PChemFall2017

Physical Chemistry I

Course Info

• Course Numbers CHM 4410-001
• Credit Hours: 4
• Meeting Dates: Aug. 22 - Dec. 1, 2017
  • No Class Nov. 10 or Nov. 21-24
• Meeting Times: Tues. and Thurs., 3:30-4:45 pm in CIS 3064
  • Problem Session: Fri., 9:30-10:20 am in CIS 3064
  • Office Hours: Tues. and Thurs., 2:30-3:20 pm in SCA 433

• Grading:
  • Quiz (40%)
    • To succeed in the quiz, study the topics covered in the previous week!
  • Midterm (30%) Thurs., Oct. 12 3:30-4:45 pm (CIS 3064)
  • Final (30%) Thurs., Dec. 7 12:30-2:30 pm (CIS 3064)

Overview

This is the first part of a 2-semester course in thermodynamics. This course will cover the mathematical theory of chemical equilibrium, heat, and work. These are the driving forces behind the operation of Le Châtelier's principle, and are routinely used to understand and control chemical reactions, states of matter, and amount and efficiency of energy production.

Textbooks

• McQuarrie and Simon, Physical Chemistry: A Molecular Approach, University Science Books, 1997. ISBN: 0935702997.

Resources

• Kinetic Theory at HyperPhysics
• Heat Concepts at HyperPhysics
  • Note: McQuarrie says dU = dQ + dW, while Nave says dU = dQ - dW. There is no contradiction, since McQuarrie's dW = -P dV (work done on the system), while Nave's dW = P dV (work done by the system). I prefer the first definition.
• News from the frontlines of exploring entropy: Information: From Maxwell’s demon to Landauer’s eraser
• Notes on transformations of variables.

Topics

1. Moving Freely in P-V-T space (Chapter H, with examples from Ch. 16-[2,3,5,6,7], 17-[4,5], and 19-1)
   • Isobaric, isothermal, and isochoric processes
   • State functions
   • Implicit, partial, and total derivatives
   • Integration along a path
   • Relations between partial derivatives
     • Transformations using substitution
     • Transformations using the chain rule
   • Visualizing isosurfaces
   • Using P(V,T) / V(P,T) / T(P,V)
2. First Law of Thermodynamics – conserved quantities (Ch. 19-[2 to 9])
   • Mechanisms of energy flow: work, heat, mass/chemical
   • Integrating work and heat for common processes
   • Energy of a molecule vs. a collection – translation, rotation, intermolecular, etc.
   • Extensive and intensive quantities
   • Using energy balance for fun and profit.
3. Standard States and Energies (Ch. 19-[10,11,12], Ch 26-[3,6,7,8,9])
   • Connecting to analytical chemistry.
   • Spontaneous, irreversible, processes vs. quasistatic processes.
   • Experimentally measuring reaction constants and heats. (Ch. 21-5)
4. The Second Law of Thermodynamics: Energy, Enthalpy, Entropy, and Free Energy (Ch. 20)
   • The absolute temperature scale. (Ch. 16-1)
   • Inequalities followed by each path type. (Ch. 22-[1,2])
   • Heat, measurement, information, Maxwell’s demon and Landauer’s principle.
5. Basic Probability
   • Simple counting (Ch. J)
   • Velocity distribution function (Ch 27-[1,2,3,4])
   • Boltzmann distributions (Ch. 17-[1,2,3,6 to 8])
6. Applications:
   • Quantitative Prediction of Reaction Equilibria (Ch. 26)
   • Liquid solutions: osmotic pressure, vapor pressure, Henry’s and Raoult’s Laws (Ch. 24)
   • Phase Equilibria and Basic Phase Diagrams (Ch. 23)
   • Thermodynamic Cycles, Examples with Refrigeration and Galvanic Cell (Ch. 20-7)