Student Learning Outcomes

General Chemistry

The SLOs for General Chemistry are: to understand the molecular nature of all phases of matter, to understand the various ways of depicting chemical compounds and chemical reactions, to develop an ability to solve basic quantitative problems regarding the properties of molecules, chemical equilibria, and chemical kinetics, and to develop the ability to appropriately apply this knowledge to general scientific problems in various fields of science and engineering.

More specifically, students should understand:

  1. The basic structures of atoms, ions, and molecules, and ways to quantitatively describe the properties of atoms and molecules in the various phases of pure matter and in mixtures.
  2. The reactivity of atoms, ions, and molecules, and the various qualitative and quantitative methods for describing or depicting chemical reactions.
  3. The concept of chemical equilibrium, and the energies that drive chemical reactions: an introduction to the field of thermodynamics.
  4. The concept of chemical kinetics and the energy required to initiate a chemical reaction.
  5. The relationship between the electronic configurations of atoms and molecules and their chemical properties: an introduction to the field of quantum mechanics.

August 28, 2006