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1 Chemistry 104 O University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Spring 2015 Instructor: Prof. Christian Ray Office: 367C Noyes Lab Office Phone: crray@illinois.edu Office Hours: Tuesday, 10:30am-12:30pm; Thursday 1:30-3:30pm I answer s once a day, and try to do my best to get back to you within 24 hours. However, using the discussion board may be your best way to get information! Class Times and Location: Lecture: online in LON CAPA at your convenience Discussion: tbd or archived online in LON CAPA at your convenience Required and Recommended Materials: Things that are required (You MUST have access to these to succeed in this course): a) The ability to log into LON CAPA. We will be using LON CAPA to host all of our class resources (including a required e-text) as well as for online quizzes and electronic homework. b) Calculator (this doesn t have to be fancy, but you will need log, ln, and e^ functions) You may find the following resources REALLY useful, but they aren t required: c) Organic Molecular Models (highly recommended, can make seeing stereochemistry and conformations much easier! If you will be going on in chemistry, just get these now!) d) Some type of chemistry book as a reference. Any general chemistry book would work; if you took 102 here you already have Chemistry, 8 th edition, by S. S. Zumdahl and S. A. Zumdahl. Course LON CAPA Site: The course LON CAPA site will have LOTS of information that should be helpful for you in this class. If you have questions, this is a good first place to check, if you re not sure after that, me or one of the TAs. Things that you will find on the LON CAPA site include: -Any announcements that may be important to you (changes in due date, office hours, etc.), to do lists with suggested readings, what videos to watch when, as well as homework problems, prelecture video links, links to video lectures based on lecture material, lecture notes, links to online grade books, exam information (what to study, what will be on the exam, etc), discussion boards, and anything else I think might help you to be successful in this class. 1

2 Course Objectives: a) To address a few big questions that are at the heart of the chemistry you will see in this class and beyond: Why should I not put my hand in the sulfuric acid, and how can I apply these lessons to the real world? (Acid-Base Chemistry) Why some reactions work and others don t (Thermodynamics). What is one common way to harness this work? (Electrochemistry) What is happening chemically during the course of a reaction, and how do we figure this out? (Kinetics) What are all of these biological molecules made up of mostly carbon and hydrogen? How is it related to what we ve already learned? (Organic Chemistry) b) To apply the lessons we ve learned in previous chemistry classes as well as the material we will learn in this class to relevant real-world applications. c) To develop critical thinking and problem solving skills that will be useful in this course as well as other courses that you will take throughout your college career. We will do this by working through problems and experiments in class, the lab, and perhaps most importantly, on our own outside of class. d) To gain an appreciation for the chemistry that is everywhere in the world around us (even if it still isn t your favorite subject). Course Content: Chemistry 104 is a second semester course in introductory chemistry which is orientated toward biological and medical sciences as well as engineering. The course covers the following topics: acid-base chemistry, thermodynamics (2 nd Law), electrochemistry, chemical kinetics, and an introduction to organic chemistry and biochemistry. I will do my best to relate these materials to each other, other classes, and the real world when possible. Course Format: This section of the class is completely online, which will allow you to work at your own pace a bit. However, I often see students struggle with chemistry because they fall behind with the material, for that reason I will have assignments due on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to make sure you re not falling behind. The material will be delivered to you in a few different ways. First, there will be an e-text associated with the course that you may use to learn the material. There are also a set of video lectures that cover the same material in a slightly different way. These video lectures are about 10 minutes long, and are my way of teaching you the material in a more one-on-one fashion. When you watch the videos please take notes, write down questions, and then post the questions to the discussion board. Either I will try to answer the questions, or one of your classmates might come through an even better explanation! We re all in this together, so the more we can help each other out, the better. The majority of the other resources you will be provided are problems for you to work on. Chemistry is a class where you really need to be doing the work. Me showing you how to do a problem probably won t help you very much, you need to do it yourself! We will have homework, discussion worksheets, and quizzes that you will have the opportunity to work on, both by yourself and with your classmates (either in person or through the discussion boards). Understanding the material covered on the homework and quizzes will be a great way to prepare 2

