Chemistry 2150

GENERAL COURSE INFORMATION

Fall 2015

Instructors and Office Hours:

Professor John A. Marohn
Room 150 Baker Laboratory (5-2004), jam99@cornell.edu
Office Hours:
(starting 08/28) Friday, 4:30 to 5:30 PM, or by appointment
Dr. Dan Lorey

Room G29A Baker Lab (4-4958, dl24@cornell.edu)

Chemistry 2150 Mission Statement: This course is an honors introductory course for students with a strong
interest in chemistry. Students should have considerable prior experience with chemistry typically two years of
high school chemistry, preferably AP credit (i.e., an AP score of 5). It is assumed that students have a firm
foundation in trigonometry, the elementary concepts of atoms, molecules, moles, balancing chemical equations,
and applying the ideal gas law. (See Oxtoby, Chapters 1-3, 9.1-9.4) A calculus course at the level of Math 1110
or 1910 is a co-requisite. Note that Chemistry 2070 (Fall) and 2080 (Spring) is the standard Chemistry sequence.
Because of course material overlap, students cannot get credit for Chem 2070, 2080 or 2090 after taking 2150. If
a student takes Chemistry 2070 or 2090 then they forfeit any AP Chem credit. Following Chem 2150, students
continue in chemistry by enrolling in Honors Organic Chemistry, Chemistry 3590, in the spring.
Undergraduate Instructional Office: Ms. Katherine Kempf (5-5287) in Baker 131 handles all questions
concerning entrance into and exit from the course, lecture, and laboratory. For email correspondence about
course scheduling, etc., use chem2150@cornell.edu. Students wishing to register for or drop the course must see
Ms. Kempf. The Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology requires departmental approval for all course
changes. If you are adding, dropping, or petitioning out of this course, a course change form must be submitted to
Ms. Kempf for signature. The Instructional Office is open M-F 8:00AM to 4:30PM.
Lecture Schedule: Lectures are given in Baker 200 from 11:15 AM to 12:05 PM on Monday, Wednesday, and
Friday. If you arrive late for lecture, please do not enter through the doors on the second or third floor of Baker.
Instead, go to the back of the lobby on the first floor of Baker where, near the back of the room, you will find two
staircases leading to the back of the main of Baker 200. Please do not sit in the balcony there is plenty of room
on the main floor.
Laboratory Sections: You need to be enrolled in one of the laboratory sections! Lab will meet weekly and will
be run by teaching assistants under the direction of Dr. Lorey. The first experiment will start on Monday, August
31. For your first laboratory, go to Room 201D/201E, located on the east corridor of Baker Lab. A list of lab
room assignments will be posted on Blackboard. If you dont show up promptly on the first lab day, you will
likely be dropped from the course.
Teaching Assistants: Teaching assistants (TAs) will have regularly scheduled office hours. The times and
locations will be posted on the course Web page and on the bulletin board around the corner from Baker 131.
Office hours will start the first full week of classes. All regular office hours are open to any student in the course
(not just the individual TA's students). The TAs mailboxes are in Baker 131.
Excused Absences and Make-ups: If you must miss a laboratory or a Preliminary Exam due to illness or for
other valid reasons recognized by the University (e.g., a religious holiday or a death in your immediate family)
then send an email message as early as possible, preferably in advance of the missed laboratory or exam, to
chem2150@cornell.edu clearly explaining the situation. Include in your message a request for an excused
absence or a make-up session. Please note that we do not offer make-up examinations.
Recesses and Travel Plans: Because of limited space, laboratory sessions just before and after the breaks cannot
be excused or rescheduled. Make your travel arrangements accordingly. There will be no class or lab on Labor
Day, Mon. Sept. 7. Fall Break begins Saturday, October 10 and instruction resumes 7:30 am Wednesday, October
14. The week of Thanksgiving, there is lab on Monday, Nov. 23, and Tuesday, Nov. 24; there is no class on
Wednesday, Nov. 25. Instruction resumes after Thanksgiving break at 7:30 AM on Monday, Nov. 30.

Textbooks and Other Required Items:

