CHEM 181 Principles of General Chemistry – Course Syllabus
Course Duration:
Instructor:
Email:
Virtual Office Hrs:
January 20 to May 15, 2015
Dr. Michael A. Waxman, UW-Superior; Barstow 302C
mwaxman@uwsuper.edu
I plan to check the “Ask Your Professor” discussion area and respond to your
posts every 1-2 days. For more urgent or personal questions, please email me and
I’ll make every effort to respond within 24 hours. I do take weekends off.
Required Texts:
1) “Chemistry: Matter and Its Changes” by Brady and Senese, 5th Edition. John
Wiley & Sons, 2009, ISBN 978-0-470-12094-1.
2) Student Solutions Manual for “Chemistry: Matter and Its Changes” by Brady
and Senese, 5th Edition. John Wiley & Sons, 2009
Recommended Text: Study Guide for “Chemistry: Matter and Its Changes”by Brady and Senese, 5th
Edition. John Wiley & Sons, 2009.
Course Objectives and Grading
The objectives are as follows:
1. Explore chemical principles, particularly the topics pertinent to periodicity, stoichiometry,
solutions, energy and thermochemistry, electronic structure, chemical bonding, VSEPR theory,
and properties of solids and liquids.
2. Develop skills in solving problems belonging to the above-listed topics.
The goal of this course is to expose the students to the main principles of modern chemistry and its
applications. Each student is expected to develop a working knowledge of the topics covered in the
Power-Point presentations and the textbook, to demonstrate some ability to work independently, and to
be able to solve the problems assigned for the homework and comparable exercises. Principles of
General Chemistry course is math involved; at least two years of high school math or equivalent (MATH
102 “Intermediate Algebra”) is a prerequisite for this course.
This is an online course; as such, there will be a significant amount of independent reading
and researching involved in your knowledge acquisition. Please note that Chemistry is a notoriously
difficult subject; you should expect to spend at least 10 hours per week, and possibly much more, to
succeed. You should first study the assigned material from the provided Power-Point presentation for
the assigned chapter and the textbook. The entire course content is presented in the textbook. I cannot
overemphasize how important it is for you to carefully and patiently study (not just read) the
material and make sure you understand the content. Most of the online materials, such as the
PowerPoint slides (with the instructor’s audio comments if available), are supposed to assist you in your
studies but are by no means intended to substitute for your independent work as indicated above.
After studying the chapter, you should solve the suggested homework problems and submit them
for grading by the stated deadline. Only a few (typically, five) randomly selected problems from the
assignment will be graded; that’s why it is particularly important that you complete as many of the
assigned problems as possible. Please also note that if upon reading the assigned problem you
immediately look for the solution in the Solutions Manual, it will not be of any use. Indeed, your grade
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in this course is mostly (84%) determined from your performance on the quizzes/exam; you can’t learn
how to solve problems by reading solution manuals – only by solving them yourself!
If, after carefully studying the chapter as indicated above, you couldn’t solve a particular
problem for 15-20 minutes, and can’t do a related problem the solution to which is provided in the
Student’s Solution Manual (and/or the related Examples in the textbook), you may ask the instructor a
question on this problem, by emailing him. Please make sure to attach a sheet with you attempt of a
solution, as it might indicate to the instructor what the issue is. You are likely to get the instructor’s
response more promptly when emailing to the following address: sofawax@msn.com .
Regarding the homework assignments, please also note that your solution to each of the assigned
problems needs to contain a brief explanation, not just the result (i.e. you must show your work). As for
the dropbox submission format, it might be easier to hand-write the responses (solutions), scan them,
and save the result as either a .pdf file or .jpeg file (.pdf format is preferred). Alternatively, you can use a
digital camera or cell phone to take a picture of each page of your homework, and then upload the
resulting picture to your computer. After accomplishing it, you can then submit the file to the related
dropbox folder. For detailed instructions on how to submit an assignment to the dropbox, please see the
following link (dropbox instructions for students):
http://www.uwsuper.edu/teachingtools/learn/student/coursehome.cfm#_5_1370679
A video tutorial is available as well:
http://www.uwsuper.edu/teachingtools/learn/student/upload/Student_Dropbox1.swf
A quiz will be given on each chapter (one quiz per chapter, 100 points each) at the end of the
study period for that chapter. The final exam is comprehensive. Of the eight quizzes, the lowest score
will be dropped. Note that the quizzes and the final exam are based on the entire content of the assigned
parts of chapters, not merely the content of the slides or the homework problems. Your grade will be
determined by your performance on the quizzes (700 pts), the final exam (140 pts), and the homework
(160pts).
