chemical reactions and describe how they can be observed;
• be able to calculate electron transfer rate constants from experimental data.
• After attending the supramolecular and nanoscale systems lecture courses, students should be able to:
• understand the role of molecular structure and intermolecular interactions in determining the properties of molecular assemblies and materials;
• understand the relationship between the size or scale of an assembly and the bulk properties of a material;
• After attending the macromolecular chemistry lecture courses, students should be able to:
• understand the quantitative description of the three dimensional distribution of polymer molecules and use this description to explain retractive forces in elastomers;
• distinguish between major synthetic routes to polymer molecules and describe the characteristic features of each;
• know how to use chemical thermodynamics to predict phase behaviour in polymer blends and solutions;
• describe phase diagrams and microstructures for block copolymers.

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

• Facts and new concepts are introduced in the lecture courses.
• Students' knowledge is tested by examination.
• Undergraduates are aided in the learning process by workshops where they attempt sample problems and office hours where staff are available to answer any queries about the lecture courses.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Workshop problems.

■ 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