1. Principles of Modern Chemistry, 7th ed. (Oxtoby, Gillis & Campion). OWL online material is optional.
2. Calculator with logarithms and exponential functions. Graphing/text-capable calculators not allowed on exams.
3. Laboratory Research Notebook (notebook with carbon paper or carbonless duplicate sets).
NOTE: The Chemistry 2150 Laboratory Manual will be available for downloading from the Blackboard website.
Learning Catalytics. We will use the Learning Catalytics web service to ask you questions during class to guide
discussion (not for grading). You may access the web during lecture through a laptop computer or through your
cell phone. The department owns 5 Kindles for use during lecture by students lacking a smart phone or laptop.
To sign up for the Learning Catalytics service,
Register for an account at http://learningcatalytics.com
Pay the $12 fee for 6 months of access.
You can use the Learning Catalytics service in multiple courses for the same price. It is included for free in a
number of Pearson textbooks so you may already have access to LC via, for example, your statistics textbook. If
this is case then you do not have to pay an addition fee for chemistry access.
Group Quizzes. The key to learning chemistry is working and thinking about problems. Controlled studies have
shown that students learn and retain more material if they work challenging problems in a group environment.
Because of this, weekly quizzes will be completed in assigned groups of 3 to 4 students in lieu of problem sets.
Every member of the group will receive the same grade. Groups are not allowed to collaborate. Individuals
external to the group, including TAs, are prohibited from contributing to quiz solutions.
Your TA will randomly assign you to a numbered group, which will not change if you change sections. During
the first lab period, your group should schedule a regular meeting time and place, and exchange e-mail addresses
and phone numbers. Quizzes will usually be handed out on Tuesdays and due on Tuesdays, so most groups will
meet over the weekend or on Mondays.
Before meeting with your group, try to work every problem in the quiz on your own. If you cannot solve a
problem, review the relevant sections of your lecture notes and the book before your group meeting. You can also
ask a TA for help working similar problems.
For each quiz, one group member will act as the group chair and will be responsible for writing up the solution
set. This duty will rotate among group members. Normally, the chairs duties will include:
a. Leading the discussion and keeping the group focused,
b. Ensuring that all members understand and agree with the groups final solutions,
c. Writing up the final draft, and
d. Copying the final submission and distributing to the other group members.
Your group may chose to divide the tasks differently. However, every student should actively participate in the
solution of every problem. The problems shall not be divided among group members. Any division of tasks a
through d is fine, as long as the duties are divided and rotated evenly.
Each group shall submit one set of solutions. Quizzes submitted by individuals (as opposed to groups) will not be
graded. A completed cover sheet showing the group number and names of all participating members must be
stapled to the top of each solution set. Late quizzes will not be accepted. The group chair is responsible for
submitting the solution set.
If you must miss a group meeting, try to reschedule with the other members of your group. If you cannot
reschedule and must miss a quiz due to illness or a university-approved absence, report this to the course
Document: Chem-2150-Syllabus--Marohn--Fall-2015--v3.doc

administration mailbox. For an excused absence, an estimated grade will be assigned on the basis of your other
quizzes. If your absence is unexcused, the missing quiz can be counted as your lowest score, which will be
dropped.
Warmup Problems will be assigned each week, typically also on Tuesday. These are problems from the book
that you can solve in order to prepare for working on the group quizzes (see below). In contrast with the quizzes,
you may discuss how to solve these problems with the TAs. Solutions will be posted on Friday.
Examinations: The two Preliminary Examinations will be held on October 8, 2015 and November 17, 2015, from
7:30 to 9:00 PM. The Final Examination has not been schedule yet. Exam locations will be announced in lecture.
If you have a conflict with either of the Preliminary Exams, you can sign up in Baker 131 to take an early exam,
running the same day from 5:45 to 7:15 PM. No make-up exams will be given, and no excused absences will be
issued because of travel plans.
Course Web Site: The official Chem 2150 Web site can be accessed through http://www.blackboard.cornell.edu.
Potentially useful information such as Material Safety Data Sheets, solutions to exams and homework sets, and
powerpoint slides (in pdf format) shown in lectures will be posted to the web site. To access the course website
you need to provide your NetID and password. Follow instructions for enrolling in the Chem 2150 course
website.
Academic Integrity: Each student in this course is expected to abide by the Cornell University Code of Academic
Integrity. A Cornell students submission of work for academic credit indicates that the work is the students
own. All outside assistance should be acknowledged. The Essential Guide to Academic Integrity at Cornell is
available at https://blogs.cornell.edu/provost/files/2015/04/AcademicIntegrityPamphlet2015-p7hd3n.pdf
Course Topics: We will cover most of the material from the following chapters, in the approximate order given
below. We will also cover some material from other chapters, as necessary.
Chapter
12
13
14
15
16
4
17
18
5
6
11

Topic
Thermodynamic Processes and Thermochemistry
Spontaneous Processes and Thermo. Equilibrium
Chemical Equilibrium
Acid-Base Equilibria
Solubility and Precipitation Equilibria
Introduction to Quantum Mechanics
Electrochemistry
Chemical Kinetics
Quantum Mechanics of Atoms
Quantum Mechanics and Molecular Structure
Solutions

Grading: The course will be graded on the basis of 1000 total points, divided as shown below:
Homework
Laboratory Reports
Preliminary Exam #1
Preliminary Exam #2
Final Examination
Total

Document: Chem-2150-Syllabus--Marohn--Fall-2015--v3.doc

100
200
200
200
300
1000