General Chemistry I Student Competencies
Chemistry: The Central Science, Brown, Lemay, and Bursten, 2003.
Chapter 1 Student competencies
Upon completion of this chapter, students
should be able to:
-
Describe the features of the three states of matter at the macroscopic
and at the molecular/atomic level.
-
Understand what is specifically meant and be able to identify each of the
following: atom, molecule, substance, element, compound, homogeneous mixture,
heterogeneous mixture.
-
Understand and describe the mixture separation techniques of filtration,
distillation, and chromatography.
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Understand the law of constant composition (also referred to as
the law of definite proportions).
-
Describe and identify each of the following: chemical property, physical
property, intensive property, extensive property, physical change, and
chemical change.
-
Understand the process of acquiring knowledge in science.
-
Know the metric units and the prefixes ranging from 10-6 to
106.
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Understand the Kelvin, Celsius, and Farenheit temperature scales and be
able to convert among them without the aid of any given formulas.
-
Understand volume units commonly used in chemistry.
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Know the density formula and be able to use it to determine density, volume,
or mass.
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Understand precision and accuracy.
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Be able to identify the number of significant digits in a number and to
determine the number of significant digits that result from a calculation
involving addition/subtraction and multiplication/division operations.
-
Quickly conduct organized dimensional analysis calculations that require
multiple factors to convert from one unit to another
Chapter 2 Student competencies
Upon completion of this chapter, students
should be able to:
-
State and explain the four major postulates of Dalton's atomic theory.
-
State and understand the law of conservation of mass, the law of multiple
proportions, and the law of electrostatic attraction..
-
Describe Thomson's cathode ray experiment and Millikan's oil-drop experiment.
Identify the electron properties that were measured from each.
-
Understand radioactivity and describe the particles associated with three
most common forms.
-
Describe Rutherford's alpha particle gold-foil experiment and understand
the implications of it on atomic structure theory.
-
Describe the modern view of atomic structure in terms of the three subatomic
particles. Understand the location of these within the atom, their
charges and relative masses. Understand the relative sizes of the
nucleus and atom.
-
Know what is meant by an atomic mass unit and an angstrom.
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Know the following terms: isotopes, atomic number, mass number, and nuclide.
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Be able to identify the number of protons, neutrons, and electrons in a
given atom or ion.
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Draw the complete chemical symbol for a given nuclide.
-
Understand the arrangment of the periodic table; identify groups, periods,
alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, halogens, and inert gases; differentiate
among metals, metalloids, and nonmetals.
-
For a given compound, write the chemical formula, molecular formula, empirical
formula and structural formula.
-
Know what anions, cations, and polyatomic ions are.
-
Use the periodic table to predict the charges of common ions found in ionic
compounds. Use this information to write the formula for a given
ionic compound.
-
Be able to name a given inorganic compound; be able to write the formula
for a given name.
-
Know the names for common polyatomic cations and anions, and oxyanions.
-
Know how to name a given acid.
-
Know how to name a binary molecular compound.
Chapter 3 Student competencies
Upon completion of this chapter, students
should be able to:
-
Know how to write and to balance chemical equations.
-
Write a balanced chemical equation for the combustion of a given hydrocarbon.
-
Write a balanced chemical equation for the reaction of an alkali metal
with water.
-
Write a balanced chemical equation for a combination reaction.
-
Write a balanced chemical equation for the thermal decomposition of metal
carbonates.
-
Know how to calculate the average atomic mass of an element. Understand
the origin of the atomic masses listed on the periodic table.
-
Use the isotope masses and average atomic mass to calculate the fractional
isotopic abundances.
-
Know exactly how the amu unit is defined.
-
Quickly and accurately calculate formula or molecular weights for a given
substance.
-
Calculate the percentage composition of a compound.
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Understand what a mole is; understand the basis for Avogadro's number.
-
Calculate the molar mass of a given substance.
-
Interconvert masses, moles, and number of atoms or molecules.
-
Calculate empirical formulas from percent composition and from combustion
analysis data.
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Understand and apply reaction stiochiometric principles to chemical reactions.
-
Determine the theoretical yield for a reaction when given specific quantities
of reactants.
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Identify limiting and excess reagents.
-
Calculate the amount of remaining excess reagent.
-
Use actual yield data to determine percent yields.
Chapter 4 Student competencies
-
Understand the terms solution, solvent, solute, electrolyte, and
nonelectrolye as well as the context in which they are used.
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Describe the solution process; explain the energies required or released
and the specific interactions that occur during each step.
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Discuss the properties of water and the interactions that make water such
an effective solvent for ionic compounds.