3 for the exams in the class (notice I said understanding the material, not just getting the questions correct). Grading: The course grade is based on a 1000-point scale. The points are earned by performance on electronic homework (10%), pre-lecture assignments (5%), online quizzes (15%), 3 exams (43%), and a cumulative final exam (27%): Graded Work Points Electronic Homework (3 pts x 35 lectures, points max) Pre-lecture Assignments (35 x 1.5, 50 pts max) 50 Online quizzes (6 x 25 points, see explanation of scoring) 150 Exams (1 x 130 points, 2 x 150 points each) 430 Final Exam 270 Total 1000 Criterion Based Grading Scale: Points Earned (%) Final Grade ( %) A ( %) A ( %) A ( %) B ( %) B ( %) B ( %) C ( %) C ( %) C ( %) D ( %) D ( %) D ( %) F You should plan on the criterion based grading scale being used to determine your final grade in the class. Since implementing online quizzes in the summer II session of 2010 and the exam retakes in fall of 2011, I have not needed to curve this class very much at all. Based on this experience I am not planning on curving the class too much this term. With that said, I m not out to fail you all, so if one of the exams ends up being harder than I planned or if the standard grading scale doesn t reflect what I think you ve learned, I will curve the class. If a curve is used in the class, the following guidelines will be used. I reserve the right to change the percentages, but only in your favor (greater percentages of higher grades). 3

4 Normative Grading Scale (Grading with a Curve): The listed percentages of the class will receive the indicated letter grade (Dr. Ray reserves the right to change percentages in favor of the students). Percent of Class Final Grade 15% A+, A, A- 35% B+, B, B- 35% C+, C, C- 15% D+, D, D-, F Please come and discuss your performance in the class with me at any time during the semester. If you are struggling, don t wait until the night before the last exam to talk to me! There really isn t anything I can do to help the night before the final exam. Expectations for the Graded Assignments: Cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated! All University policies outlined in the Student Code (Article 1, Part 4) will be strictly enforced. If you are found to be cheating on an exam or assignment you will receive a grade of zero (0) points for that exam or assignment. Any further issues during the term may warrant expulsion from the university. You have been warned. a) Electronic Homework I have found that one of the biggest problems students have when they take chemistry classes is that they fall behind with the material. If you don t know concept A on Monday, learning concept B on Wednesday will be rough. Before you know it you are lost and just cram to get the best grade you can. To help you learn how to study in a more effective manner, we will have many small assignments throughout the class to help you understand the material as you go. How will we do this? We will have three LON CAPA questions that will be opened after lecture that will be based on the lecture material. Each one of these LON CAPA questions is worth 1 point (unless you are told otherwise). All electronic homework will be found in LON CAPA, which you are probably familiar with from Chem 102. This homework is an opportunity for you to assess how well you understand the material and encourage you to keep up with your studies. These problems are not busy work! They are there to help you better understand the material and determine what concepts you need to work on. The due dates for the assignments are listed below and will be posted on the Chem 104 LON CAPA page. To obtain full credit for a question you must correctly complete the question by the due date and time. You may work problems as many times as you wish with no penalty, only your best score will be recorded. 4

5 In general, feel free to work with other students on your homework, just remember that you will be working on your own for the exam (so don t rely on other students too much on your LON CAPA homework). To access the homework and course webpage, students must sign in with a User ID and password. b) Online Quizzes The goal of these quizzes is to prepare you for the concepts and types of questions that you might see on the exam. For that reason, I encourage you to prepare for these quizzes! You will average two quizzes between each exam; each quiz will be worth 25 points. The quizzes in this class will cover the previous week s material, and will be given online using LON CAPA. You will have 30 minutes to attempt each quiz, and you may have up to three attempts at each quiz. During each Sample Table for how Quiz Grades attempt you will be able to enter each answer will be Calculated twice (so if you make a silly mistake you can fix Attempts Highest Score your error). Each attempt at the quiz will give used Score you a slightly different problem, but if you learn 1 3 out of 3 25 from your mistakes you should have the 2 3 out of (25 * 0.85) opportunity to do well on these quizzes. Your 3 3 out of (25 * 0.75) score on the second and third attempt will be based on the number of problems you get correct and a multiplier (see table). Only one quiz may be excused per semester. I encourage you to work with other students on these quizzes (keeping in mind you will all have slightly different versions of your LON CAPA quiz) and to post questions on the discussion board, but ASKING FOR OR RECIEVEING HELP ON THESE QUIZZES FROM TAs OR CLC STAFF MEMBERS WILL BE CONSIDERED CHEATING. IF YOU ARE CHEATING ON A QUIZ YOU WILL EARN A ZERO ON THE QUIZ. While I encourage you to work with other students, make sure you can solve these quiz questions on your own as well. Many of these quiz questions are taken from old exams. c) Exams A large portion of your grade in this course will be determined by your performance on the exams. Because of this I want to give you some insight into my thought process when creating the exams you will be taking. Chemistry is a subject that is constantly building on previous knowledge. For this reason, there are many basic concepts, reactions, and facts that you must grasp to be successful in this class. This is the basic information that you just have to know. I attempt to write my exams so that about 40% of the exam is based on these basic facts. Suggested Problems and LON CAPA electronic homework will be assigned that deal with these types of questions. In order to encourage you to stay current with your Suggested Problems and LON CAPA homework, the questions on the exam that are based on the basic facts will be taken directly from the suggested problems and or LON CAPA (same? s, different numbers). While 5

