Principles in Chemistry

Knowledge

After taking the course, the student will have the knowledge of:

• the uncertainties related to measurements in physical sciences and the definition of significant figures.

• elements and the periodic table and their properties, chemical bond formation in inorganic and organic compounds and rules for their nomenclature, classification of matter in terms of their composition, solutions, and different units of concentration to describe and deal with solutions.

• intermolecular forces and their effect on the physical state of matter and interactions of molecules

• Lewis and Brønsted-Lowry definitions of acids/bases and methods to calculate pH in their solutions.

• the essentials of stereochemistry in organic structures

• the most important reaction types in organic chemistry.

• basic knowledge of main groups of biological compounds (carbohydrates, fats, and proteins)

Skills

After taking the course, the student:

• can apply rules of significant figures to manage and report uncertainty in their experimental results.

• can apply their knowledge of intermolecular forces to compare b.p. and m.p. of different organic and inorganic compounds and predict their solubility in different solvents.

• can convert a (systematic) chemical name into a formula and vice versa and distinguish chirality and chirality centers in an organic molecule to predict possible stereoisomers.

• can perform stoichiometric calculations

• can prepare solutions of a given concentration and interconvert different concentration units.

• can calculate pH in different simple aqueous systems and prepare buffer solutions of the desired pH

• can predict the products of basic reactions of organic and biological compounds and the conditions and reagents to bring about those reactions.

• can follow a written procedure to perform simple laboratory tasks and experiments.

General competence

After taking the course, the student will have:

• ability to communicate about main subjects in general chemistry (especially those related to aqueous solutions and organic chemistry).

• ability to communicate about main biomolecules and their chemical characteristics.

• ability to inter-relate chemical structures and some properties of substances.

• Can work in the laboratory and reflect upon their observations obtained after performing basic chemistry techniques.