Learning Objectives
CHEM 2110 SPRING 98
(things you should be able to do after taking the class and may be asked
to do on an examination)
Hydrogen atom
1) Calculate orbital energies for a hydrogen atom and hydrogen like ions given the
appropriate physical constants (see Oxtoby 2nd or 3rd edition for this topic - chapter 17 in
second edition or chapter 16 in the 3rd edition).
2) Use Bohr's model to predict trends in orbital size with changes in principle quantum
number.
3) Explain the physical significance of the quantum numbers n, l, ml and ms for a hydrogen
atom
4) Be able to explain with the aid of drawings what the angular distribution of electron
density looks like for a given type of atomic orbital (s, p or d).
5) Explain what angular and radial nodes are
6) Calculate how many nodes (both radial and angular) a given orbital has
Many electron atoms
1) Explain the concepts of effective nuclear charge, penetration and shielding
2) Describe the periodic variation of effective nuclear charge
3) Apply the Pauli principle, Hund's rule and the Aufbau principle to deduce the electron
configuration for any atom in the periodic table.
4) Predict electron configurations for ions based on point (3) plus your knowledge of
which electrons can be ionized most readily from a given atom. In particular, you should
be able to predict electron configurations for transition metal ions.
Atomic size, ionization energy, and electron affinity
1) Describe and explain the periodic variation of 'atomic size' and 'ionic size'
2) Define ionization energy and electron affinity
3) Describe and explain the periodic variation of ionization energies and electron affinities
4) Describe and explain the relationship between 1st, 2nd and higher ionization energies for
an atom.
Stability of elements
1) Rationalize trends in stability of isotopes (half lives) and cosmic abundance of isotoptes
MO theory for diatomic molecules
1) Construct MO energy level diagrams for homonuclear and simple heteronuclear
diatomic molecules
2) Predict electron configurations using MO energy level diagrams along with Hund's rule
and the Pauli principle
3) Calculate bond orders for homonuclear diatomic molecules using MO energy level
diagrams and electron configurations
4) Predict trends in bond strength and length using MO energy level diagrams
5) Predict molecular magnetic properties using MO energy level diagrams
6) Explain what bonding and antibonding orbitals are
Lewis Theory
1) Draw Lewis structures for simple species
2) Determine formal charges on atoms from Lewis structures
Molecular shape
1) Predict the shapes of species containing only main group elements using VSEPR
Electronegativity
1) Predict trends / relative values of eletronegativity
Intermolecular forces
1) Predict trends in boiling point based on a consideration of London forces, hydrogen
bonding and dipole-dipole interactions
Structure of metals
1) Describe common geometrical structures for metals; may include naming structure
types, giving coordination numbers for structure types or packing densities for structure
types.
2) Construction of band structure diagrams for simple metals such as Li, Na, K, Mg and
Ca.
3) Determine whether a material is likely to be an insulator, semiconductor or metal by
inspection of a band structure diagram
4) Describe what physical behavior distinguishes a metal from a semiconductor/
distinguish between a metal and a semiconductor by inspection of data showing the
variation of conductivity versus temperature.
Structure and properties of ionic compounds
1) Ability to describe common structure types for ionic compounds using terminology
based upon filling interstitial sites in arrays of packed anions. Specifically you should be
familiar with the structures of NaCl, CsCl, CaF2,TiO2 (Rutile form), ZnS (both
polymorphic forms).
2) Prediction of structure for compounds using radius ratio rules and your knowledge of
common structure types.
3) Describe and use periodic trends in ionic radii.
4) Prediction of trends in melting points for simple compounds using your knowledge of
ion charge, ion size and degree of covalency as guides.
5) Prediction of hydrate formation based on your knowledge of ion size and charge.
Inorganic thermodynamics
1) Ability to define lattice energy, ionization energy, bond enthalpy, electron affinity,
atomization enthalpy.
2) Calculation of enthalpies of formation and other thermodynamic quantities of interest
using thermodynamic cycles, for both ionic solids and molecular species.
3) Prediction of trends in lattice energy based upon your knowledge of ion size and
charge.
4) Use of thermodynamic cycles for the calculation of enthalpies and entropies of solution.
Alkali metal chemistry
1) Describe trends in melting point and density.
2) Describe trends in reactivity (how fast a metal is likely to react)
3) Ability to predict products and write balanced equations for the reaction alkali metals
with oxygen.
4) Describe extraction of lithium, reaction of lithium with nitrogen, reaction of lithium
with water, common uses of lithium
5) Describe extraction of sodium, common uses of sodium, reaction of sodium with liquid
ammonia, reaction with water.
6) Describe industrial production of sodium hydroxide and sodium carbonate.
