Tarleton State University
Department of Chemistry and Geosciences
Chem 1054-010 College Chemistry I Summer I 2006
This course is an overview of the general principles and concepts used in the field of Chemistry. Chemistry 1054 is the first half of a yearlong College Chemistry course. Chemistry 1084 is the second half of the course. The topics that will be covered in Chemistry 1054 include:
1. An introduction to the basic classifications of matter, the types of changes that matter can undergo, the scientific method, units of measurement, and the treatment of significant figures.
2. An introduction to the Periodic Table, chemical symbols, and chemical nomenclature.
3. The representation of a chemical reaction by a chemical equation. Performing numerical calculations involving chemical equations.
4. A description of solutions and the way that solutes dissolve in water solvent.
5. The physical laws that govern the properties of gases.
6. The relationship between heat and chemical reactions.
7. The basic building blocks of matter and theories that describe how these building blocks are structured.
8. A description of the different types of bonds that hold atoms together.
9. A description of the different types of forces that hold compounds together.
10. A general description of the liquid and solid phases of matter.
Required Material
· Textbook: Chemistry: The Central Science 10th Ed. Brown,
· PhGradeAssist: online homework program connected to CourseCompass. Access code comes with text or can be purchased online.
· Lab book: A locally produced lab book that is available in the book store.
· A scientific non-programmable calculator (see Departmental calculator policy section later in this syllabus )
Course Procedure and Requirements
You will be expected to attend and participate in all classes and labs. You will be expected to attend and participate in all classes and labs. In addition, there will be homework assigned for each chapter that are given over the internet using the program PhGradeAssist. The assigned homework problems consist of the exercises found at the end of each of the chapters of your textbook. These homework problems are typical examples of the type of problem that may appear on a future quiz or exam. It is essential that you do the homework problems in order to perform well in this course. These homework problems will comprise one-third of your lecture grade (or one-sixth of your total course grade). There is more information on this homework grading system later.
You should study for this course on a daily basis rather than waiting for a couple of days before an exam to study. There is quite a lot of material covered in College Chemistry. If you wait a number of class periods before studying you will find that there is an awful lot of material to learn in a very short time. In general, cramming for the exams the night before will not result in a good grade in this course. If you encounter difficulties in this course, please seek assistance immediately. Sources of assistance include:
1. The textbook: Reading your textbook may give you a different way of viewing the material in class. This may assist you in understanding the material. The book also has many worked out example problems that may assist you. Since the lecture material is presented in the same order as the textbook, it may also help you to glance ahead in the textbook before lecture so you may have some idea of what I will be talking about in class. Reading a scientific textbook is not performed in the same way as you would read a novel! You should be actively trying to interpret what is being said in the text by perhaps taking notes from the text while you read or highlighting the important material.
2. Your professor: Dr. Arthur A. Low. Office number 417 in the
3. My website: My website has an URL of /www.tarleton.edu/~alow. You can also get there by going to the general Tarleton website of /www.tarleton.edu and looking up the list of faculty web pages in the directory. The website will not only have the answers to the assigned homework on it, it will also contain keys for past exams on it.
4. PhGradeAssist: This is an online homework grading program used to give your homework assignments that can be graded by computer and the results reported back to me. The grades on these homework assignments count as 1/3 of your lecture grade. It is important that you do these assignments.
5. Supplemental Instruction: At the present time, I have been told there will be a student available for supplemental instruction during the summer. Supplemental instruction is a series of help sessions held by an undergraduate student, usually a chemistry major. I probably will not know if there will be a S.I. leader until the first class session. If there is an SI leader, please take advantage of the help sessions. Not only will it reduce the amount of study time needed to do well in the course, it will also result in a better grade.
6. You might want to form a study group with other students in class.
Evaluation of Grades
Your grade is computed based on your performance in the lecture, the lab, and on the final exam. Your course grade is a weighted average of these three grades with the lecture grade counting 50%, the lab grade counting 25%, and the final exam grade counting 25%. A simpler way to calculate your course grade is to take two times your lecture grade, add your final exam and lab grade to that, then divide the sum by four. In order to pass this course, you must receive passing grades (above a 60) in both the lecture and lab portions of this course, separately. The lecture portion can include the final exam if needed to obtain a grade above a 60 in the lecture. Course grades correspond to letter grades as follows: 90 and above-A; 80's-B; 70's-C; 60's-D; below 60-F.
Instead of giving quizzes in class, I will be making homework assignments for you to do online using the program PhGradeAssist via CourseCompass (using the OneKey program). The procedure for registering will be gone over during the 1st class. PhGradeAssist gives and grades quizzes over the internet. Be sure you go to the correct page, the class should read "College Chemistry I” and “Fall 2005 9 AM section". There will be at least one online quiz due for each chapter covered. The first quiz is entitled "Chapter 1 Assignment.” The due date and time will be given to you in lecture and posted on the bulletin board opposite my office. I will go through the introductory material for this program during the first lecture. Each assignment will be graded out of 100 points and will consist generally of 10 multiple choice questions and 5 numerical problems. It is important that you take these assignments!! They count for one-third of your lecture grade.
If you need more practice on problems, there are also the problems at the end of each chapter. In the course schedule that is listed later, there are suggested homework problems for you to do from the textbook. These problems are not graded and are for you to solve to assist you in studying for this course. There are links to the answers to these suggested homework problems in the copy of this syllabus on my Tarleton website.