6 these basic facts are of the utmost importance, they do not typically explain the how and why of the chemistry, which is typically more important to us as scientists. To ensure that we cover this aspect of the material, approximately 30% of the exam is based on how and why type questions. These are questions that will be more difficult, but I hope and expect that you can earn a good portion of these points. The final portion of the exam will consist of problems that will require you to apply the concepts that we have learned in class to new problems and situations. In the objectives for this course I stressed critical thinking and problem solving skills, this portion of the exam will be an opportunity to demonstrate your ability in these important areas. These problems will be difficult, and I do not expect you to gain all of the points possible. However, I do expect that you will able to recognize the basic concepts that are being tested, and apply the concepts to the best of your ability. You will have ample opportunity to practice these types of problems both in and outside of lecture. You will initially take the exam in the traditional paper format. After the exam has concluded, you will also have an opportunity to take a different version of the exam online through LON CAPA. You are not required to take the online exam, but by doing so you may be able to increase your score. The online version will not be multiple choice but will require you to fill in all answers. This online version of the exam will be open for a certain number of hours (which we will determine in the first week or so of class, but I envision the online exam being open through the weekend, perhaps a bit longer.) during which you will have two or three attempts at each individual problem. Why would you take the online version of the exam? Your final score for each exam will be the greater of Score 1 or Score 2: Score 1 = paper exam score Score 2 = paper exam score + ( (online exam score paper exam score) * 0.3) Examples for Calculating Exam Scores with Online Retake (out of 150 points) Student 1 Student 2 Student 3 Student 4 Student 5 Paper exam score 105 (70%) 120 (80%) 90 (60%) 135 (90%) 147 (98%) Online exam score (95%) (95%) (95%) (95%) (95%) Difference Points earned Final score (77.5%) (84.5%) (70.5%) (91.5%) 147 (98%) You can only benefit from taking the online exam, and putting in real effort should help you gain more points and a better understanding of the concepts which should lead to a better final exam score (25% of grade). To help you to prepare for these exams, copies of old exams will be available in LON CAPA. Please DO NOT simply study from the old hour exams! (This is one of the biggest mistakes I see students making! I know that this practice is a mistake because I did it too when I was in undergrad, and I now know that I would have been much better off taking the practice exam as a real exam.) Instead, use the old exam as a practice test. Give yourself one and a 6

7 half hours to complete the exam without any distractions or study aids. This will give you an idea of how long the real hour exam will feel, and what types of questions that may be asked. Additionally, the practice exam should show you which concepts you feel comfortable with, and which ones you should spend more time working on. Keep in mind, that if I asked a question in the past, I will most likely not ask the exact same question in the exact same way. Understanding the concepts behind the questions is much more important than understanding how to solve a specific question. The first hour exam will be 19 questions (7 points each for a total of 133 points). Your grade will be based on a total of 130 points (3 free points are built in). The second and third hour exam will be 22 questions (7 points each for a total of 154 points) and your grade will be based on a total of 150 points (4 free points built in). The extra three questions will be material from previous exams. I have stressed that chemistry builds upon itself so I will continue to ask you questions about previous material. I will let you know which topics will be covered by the three extra questions. Hour Exams will be held in class on the assigned dates. If you have a conflict with one of the exams, contact Dr. Ray immediately. NO make-up exams will be given. If you need to miss an exam, contact Dr. Ray immediately. Your exam score will be prorated if you have a valid, documented excuse. You must submit a written excuse in order to be excused from an exam (University Regulations). Only one exam may be excused per semester. See below for how exam scores will be pro-rated. d) Final Exam A final exam is required of every student who wants to receive credit for the course. In this class the final exam is cumulative. Excused students must take a make-up final early in the next semester. Due to University regulations, a valid excuse can only be obtained from the Dean of your college. 7

