Instructor: Dr. Cooper

I. DESCRIPTION:

General Chemistry is an introductory course for science majors and students in related fields.

The course sequence, CH 120, CH 121, General Chemistry I & II, focuses on widely

applicable chemical principles. This course sequence is designed to provide a broad modern

survey of chemistry and to develop skills and knowledge of various chemical phenomena.

Topics include chemical equations, properties of gases, atomic structure, periodic table, and

chemical bonding. Additional topics are included in the Lecture Schedule. CH 120 and CH

121 provide the foundation for further courses in chemistry.

II. PREREQUISITES:

One year of high school algebra.

A year of high school chemistry will be valuable but not essential.

III. TEXT:

John C. Kotz and Paul Treichel, Jr., CHEMISTRY & Chemical Reactivity, Fourth Edition,

Saunders College Publishing, New York, 1999. The Saunders Interactive General Chemistry

CD-ROM, version 2.5, accompanies the text.

LABORATORY MANUAL:

Jo A. Beran, Laboratory Manual for Fundamentals of Chemistry, 5^th Edition, John Wiley &

Sons, New York, 1994.

IV. OBJECTIVES:

Objectives include the following items.

1. Gaining factual knowledge about chemistry (terminology, classifications, methods,

laboratory techniques and trends).

2. Learning fundamental chemical principles, generalizations and theories.

3. Developing specific skills, competencies and points of view needed by professionals

including chemists, biologists, biotechnologists, engineers, geologists, physicists,

physicians, dentists, pharmacists and others.

4. Learning how professionals in chemistry go about the process of gaining new knowledge.

5. Learning to apply course material to improve rational thinking, problem-solving and

decision-making

6. Developing skill in expressing oneself in writing via recording accurate data and

observations in a laboratory notebook and writing detailed and useful laboratory reports.

7. Developing a sense of personal responsibility (self-reliance and self-discipline) especially

in the laboratory by participating in individualized and group laboratory activities

involving experimentation, observation, recording and interpretation of data, practicing

laboratory safety, and completing assignments on time.

V. EXAMINATIONS:

Four exams will be given. Attendance at the scheduled examinations is expected. Make-up

privileges will be allowed only in exceptional circumstances such as medically-excused

absences or emergencies. In such cases written documentation by a physician or other

authorized person must be provided.

VI. LABORATORY:

This course involves three hours of laboratory per week. The laboratory experiments are

designed to give the student first-hand experience in applying the chemical principles

presented in the text and lectures. Laboratory reports will be graded on the basis of the

quality of the laboratory work, the accuracy and completeness of the calculations, and the

answers to the assigned questions. Attendance at the laboratory is required. The laboratory

work should be done at the scheduled time because make-up labs will not be possible.

Unexcused absences from lab may result in a lowering of the grade for the course, and a

number of such absences may result in a failing grade for the course. The laboratory grade

will count 20% toward the final grade for the course.

VII. HOMEWORK:

Homework will be assigned on a regular basis to illustrate principles and clarify concepts.

Selected examples will be presented in class as time permits. The homework will not be

collected nor graded. Homework problems and exercises are at the end of the chapter(s).

Answers to the problems are in the Appendix at the back of the textbook.

VIII. FINAL GRADE:

The final grade for the course will be based on the grades for the four exams 20% each

and the performance of the student in the laboratory (20%).