Syllabus

Course Meeting Times

Lectures: 3 sessions / week, 1 hour / session

Recitations: 2 sessions / week, 1 hour / session

Textbooks

Atkins, Peter, and Loretta Jones. Chemical Principles: The Quest for Insight. 4th ed. New York, NY: W.H. Freeman and Company, 2007. ISBN: 9781429209656.

Krenos, John. Chemical Principles: The Quest for Insight/Student Study Guide and Solutions Manual. 4th ed. New York, NY: W.H. Freeman and Company, 2007. ISBN: 9781429200998. ( Bundled set. ISBN: 9781429212595.)

Lecture Notes

Lecture notes (with blanks) are provided for each lecture. Students are expected to follow along during the lecture in order to fill in the blanks in the notes.

Grading

Grades will be based on a total of 750 points.

Homework

There will be 10 problem sets assigned during the semester. Assignments will be graded, and will be worth a total of 100 points of your final grade. The problem sets are not included in these course materials.

Exams

There will be three hour-long exams during the semester and a three-hour-long final exam. All exams are closed-book and closed-notes. Most required equations and a periodic table will be provided.

Biology Topics

In an effort to illuminate connections between chemistry and biology and spark students' excitement for chemistry, we incorporate frequent biology-related examples into the lectures. These in-class examples range from two to ten minutes, designed to succinctly introduce biological connections without sacrificing any chemistry content in the curriculum.

A list of the biology-, medicine-, and MIT research-related examples used in 5.111 is provided in  Biology-Related Examples.

Significant Figures

Rules for scientific notation and significant figures are available in the back of the textbook in Appendix 1, pages A5-A6. You are also responsible for knowing the following SI prefixes: n (nano, 10^-9), µ (micro, 10^-6), m (milli, 10^-3), c (centi, 10^-2), and k (kilo, 10³)

Clicker Questions

We will use classroom response devices during lectures to take attendance, enable feedback, and facilitate occasional in-class quizzes. We have outlined the following points to help clarify the class policies regarding clicker use.

Why are we using clickers?

1. Clickers give us additional feedback on whether the class as a whole understands a given concept or when our explanations need to be expanded or clarified. This enables us to gauge the understanding of the entire class and adjust our lessons accordingly.
2. Clickers also provide you as a student feedback on how well you understand the material and how fast you are able to solve problems. For example, if you are able to solve the homework problems but run out of time on in-class slicker questions, it is a good indication that you will be pinched for time on the exam and may need to work through more practice problems to increase your speed.
3. We feel it is appropriate to reward the many students that consistently come to class and participate. In addition, because we take attendance we feel more comfortable posting lecture notes online.

Answering in-class clicker questions

1. Apart from announced in-class quiz questions, you will not be graded on whether you answer clicker questions correctly.
2. For routine clicker questions, you are encouraged to attempt the question on your own, but you are certainly allowed to quietly discuss the problem with your neighbor. For announced quiz questions, any talking or sharing answers in considered cheating.

Calendar

The calendar below provides information on the course's lecture (L) and exam (E) sessions.