8 Policy for Receiving Excused Grades: In this class no make-up quizzes or exams will be given. A student may receive an excused grade: a) For extenuating circumstances such as family related problems. In this case the student has to notify the Emergency Dean (phone ). b) For medical reasons. A valid excuse from McKinley or any other medical institution stating that the student was confined for the day of the absence is acceptable and has to be presented to me for missed hour exams, or to the Dean for missing the final exam. Excused grades will be prorated in the following fashion: The student s grade on the two exams he/she did take will be compared to the class averages on those exams. The difference between the class average and the student s performance will be calculated and the average of these two differences will be taken. The student s score on the prorated exam will be the class average on the exam + the average of the differences. For example, if a student has an excused absence for exam I, earned 115 on exam II (class average 105, difference = +10), and earned a 98 on exam III (class average 102, difference = -4), the prorated score on exam I (class average 97) would be 100 (97 + average of difference =3). Only one online quiz may be excused per semester. Only one hour exam may be excused per semester. Help and Resources: a) In addition to office hours, I will hang around outside 100 Noyes for minutes after each lecture (3:00-3:50 MWF) to answer questions and/or chat. b) In general, I have an open door policy. If you have a question and are in the building, please feel free to stop by. If my door is open, I would be happy to discuss your questions with you. c) If I am not in my office, feel free to me (crray@illinois.edu) to either ask a question or set up a time when we can meet in person. I will make every attempt to answer your s quickly and thoroughly. d) Learning Center The Learning Center is located in Room 230 Davenport Hall. The room is open for students to work on LON CAPA, attempt online quizzes, or as a place to study. There are extra textbooks and study guides available for students to use in the room. Teaching assistants/someone who can help with questions will be on duty most times when the learning center is open, but I cannot guarantee there will always be extra help present. e) Fred H. Turner Student Service Building Staff located in the Fred H. Turner Student Services building, 601 E. John Street, offer counseling service for emotional problems, test anxiety, and study skills. If you are really struggling with this class or other classes, please look into the services available to you. 8

9 Course Policies, Details, and Culture: General You should plan on spending about 2-3 hours of study time for each class period. Part of this time should be spent reviewing past notes and part should be spent working through the suggested homework problems, LON CAPA, quizzes, and readings. Other thoughts I know that grades are very important to most of you. I encourage you to use the homework and exams (especially the first one) as gauges of your progress in the class. If you are not happy with the progress you are making, please come see me, I am committed to helping you learn so long as you put forth continued effort! In addition to the scheduled class periods, discussion sections, TAs, the CLC time, review sessions and face-to-face office hours with me are resources at your disposal. Please utilize these opportunities, they will help you to gain a better understanding of the material and succeed in this course. I realize that this is a large class. Unfortunately, I will not be able to get to know each and every one of you personally, so I apologize if I don t remember your name or face if I see you out and about on campus or off. I do want to get to know as many of you as possible, so PLEASE feel free to come by and introduce yourself. I would love to talk to you about class, other classes you are taking, or just about life! Finally, I AM HERE TO HELP! My goal for teaching this class is to give everyone the opportunity to learn the tools that will allow you to be successful in the course. Additionally, I hope that you will gain an appreciation of how chemistry influences our lives! I am continually fascinated by the world around us and how chemistry pops up wherever you look. I hope I can show you at least a couple things that you think are interesting over the next couple of months. Good luck in this and your other classes this term, Dr. Ray 9

10 Chemistry 104 O Course Overview Spring 2015 (Exact topics and dates may vary slightly) Week Date Topic 1 January Introductions to class, theory of acids 2 January acid strength, ph strong acids, ph weak acids 3 February 2-6 Polyprotic acids, salts, common ion effect and ph 4 February 9-13 Buffers, Henderson-Hasselbalch eqn, titrations (strong & weak) 5 February Titrations (weak and polyprotic) Exam I Thursday, February 19 th 6 February nd Law and spontaneity, Gibb s Free Energy 7 March 2-6 G and equilibrium, redox reactions 8 March 9-13 Work and electrochemistry, galvanic cells, Nernst Eqn 9 March Electrolytic cells, Collision Theory Exam II Thursday, March 19 th 10 March Spring Break (No Classes) 11 Mar. 30-Apr. 2 Rates, rate laws, integrated rate laws, half-life, pseudo order reactions 12 April 6-10 Mechanisms, rate determining steps, hybridization and drawing structures 13 April Naming structures, 3D shape, R & S, E & Z, isomers 14 April S N 1 & S N 2, reaction mechanisms 15 Apr. 27-May 1 S N 1 & S N 2, MO theory, polymers Exam III Thursday, April 30 th 16 May 4-7 Enzymes, wrap up May 8 Reading Day FINAL EXAM: 104 O: Tuesday, May 12 th (1:30-4:30 pm), but another time will be offered as well (tbd) 10

General Chemistry II, CHEM Blinn College Bryan Campus Course Syllabus Fall 2011

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