The objective of this class is aimed to provide you with fundamentals of thermodynamics, elementary statistical mechanics, chemical equilibrium, chemical kinetics, and reaction dynamics. The emphasis will be placed on the understanding of chemical reactions at the molecular level.

Physical Chemistry I, Quantum mechanics, or permission of the instructor

Quiz (Scheduled for 3 times) 20%; Two Midterm, 20% each; Final 40%.

D. A. McQuarrie, Statistical Mechanics, (University Science Books).
J. I. Steinfeld et al., Chemical Kinetics and Dynamics (Prentice, 1989).

Week 1: Review of PChem1
Week 2: The Properties of Gases
Week 3: The Boltzmann Factor and Partition Functions
Week 4: Partition Functions and Ideal Gases (Quiz 1)
Week 5: The First Law of Thermodynamics
Week 6: Entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics
Week 7: Entropy and the Third Law of Thermodynamics (Midterm 1)
Week 8: Helmholtz and Gibbs Energies
Week 9: Phase Equilibria (Quiz 2)
Week 10: Solutions I & 2
Week 11: Chemical Equilibrium (Midterm 2)
Week 12: The Kinetic Theory of Gases; Chemical Kinetics: Rate Laws
Week 13: Chemical Kinetics: Reaction Mechanisms and Reaction Dynamics
Week 14: Solids and Surface Chemistry (Quiz 3)
Week 15: No lecture
Week 16: Final Exam.

[The syllabus for this lecture including detailed lecture plan and specifics on evaluation will be given in the first class meeting (the plans given in this LMS site is temporary and not binding). Please contact the instructor in advance by email if you have any concerns before selecting this course.]

Do not miss the class. Absence of more than 5 times will result in F grade. I found the correlation between the number of absence and grade is very close to −1.
Doing homework is essential. You should do it to your best. Homework grade is based on how hard you worked on it. Some problem sets may require math programs such as Matlab. The lecture will be given mostly in English.

Prelim I and II will be given after week 6 and week 11.

You are encouraged to study together and to discuss information and concepts covered in lecture with other students. You can give "consulting" help to or receive "consulting" help from such students. However, this permissible cooperation should never involve one student having possession of a copy of all or part of work done by someone else. Should copying occur, both the student who copied work from another student and the student who gave material to be copied will automatically receive a zero for the assignment. Penalty for violation of this Code can also be extended to include failure of the course and University disciplinary action.