Syllabus for Chemistry 3A

CHEM 3A: Introductory General Chemistry

Spring 2008 Sections 57111 and 51726

Lecture TTh (2:00-3:15) in PHY 76

Lab M or W (1:00 – 3:50) in PHY 82

Instructor: Veronica Cornel

Contact info: e-mail vmcornel@scccd.org using “Chem3A” in subject line, or 638-3641 ext 3449

Webpage: http://blackboard.reedleycollege.edu

Office Hours: PHY 81 (MWF) 10-11

Course Objectives: Chemistry 3A is an elementary survey course in chemistry including lab work. It is designed to give the student a chemistry background for a wide variety of careers including forestry, nutrition, nursing, physical therapy, teaching and other biological and health related fields.

Course Advisories: CHEM 10 or high school chemistry, eligibility for ENGL 125 and MATH 103. Many students try and do CHEM3A without any prior chemistry. It is possible, but it takes a lot of hard work. They need to start seeing a tutor right from the beginning. Students will need to be familiar with basic algebra before taking this course as there is a lot of math involved.

Text and Materials:

1. Nivaldo J. Tro: “Introductory Chemistry” 2^nd Ed.

2. Weiner and Peters, Introduction to Chemical Principles, A Laboratory Approach, 6^th Ed.

You will need safety glasses ($3 rental), materials to take notes and a calculator with “exp” (or “EE”) and “log” keys ($12 at Walmart).

Lecture Notes: The ability to listen carefully and to take good lecture notes in an essential college skill. Students should print out the fill-in notes and homework assignments off my Blackboard website prior to coming to class. Studies have shown that 90% of the lecture material is retained if you review the lecture within 24 hours after class. If you wait a week you will only retain 35%.

Laboratory Work: Lab work will follow as closely as possible the material discussed in the lectures. The student is required to complete all the assigned experiments. 50% of the final lab grade will include the average of the graded lab report sheets, the efforts to reach the goal of the experiments, the accuracy of measurements and calculations, and the lab technique shown during the experiments. The other 50% of your lab grade is determined by the average of the lab quizzes. Please refer to the lab schedule. If you know you need to miss a lab, attend the other lab afternoon the same week, or make an arrangement with me for another time that week. No make up labs will be allowed after the week they were assigned as the chemicals and equipment will no longer be available.

Homework: Homework will be assigned every lecture. It is essential to your success in this class that you do all the assigned homework and read the relevant sections in your Textbook. All homework will be collected at the beginning of the following lecture and selected problems graded. This is to ensure that you work consistently and can apply what you learn to problems. There will be no make-up homework assignments, but I will drop the lowest two homework assignments. Do not do your homework with somebody else. You only learn by doing the homework problems for yourself. You can ask another student or tutor to help you with some problems, but you need to work them out for yourself. If two students hand in identical homework, I will deduct points from both students! Even if you get all the problems wrong, you will still get 70% for the assignment for attempting all the problems yourself, and you will learn where you are going wrong when I go over the homework.

Drop Date: The last day to drop this class is Friday March 7, 2008. After this date a grade will be assigned.

Change to Pass/No Pass: The last day to make this change is Friday, February 8, 2008

Martin Luther King Jr. Day: Monday, January 21. No classes held

Washington Day: Monday February 18. No classes held

Spring Break: March 17-21

Final Exam Date: Tuesday, May 6 Part A and Thursday, May 8 Part B (Not on Thursday, May 15 as written in the class schedule). Not cumulative except for nomenclature and mole calculations.

Attendance: Attendance in lecture and lab is mandatory. As an incentive to attend lectures, an additional two homework assignments will be dropped at the end of the semester if a student attends 90% of the lectures. The student will be dropped automatically if she/he misses 4 consecutive classes without contacting the instructor. Always inform the instructor ahead of time if you know you have to miss an exam. If you miss a lecture you need to read and summarize the chapter in the textbook before meeting with the instructor to discuss any problems. The homework will be on the internet notes so that you can do the homework even if you missed the lecture. If you know that you will miss a class you can submit your homework at switchboard or your answers via e-mail, but I must receive the homework before I go over the answers in class.

Grading and Exams: There will be 4 exams covering the material of previous lectures. These 4 exams will be equally weighted. There will be 2 lab quizzes covering the material from the previous labs. Participation will be graded on completion of homework and participation during class and lab.

