Welcome to Dr Larry’s Chem 30A wiki-page for the fall semester, 2015. On this page I will post lecture notes and homework assignments as well as the syllabus and lecture schedule. Please see other pages on this site for old tests and quizzes and laboratory exercises. A wealth of additional material is available on the Laney Chemistry Department website.
Syllabus. Lecture Schedule Laboratory schedule. Homework assignments.
12/10. The key to my Fall 2014 final exam is posted here. Be sure to read the cover page.
12/8. For Part II of the final exam study guide, click here.
12/7. The study guide for Chapters 1-6 is posted here. More to follow. No lab Wednesday but your instructor will be available for consultation or tutoring. The SECRET WORD for next week’s final exam is pitchblende, a major source of naturally-occurring radioactive elements including uranium.
12/6. Monday’s lecture and lab time will be devoted to organic chemistry. For lecture notes and the laboratory worksheet, click here.
Important: Experiment 24 – Titration of Vinegar – is required. You will receive a zero for this experiment if you do not turn in your worksheet or have not performed the experiment. To date I have received only 11 individual reports (full credit) and one joint report (50% credit per individual).
11/23. The key to the Concentration Problem Set is posted here. Also posted here is the key to Midterm #3 fall 2014.
11/22. The key to the Gas Law Problem Set is posted here.
11/20. Monday’s class will focus on a review of Chapters 8-10 in preparation for midterm exam #3. A previous exam will be used as a basis for discussion. Don’t forget that Monday’s ‘titration of vinegar’ experiment (see lab page) is required.
11/19. Having trouble with logarithms? Try instead having fun with logarithms.
11/17. This week we tackle Chapter 10 on acids and bases in preparation for the third midterm to be held Wednesday, November 25th. See lab page for the laboratory lineup. Check out the lecture page for Powerpoint slides and please omit Section 10.11.
Next week’s MAGIC WORD is dolomite, a mineral consisting of calcium magnesium carbonate. The mineral gives its name to the northern Italian alps, the dolomites, source of the white marble (CaCO3) used by Michelangelo in his magnificent sculptures.
11/7. New goodies are posted on the Lab, Exam and Lecture pages. Monday’s lecture will finish Chapter 9 on colligative properties. Pay special attention to the important concept of ‘osmosis’. We will segue to Chapter 10, Acids and Bases, expanding our so far limited concepts. The new MAGIC WORD is ‘veteran‘, in honor of our veterans of many wars. We honor them further with a school holiday on Wednesday so don’t forget there is no class.
11/1. We begin Chapter 9 on solutions. See lab and lecture pages for more information. This week’s MAGIC WORD is ‘cassiterite’, a principal ore of tin consisting mainly of SnO2.
10/23. The results are in. Midterm #2 proved to be short on epiphanies. The median was 46/100 which was bumped to 75 (middle C). Top raw score was 76, bumped to 97. Moving along, Monday’s lecture will begin with Chapter 8: Gases, liquids and solids, but mostly gases with an emphasis on kinetic molecular theory and ideal gas behavior, that is, the gas laws.
No lab is scheduled for Monday so instead you will get a second chance to work Midterm #2. I will assign each of you to a group for that purpose. There will be 4 or 5 students in each group and each will include at least one student who did well on the Midterm and who will be expected to serve as lead tutor for the group. I will change the numbers on a few of the questions to make it a little more challenging. The exercise will be due at the end of the period and will count as a quiz worth 10 points. As always, I will be available for dispensing advice, hints, and keys to the nature of the universe. (Regarding the last, I must quote Noble Laureate Richard Feynman’s comment about quantum theory: “It’s crazy but it’s true!”).
10/15. The next midterm exam will be given in the lab on Wednesday, October 21st. A study guide is posted here. Note that the major emphasis will be placed on the material of Chapter 5 with secondary emphasis on Chapter 6. Next week’s MAGIC WORD will be ‘epiphany‘, meaning a revelation or the Eureka! moment that I wish for each and all of you on Wednesday’s exam.