There are also 4 class exams scheduled during the semester. The exams are scheduled on 3 Mondays and 1 Tuesday: June 6, June 13, June 20 and June 28. Class exams consist of two parts: the first part consists of 10 multiple choice questions worth 4 points each for a total of 40 points; the second part consists of 5 problems with two 15 point problems and three 10 point problems worth a total of 60 points. The total possible score on an exam is 100 points. Exam grades are generally curved. The curved grade is what is used to calculate your lecture grade.
Your lecture grade is an average of your exam grades and your homework grade average taken twice. For example, if your four curved exam grades are 75, 81, 84, and 67; and your quiz average is 82, your lecture grade would be calculated as follows:
Your lecture grade is equal to 78.5. Suppose your lab grade is 85 and your final exam grade is 79. Then your course grade is calculated as follows:
You would have a course grade of 80.25 and a grade of a B.
The final exam is a comprehensive departmental exam that will be given on Thursday, June 30 during class time. It is a multiple-choice exam, graded by SCANTRON.
Departmental Calculator Policy
Programmable or graphing calculators will not be permitted for use on any class quizzes or exams. You may only use a simple scientific calculator (with trigonometric functions and exponential notation). Violation of this policy will be treated as an act of academic dishonesty.
Makeup Policy
Makeups for exams will be given during the same week of the scheduled exam. Permission to take a makeup exam is up to the discretion of the professor. It is your responsibility to contact me to arrange a time to take the makeup exam. Such arrangements must be done with me in person. No makeups for exams will be allowed more than one week after the scheduled exam except in the case of a verifiable emergency. The makeup exam will cover the same material as the in-class exam but will consist of different questions.
Tentative Course Schedule
Day/Date |
Lecture Topic |
Assigned Homework Problems |
Tuesday, May 30 |
Chapter 1 Introduction: Matter and Measurement |
10, 18, 24, 30,, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 46, 48, 61, 68, 70 |
Wednesday, May 31 |
Chapter 2 Atoms, Molecules, and Ions
|
8, 10, 16, 20, 22, 24, 30, 36, 42, 44, 48, 50, 54, 56, 60, 64, 66, 68 |
Thursday, June 1 |
Chapter 3 Stoichiometry: Calculations with Chemical Formulas and Equations |
10, 12, 14, 16, 20, 22, 26, 34, 36, 38, 40, 44, 46, 48, 50, 58, 60, 62, 64, 72, 76, 78, 80 |
Monday, June 5 |
Exam 1 |
|
Tuesday, June 6 |
Chapter 3 (continued) |
|
Wednesday, June 7 |
Chapter 4 Aqueous Reactions and Solution Stoichiometry |
16, 22, 24, 38, 39, 50, 52, 56, 62, 66, 68, 70, 80, 84, 86 |
Thursday, June 8 |
Chapter 5 Thermochemistry |
26, 29, 32, 38, 52, 54, 56, 62, 72 |
Monday, June 12 |
Exam 2 |
|
Tuesday, June 13 |
Chapter 6 Electronic Structure of Atoms
|
16, 22, 24, 36, 50, 54, 64, 68, 74 |
Wednesday, June 14 |
Chapter 7 Periodic Properties of the Elements |
10, 14, 24, 26, 30, 36, 42, 44, 64, 70, 78 |
Thursday, June 15 |
Chapter 8 Basic Concepts of Chemical Bonding |
18, 24, 38, 40, 46, 50, 62, 66 |
Monday, June 19 |
Exam 3 |
|
Tuesday June 20 |
Chapter 9 Molecular Geometry and Bonding Theories |
|
Wednesday, June 21 |
Chapter 10 Gases
|
|
Thursday, June 22 |
Chapter 11 Intermolecular Forces, Liquids, and Solids |
|
Monday, June 26 |
Chapter 12 Modern Materials Chapter 13 Solutions |
|
Tuesday, June 27 |
Exam 4 |
|
Wednesday, June 28 |
Review for Final Exam
|
|
Thursday, June 29 |
Final Exam |
|
Online Homework
The PhGradeAssist program is connected to a program called CourseCompass. In order to register on the website, you will have to go through the CourseCompass website to get to the PhGradeAssist homepage and register. After you register on the PhGradeAssist part of the program, you can go directly to the PhGradeAssist homepage to access the homework. In order to register you will need: 1) a valid e-mail address; 2) a course ID (low82177) and; 3) a student access code. The access code should have been shrinkwrapped with your textbook. Be careful, there are two access codes in your book, one is for the Textbook’s companion website and the other is for CourseCompass and the online homework. Be sure you are using the correct access code. If you do not have an access code, access may be purchased on the coursecompass website.
For students who have never used the online homework grading system:
1) Go to the coursecompass website at www.coursecompass.com.
2) Click on the student’s “Register” button
3) You will see a page of what you need in order to register. If you have an access code, click on the “Next” button. If you are purchasing access via a credit card, click on the “Purchase online access” link in the Student access region.
4) Put in the required material on the next forms. Once again, the course ID is low82177.
For students who have used the online homework system already:
1) Go to www.coursecompass.com
2) Click on the student’s “Login” button.
3) Enter your login name and password.
4) On the my Coursecompass page, click the “Enroll in a New Course button.
5) Enter the course ID (low82177).
Once on the coursecompass homepage:
1) Click on “Student Learning Resources:
2) Under the PhGradeAssist section, click on “Click here to access PhGradeAssist”
3) Pick “Chemistry Summer 2006” with ID of “Lowsum06” to get to the correct page.
4) Under “Your class”, it should say “Chemistry Summer 2006”
5) Please note the URL of this webpage. After registering, you can go directly to this webpage to login to the homework.