The final grade is calculated as follows:

Laboratory (25%):	Lab Quizzes 12.5%
	Assignments 12.5%
Lecture Material (75%):	Exams 65%
	Homework Assignments 10%

The grading scale to be used is A 90-100%, B 80-89%, C 70-79%, D 60-69%, F 0-59%

Please be aware of the following rules:

Tardiness, leaving early, and sleeping during lecture or lab sessions are considered disruptive behavior and will result in a partial or full absence being recorded. Students will need to sign the sign-in sheet within the first 10 minutes of class.
Fraudulent behavior during exams is graded with a (0) zero.
Copying of homework, experimental data, and lab reports is considered fraudulent behavior for both the copier and the originator. DO NOT HAND IN IDENTICAL HOMEWORK.
Hand in your lab report before leaving the lab. Turning in lab reports later (including if you do a make-up a lab) will result in deduction of points.
No homework may be handed in after I have gone over it in class. No alternative homework will be given. I will drop the lowest two homework assignments though.
No extra credit will be given. You need to work consistently from the beginning.
Dangerous behavior in the lab will result in the student being asked to leave the lab.
Please turn your cell phones onto “silent buzzer” mode during lectures so as not to disturb the class. No cell phones or i-pods will be allowed during exams.
In the lab:

· Safety glasses need to be worn whenever somebody near you is conducting an experiment.

· No experiments may be conducted without the instructor or teaching assistant present

· No horseplay or unauthorized experiments. Do not taste any chemical or smell any chemical directly.

· No visitors inside the lab. You need to go outside to meet with them.

· No food or drinks allowed.

· Backpacks should not be left on the floor where others can trip over them.

· Shoes must be worn in the lab at all times.

· Long hair should be tied back so it will not fall into chemicals or flames.

· If any accident occurs in the lab, inform your instructor and follow safety procedures. (To be discussed during first lab period)

· Clean up any spills promptly (Clean-up procedures will be discussed during first lab period)

· Do not point the open end of a test tube towards anybody

· Turn off flames when working with organic solvents. Dispose of them in waste bottles in the fume hood, not down the sink.

· At the beginning of each lab your instructor will inform you of any special safety precautions and how to dispose of used chemicals. You need to be on time for the lab so that you hear these instructions.

· Do not dispose of matches, paper or solid chemicals in the sink. Use the large evaporating dishes for spent matches.

· Put broken glassware in the “broken glassware bucket”, not with the trash.

· Before leaving the lab, wipe the desktop and wash your hands with soap and water.

If you have a verified need for an academic accommodation or materials in alternate media (i.e., Braille, large print, electronic text, etc.) per the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, please contact me as soon as possible.

Lecture and Lab Schedule:

CHEM 3A Spring 2008

	Date	Mon or Wed Lab	TTh Lectures (Chapters in Tro)
M	Jan 7	Safety, Safety Quiz. Check in lockers. Slime	1. Intro 2. Measurement 3. Matter, Physical and Chemical Changes,
M	Jan 14	Experiment 1 Properties and Changes of Matter	4. The Atom 5. Molecules and Compounds
M	Jan 21	Monday: Martin Luther King Day Exp. 3 Chromatography	5. Nomenclature 6. Percent Comp., Empirical Formulas
Fri	Jan 25	Last Day to drop class to avoid a “W”
M	Jan 28	Experiment 4 Densities of Liquids and Solids	7. Reaction Equations 8. Mole
M	Feb 4	Lecture Exam 1	8. Stoichiometry 8.6 Limiting Reactions
Fri	Feb 8	Last Day to change class to Pass/No Pass grading
M	Feb 11	Experiment 5 Simplest Formula of a Compound	7.9-7.10 Reactions (Including RedOx) 7.4 Balancing Equations
M	Feb 18	Monday: President’s Day Experiment 6 Hydrates	7.7 Net Ionic Equations, electrolytes 6. Thermochemistry and Calorimetry
M	Feb 25	Lab Quiz 1 (Labs 1, 3, 4, 5 and Safety)	9 Electronic configuration 9 The Periodic Table
M	Mar 3	Lecture Exam 2	10 Bonding 10.7 Geometry
Fri	Mar 7	Last Day to drop class (letter grades assigned after this date)
M	Mar 10	Experiment 12 Types of Chemical Reactions	10.8 Polarity 11. Gases
M	Mar 17-21	Spring Break
M	Mar 24	Experiment 21: Chemistry of Household Products
M	Mar 31	Calorimetry	11. Gas Laws 12. Liquids, Solids and Intermolecular Formulas
M	Apr 7	Experiment 16 Molar Volume of a Gas	Tues: Lecture Exam 3 13. Solutions, Dilutions
M	Apr 14	Experiment 15 Molecular Models Lab	14 Acids and Bases 14.6 Titrations
M	Apr 21	Experiment 22 Titration of Acids and Bases I	14.9 The pH of a Solution 15. Chemical Equilibrium
M	Apr 28	Check Out of Lockers Lab Quiz 2 (Labs 6, 12, 15, 16, 22 and calorimetry)	17: Radioactivity and Nuclear Chemistry
M	May 5	Tutorial	Final Exam Tues, May 6 (Part A) and Thur May 8 (Part B)