Tentative Grading Scale
>925
900 - 924
875 - 899
825 - 874
A
AB+
B
800 - 824
775 - 799
725 - 774
700 - 724
BC+
C
C-
640 - 699
600 - 639
< 600
D+
D
F
A grade of “I” can be given only when a student is unable to complete the assigned work for reasons
that are acceptable to the instructor, such as a death in the immediate family, a personal illness, etc.
Reasons such as “I have too much other work to do” are not acceptable excuses.
Dates
Weeks 1-2
January 20--29
January 29: HW 1 due at noon
Tentative Schedule
Chapter
Topic(s)
1
Fundamentals and Units of Measurement
2
January 30-31: Quiz 1 available
Weeks 3-4
February 1 -- 12
February 12: HW 2 due at noon
February 13-14: Quiz 2 available
2
Elements, Compounds, and Chemical
Reactions
Weeks 5-6
February 15 -- 26
February 26: HW 3 due at noon
February 27-28: Quiz 3 available
3
The Mole; Stoichiometry
Weeks 7-8
March 1--12
March 12: HW 4 due at noon
March 13--14: Quiz 4 available
4
Ions and Solutions
Weeks 9-10
March 15 -- 26
March 26: HW 5 due at noon
March 27--28: Quiz 5 available
6
Energy and Chemical Change
Weeks 11-12
March 29 – April 9
April 9: HW 6 due at noon
April 10--11: Quiz 6 available
7
The Quantum Mechanical Atom
Weeks 13-14
April 12 -- 23
April 23: HW 7 due at noon
April 24-25: Quiz 7 available
8-9
Chemical Bonding and Molecular
Structure
Weeks 15-16
April 26-May 7
May 7: HW 8 due at noon
May 8-9: Quiz 8 available
Final exam available May 10-15
11
Properties of Liquids and Solids
Please note that all homework due dates in the table above are on Thursdays, while the quizzes are
available Fridays and Saturdays. The Quizzes and the Final Exam will become available at 12:01 a.m.
on the corresponding start date (January 30 for quiz 1, February 13 for quiz 2, etc.). You need to
complete each quiz/exam by midnight of the corresponding end date (January 31 for quiz 1, February 14
for quiz 2, etc.). Once started, a quiz will be available for 60 minutes. The final exam will be available
for 120 minutes.
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Policy on cheating: A student caught cheating will receive a failing grade for the course. In particular,
in your homework, you should not directly adopt any answer from any source – including your solutions
manual.
Is Chemistry Fun??! , or Some Tips for Studies
1) DO YOUR HOMEWORK! It is absolutely essential for your success in this course. Chemistry is
fun,- but only for the one who works hard. Even if the topic presented by the instructor seems to be
absolutely clear - don't yield to this false sense of security! Thoughtful practicing, and practicing
only, is the key for mastering this course. Solutions manual might be helpful as a last resort, but you
will never learn how to solve problems unless you solve them. (Science is not poetry; memorization is
far not enough!) Problems with math? - Use an on-line source such as
http://www.math.niu.edu/~beachy/courses/math110/review/review.pdf, or any Intermediate Algebra
textbook.
2) Your learning can be greatly facilitated by the group discussions with your classmates. Discuss your
assignments and problems of interest with them; discussion is the engine of
science!
3) When you study for an exam, you should reach proficiency without looking into your notes or the
textbook. If you still need your textbook/notes, you are not ready for the test yet. Practice, and practice
again!
4) You are smarter than you might think you are! At the exam, don't panic if you
can't solve a problem immediately. Some problems are harder than others, some might need a rephrasing
to make the solution obvious. Don't rely solely on your memory, trust your common sense, and don't
be afraid to think!
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