7) Describe reaction of aqueous sodium carbonate with carbon dioxide.
8) Describe what is meant by the diagonal relationship between lithium and magnesium
Alkaline earth metal chemistry
1) Describe trends in melting point and density.
2) Describe trends in reactivity (how fast a metal is likely to react)
3) Ability to predict products and write balanced equations for the reaction alkaline earth
metals with oxygen.
4) Trends in hydrate formation for alkaline earth metal salts
5) Description of chemical properties of berylium, including amphotericity.
6) Description of extraction of magnesium, solubility of magnesium compounds, reaction
of magnesium with carbon dioxide, formation of Grignard reagents.
7) Description of reaction of hydroxides and oxides with carbon dioxide, solubility of
hydroxides
9) Description of equilibria involving calcium carbonate, calcium hydrogen carbonate and
carbon dioxide in water.
10) Description of decomposition of calcium carbonate on heating
11) Description of synthesis of calcium carbide and reaction of calcium carbide with both
water and nitrogen.
12) Description of biological use of calcium in structural materials such as shells and bone.
Acids and Bases
1) Prediction of relative acid strength for oxoacids using you knowledge of how acid
strength depends upon the number of X=O groups in the acid
2) Prediction of relative acid strength for polyprotic acids using your knowledge of how
acid strength varies with the degree of dissociation of an acid.
3) Identification of species as Bronsted acids/bases and Lewis acids/bases
4) Prediction of relative acid strength for simple acids based upon knowledge of X-H bond
strength
5) Explain how simple metal ions such as Mg2+, Al3+ etc. can function as acids in water.
6) Rank solutions of metal ions according to their acidity based upon your knowledge of
how acidity depends upon cation charge and size.
7) Identify cations and anions as either hard or soft (limited to species listed in Table 8.4
of text).
8) Predict outcome of reactions based upon knowledge of hard-soft acid/bases principle.
9) Define a "superacid". Give examples of superacids.
Hydrides
1) Classify hydrides as either salt like, interstitial/metallic or covalent.
2) Describe methods for the preparation of hydrogen
3) Explain the bonding in B2H6 using molecular orbital theory
4)Describe the reactions of B2H6 with both water and oxygen
5) Describe reactions of NaH with water and SiCl4 using balanced equations
6) Describe reactions of hydrogen with metal oxides such as WO3 using balanced
equations
Redox
1) Calculate oxidation numbers for elements given the formula of a species
2) Balance redox half equations
3) Use the Nernst equation to calculate how electrode potentials depend upon the
concentration of reagents in solution.
4) Convert electrode potentials to free energies
5) Interpret Latimer diagrams
6) Calculate electrode potentials for reactions given electrochemical data for other related
reactions. For example, calculation of redox potential for the O2/H2O couple given data
for the O2/H2O2 and H2O2/H2O couples.
7) Prediction of disproportionation and redox stability using Frost diagrams
Transition Metal Complexes
1) Be able to define what a transition metal is, what a ligand is, what crystal field / ligand
field splittings are, what the coordination number of a complex is, what a chelate complex
is, what a polydentate ligand is and what a bidentate ligand is.
2) To give examples of geometrical isomerism in square planar complexes of the type
MA2B2.
3) To give examples of geometrical isomerism for octahedral complexes of the types
MA2B4 and MA3B3.
4) To give examples of optical isomerism for octahedral complexes.
5) Define ionization isomerism and linkage isomerism
6) To identify what types of isomerism can occur for a given octahedral or square planar
complex.
7) Be able to perform electron counts for low oxidation state metal complexes and predict
their stability based on the 18 electron rule
8) Construct energy level diagrams for octahedral and tetrahedral coordination complexes
using crystal field theory arguments
9) Identify factors that effect the magnitude of the crystal field splitting for a metal
complex. Rank ligands according to the size of the ligand field splitting that they will
induce in a complex (spectrochemical series).
10) Define what is meant by low and high spin metal complexes.
11) Draw the structure of a simple metal complex given an IUPAC name for the species.
12) Classify ligands according to their ability to act as pi acceptors or donors (in other
words is the ligand a pi acceptor or donor or neither) and explain what is meant by the
terms pi acceptor and donor.
Group 14 chemistry
1) Describe the structures of diamond, graphite and Buckminsterfullerence.
2) Compare the physical properties of the above polymorphic forms of carbon with one
another.
3) Describe what a zeolite is and list some common applications of zeolites
4) Describe what a silicone is and list some of the common applications of silicones.
5) Describe the purification of silicon for use in the semiconductor industry.
6) Compare and contrast the properties of CO2 with those of SiO2.