-
Differentiate between strong and weak electrolytes; identify whether a
substance is a nonelectrolyte, a weak electrolyte, or a strong electrolyte.
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Use solubility tables to predict which reactions will produce precipitates.
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Write balanced molecular equations, complete ionic equations, and net ionic
equations for a given set of reactants that may or may not form a precipitate.
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Know the common strong acids and bases.
-
Write the chemical equations for the reactions of strong or weak acids
and bases with water.
-
Write balanced molecular and net ionic equations for neutralization reactions.
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Write molecular and net ionic equations for the reaction of acids with
carbonates and with sulfides.
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Understand why acid-base, precipitation, and oxidation-reduction reactions
go to completion.
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Define what is meant by oxidation and reduction.
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Determine the oxidation numbers for all atoms within a compound or an ion.
-
Understand the basis for the oxidation number system of assigning charge.
-
Write balanced molecular and net ionic equations for the oxidation of metals
by acids and salts.
-
Use the activity series to predict whether a certain metal will be oxidized
either by an acid or by a particular salt.
-
Know the relative placement of groups of metals on the activity series.
-
Understand how the activity series is related to the natural state of metals.
-
Calculate the molarity of a solution.
-
Interconvert among molarity, moles and volume.
-
Express the concentration of an electrolyte.
-
Understand the necessary steps to prepare a diluted solution and to calculate
its concentration.
-
Determine theoretical reaction yields and carry out other solution stoichiometric
calculations for reactions that involve one or more aqueous reactant solutions.
-
Determine the number of moles of solute in a given amount of reactant solution.
-
Determine concentrations from titration measurements.
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Understand what equivalence points and end points are.
-
Be familiar with common acid-base indicator dyes and understand how they
work.
-
Outline the necessary steps to complete a titration.
Chapter 5 Student competencies
-
Know what is meant by the terms energy, system, surroundings, closed
system, energy, heat, work, potential energy, and kinetic energy.
Relate chemical energy to the potential energy of electrostatic interactions
and thermal energy to the kinetic energy of molecules.
-
Calculate kinetic energy in Joules; interconvert among calories, joules
and nutritional calories.
-
Know the First Law of Thermodynamics
-
Understand the interconversion between potential and kinetic energy.
-
Calculate the energy change of a system associated with work and heat inputs
or outputs.
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Understand the sign conventions for heat, work, and energy changes.
-
Describe endothermic and exothermic processes.
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Understand what a state function is.
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Know what the change in enthalpy for a system corresponds to; understand
the sign convention for enthalpy changes.
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Relate enthalpy changes to pressure-volume work.
-
Calculate the enthalpy change that occurs when a given amount of reactant
(product) is consumed (produced).
-
Know the meaning and understand the context of these terms: specific
heat, heat capacity, molar heat capacity.
-
Calculate the specific heat of a substance from given data.
-
Use specific heat, mass, and temperature change data to determine q.
-
Relate q to the change in enthalpy for a particular reaction.
-
Describe how to conduct simple constant-pressure calorimetery experiments.
-
Use calorimetry data to calculate q and the change in enthalpy for a particular
reaction.
-
Use calorimetry calibration data to determine the heat capacity for the
calorimeter.
-
Understand how body temperature is regulated.
-
Describe the three primary ways in which heat is transferred from the body
to its surroundings.
-
Use Hess's Law to determine the enthalpy change for a reaction.
-
Use enthalpies of formation to determine the enthalpy change for a reaction.
-
Know exactly what is meant by the standard enthalpy of formation of a substance.
-
Understand key energy considerations regarding food and fuels.
-
Understand the energy systems used by the human body and how food specifically
provides this energy.
-
Describe the chemical makeup of the three major types of fossil fuels
-
Describe the coal gasification process.
-
Explain how nuclear energy is obtained and the amount of power obtained
from it in the U.S..
-
Discuss the advantages and barriers to hydrogen fuel use in future years.
-
Identify the major sources of renewable fuels.
Chapter 6 Student competencies
Upon completion of this chapter, students
should be able to:
-
Know the relative placement in terms of wavelength, frequency, and energy
of the various regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.
-
For a given photon, calculate the energy, frequency, or wavelength.
-
Convert between maximum wavelengths and dissociation energies.
-
Diagram the photoelectric effect; solve problems involving photon energy,
electron kinetic energy, and the minimum energy required to eject electrons
from a metal surface.
-
Calculate changes in energy associated with electronic transitions for
the the hydrogen atom.
-
Determine the Debroglie wavelength of a particle.
-
Know the four quantum numbers, the values they can have, and what each
quantum number represents.
-
Discuss the orientations in space of s, p, and d orbitals in various shells.