The lab experiment on the heat of combustion of candle wax originally scheduled for this past Wednesday will be performed instead next Monday, October 19th.
10/10. Hope you didn’t forget to celebrate Leif Erikson Day yesterday. You did? Okay, I’ll give you another chance to remember the Viking who “discovered” America a few hundred years before Christopher Columbus got around to it — your MAGIC WORD for next week is ‘Leif Erikson’.
The study assignment is Chapter 7 on Energy, Kinetics and Equilibrium. Poorly presented material, heavy on concepts, short on workable problems, and devilishly difficult for your instructor to unravel. I will try my best but first try to get your mind around the idea that “the universe is marching steadily toward a state of maximum chaos”. That is a statement of the Second Law of Thermodynamics and there are no known exceptions. Think about it and come prepared on Monday to challenge your instructor with an example that you think refutes The Law. The gloves are off. BTW, the publisher’s Powerpoint slides are posted on the Lecture page.
Monday’s experiment is Expt 7: Specific Heat of a Metal. The link is found on the lab page. Please review the experiment before Monday’s lab.
10/1. Great results on Quiz#2. However a handful of students are not getting it at all and should see me at their earliest convenience. I can meet with students after lab. Making an appointment would be helpful but not necessary.
See lab and lecture pages for updates. And the MAGIC WORD for next week is ‘gypsum’, CaSO4.2H2O, widely used in construction as sheet rock or wallboard.
Chapter 6 introduces the concept of the mole and mole-mass relationships. See the lecture page for the publisher’s slides.
9/24. See the lab page for the 9/28 experiment. Next week’s MAGIC WORD is ‘halite’, the name for sodium chloride that is found in underground deposits around the globe.
9/21. First midterm statistics: Median = 62 (adjusted to 75); average = 60. Adjusted scores were distributed as follows: A (90+) = 3; B (80-89) = 4; C (70-79) = 6; D (60-69) = 9; F (<60) = 4.
9/20. See lab page for the 9/21 lab experiment. Wednesday lecture will introduce the class the the concept of the chemical equation (Chapter 5). Wednesday lab will involve a group exercise involving balancing simple double displacement equations as well as balancing the equations for the reactions encountered in Monday’s lab.
9/15. The Laney ‘Free Chemistry Tutoring’ schedule is posted here. And please note that the MAGIC WORD for next week, worth 2 points on the first midterm to be held next Monday, 9/21, is ‘bauxite‘, the principal aluminum ore, aluminum oxide, formula Al2O3.
The first midterm exam will be 20 questions, similar to homework exercises. See the exams page or refer to the Laney chemistry department page for sample exams. (See Cheli Fossum’s or Pinar Alscher’s pages). The exam will be given in the laboratory. No cell phones. Cell phones must be turned off and displayed on the desktop. Periodic tables and calculators will be provided. The exam will start promptly at 9:00 am and will end at 10:15 am. Latecomers will not be given extra time so please be on time. If you know you can not make it on time, email me. If for any reason you are not able to make it to class, email me. Failure to do so will result in a grade of zero.
9/10. The lab schedule for the week of 9/14 is posted on the Lab page. For Monday, 9/14, there will be a short quiz. If you write the MAGIC WORD on the quiz, you will earn yourself an extra point. And next week’s MAGIC WORD is “galena“, also known as lead(II) sulfide.
9/8/2015. See lecture page for Chapter 4 Powerpoint slides. You are responsible for all of the material in Chapter 4 except for section 4.4, the coordinate covalent bond. The concept of the coordinate covalent bond is a formalism that is not necessary for an understanding of the covalent bond.
9/1/2015. Chapter 3 Powerpoint slides and instructor’s notes are posted on the lecture page.
8/31/2015. Laboratory alert: the next two labs have been switched. Go to the lab page for more.
8/30/2015. See lab page for a post re: measurement.
8/29/2015. The publisher’s Powerpoint slides for Chapter 2 are posted on the Lecture page.
8/28/2015. See lab page for Monday’s experiment (it’s a slight change from the schedule).
Chapter One: sections 1 through 6: Matter. Instructor’s notes.
