Lectures #21 and 22, Friday May 14th and Monday, May 17th

The last two lectures dealt with electrochemistry and how chemists seek to convert chemical energy into electrical energy.

So far we have discussed the topics covered in sections 20.1 - 20.4 of the textbook. I know we havn't emphasized this nearly enough this quarter, but it is vital that you read the book for this chapter.

I also posted the homework set for electrochemistry and you should be working on it right away.

Lecture #20, Wednesday, May 12th

Today I finished the Thermochemistry unit by discussing the chelate effect and the content of experiment #32.

The chelate effect was determined based on the increased stability of a transition metal complex when a multi-dentate ligand is attached to it. When this happens, the entropy of the system increases, making the reaction more spontaneous. This is experimentally observed by the large increase in the formation constant of complex ions containing multi-dentate ligands.

Experiment #32 shows how you can experimentally determine thermodynamic quantities. In this particular experiment, the Gibbs Free Energy is calculated from the K_sp at two different temperatures, which will allow us to calculate the entropy and enthalpy.

I ended with a very brief intro on Electrochemistry. I will pick up with the rules for assigning oxidation numbers on Friday.

If you are keeping up with the material you should have the Thermochemistry homework set complete.

The exam next week will cover the material from REEL labs 3-6 and the Thermodymanics unit. If you have a conflict with the exam please fill out the conflict form posted on Carmen.

Song Played Before Class:
Kenny Chesney - This is Our Moment

Lecture #18 Friday, May 7th and Lecture #19 Monday, May 10th

The content of the past two lectures has been on thermodynamic principles. We have discussed the first, second, and third laws of Thermodynamics, entropy and spontaneous processes, free energy, the thermodynamic equilibrium constant, and ways to make a reaction more spontaneous.

The quiz this week will cover everything we have currently discussed about the Thermochem unit. Do all the homework posted on Carmen as well as reading Chapter 19 of the textbook.

Songs Played Before Class:
Friday: Purple Glove Dance - Ohio State
Monday: Third Eye Blind I'll Never Let You Go

Excellent Tutorial Web-Site

I found an excellent tutorial site the other day, which can be found here and it should send you to the link on entropy. It is a great guide and gives useful summaries on topics you may have forgotten from earlier chapters. If you ever find any on-line material useful please let me know as I can take a look at it and if it is useful I can share it with the rest of the class.

Lecture #16 Monday, May 3rd and Lecture #17 Wednesday, May 4th

In Monday's lecture and at the beginning of Wednesday I finished the content of the REEL labs and instructed you what to focus on in the REEL final project. In the first phases of the REEL project you will look at various properties of some common commercial pigments and you will focus on how to manipulate the color and possibly come up with some new pigments.

We are now going to switch gears and move on the the next unit, which is Thermochemistry. I talked about the first Law of Thermodynamics and spontaneous processes today as well as introducing Entropy. The Thermochem homework set is posted on Carmen and we will continue with the Thermochemistry unit, which is Chapter 19 in our textbook. Please start reading through Chapter 19.

Song Played Before Class:
Flash Mob at the Ohio Union 5/3/2010 - The Ohio State University