-
For multielectron atoms, know the ordering of the energies of atomic orbitals.
-
Draw the electron configuration and orbital diagram for any given atom.
-
State Hund's rule and why it applies to atoms in the ground state.
Chapter 7 Student competencies
Upon completion of this chapter, students
should be able to:
-
Explain what happens to the size of a given electron orbital as the number
of protons in the nucleus increases.
-
Predict the relative sizes of different atoms and ions. Explain why
these trends occur in terms of effective nuclear charge and electron configuration.
-
Understand the factors which affect the magnitude of electrostatic (Coulombic)
interactions. Apply these principles to explain periodic trends.
-
Define ionization energy and explain the periodic trends that are observed.
Use electron configuration to explain the deviations in these trends that
occur across a given row.
-
Define electron affinities and predict and explain the periodic trends
that occur.
-
Understand the reactions of:
-
Metal oxides with water
-
Nonmetal oxides with water
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Metal oxides with acids
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Metals with nonmetals
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Nonmetal oxides with bases
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Alkali and alkaline earth metals with water
Chapter 8 Student competencies
Upon completion of this chapter, students
should be able to:
-
Define electronegativity; predict and explain the underlying reason for
the periodic trends in electronegativity.
-
Describe metallic, ionic, and covalent bonding.
-
Predict whether is bond is primarily ionic or covalent. Differentiate
among ionic, polar covalent and nonpolar covalent bonding.
-
Draw the Lewis structure for a given atom, molecule or ion.
-
Know what formal charge is; assign formal charges to the atoms in a given
Lewis structure; generate Lewis structures which minimize formal charges.
-
Know what lattice energy is; predict relative magnitudes of lattice energies
for different ionic compounds. Explain the reason for these differences.
-
Outline the three electrostatic interactions present in a molecule; explain
what holds atoms together in a molecule.
-
Understand resonance structures; draw the resonance structures for a given
molecule. Use resonance structures to determine bond order.
-
Use a table of average bond energies to determine the change in enthalpy
for a given reaction.
-
Know what a dipole moment is and predict whether a given molecule is polar.
Chapter 9 Student competencies
Upon completion of this chapter, students
should be able to:
-
For a given molecule, predict:
-
Electron arrangement
-
Molecular geometry
-
Bond angle
-
Hybridization
-
Polarity
-
Bond order
-
Number of sigma and pi bonds
-
Draw a diagram that relates bond distance to potential energy. As
a bond is compressed; explain why the potential energy increases.
As a bond is stretched past the point of equilibrium, explain why the potential
energy increases. Identify how bond distance and bond energy can
be determined from this diagram.
-
Explain how hybrid orbitals are formed by starting with the valence electron
configuration.
-
Explain what sigma and pi bonds are.
-
Draw a molecular orbital diagram for a given molecule. Use the MO
diagram to predict bond order and whether the molecule is paramagnetic
or diamagnetic.
Chapter 10 Student competencies
-
Understand what pressure is, what causes it, and how to use an understanding
of pressure for various applications.
-
Know the units commonly associated with atmospheric pressure
-
Understand how changes in pressure, volume, number of particles, and temperature
affect the properties of gases.
-
Use the ideal gas equation effectively to include the determination of
molecular mass and density.
-
Solve problems involving two sets of pressure-temperature-volume conditions.
-
Be able to solve multi-concept stoichiometric problems involving gaseous
reactants or products.
-
Understand Dalton’s law of partial pressure; be able to apply it to situations
such as a gas collected over water.
-
Understand the basic tenets of the kinetic molecular theory (KMT); use
the kinetic molecular theory to explain the properties of gases and to
predict relative properties.
-
Understand how to apply Avogadro’s law.
-
Understand the basis for and how to apply Graham’s law.
-
Understand real gas deviations from ideal gas behavior, the conditions
under which they would be seen, and the basis for these nonidealities.
Chapter 11 Student competencies
-
Understand the molecular basis for the three major categories of intermolecular
forces.
-
Predict relative boiling points and other molecular properties such as
vapor pressure, surface tension, viscosity and enthalpy of vaporization.
-
Understand the role of hydrogen bonds and other intermolecular forces in
important biomolecules.
-
Understand phase changes, heating /cooling curves, and the energy changes
associated with them. Relate these using energy level diagrams and fundamental
molecular interactions.
-
Understand the molecular basis for vapor pressure and be able to discuss
in terms of kinetic molecular theory and intermolecular interactions.
-
Understand and explain how and why vapor pressure changes with temperature.
-
Understand phase diagrams.
-
Understand the difference types of solids; be able to explain their different
on the molecular level and in terms of their expected properties.