February 11, 2020
Published by admin at February 11, 2020
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Physical Chemistry—how to get the math across?

Which is harder, chemistry of physics?  It is generally accepted that physics is harder because of the math. In fact I am pretty sure that many students opt for chemistry over physics because of the harder math in physics; and life sciences over chemistry for the same reason. Ok, it might […]
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February 11, 2020
Published by admin at February 11, 2020
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Teaching physical chemistry–lecture recording?

At McGill like many universities, in large class rooms there is the possibility of lecture recording. I have done this for a number of years teaching my 150 or so Physical Chemistry life science students.  Of course there are pros and cons of recording, as noted in the blog by Zimmerman Although the […]
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February 11, 2020
Published by admin at February 11, 2020
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Physical Chemistry – Overview of Thermodynamics

The challenge of teaching thermodynamics to physical chemistry life science students is to have them understand the relationships between the macroscopic properties involving heat, work, energy and entropy.  After dispelling the myth that energy is stored in chemical bonds; after introducing the concept of temperature, and contrasting it to heat capacity; and […]
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August 30, 2013
Published by Bryan at August 30, 2013
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Physical Chemistry – Overview of Thermodynamics

In one example I use bond energies to calculate the energy per mole of sucrose and TNT (the explosive trinitrotoluene). Most students expect that TNT has more energy, but it turns out the two have about the same. So why is TNT an explosive (actually a conflagration)? TNT burns rapidly and involves a huge volume change. It is the rate of reaction (chemical kinetics) and the rapid volume change that causes the explosive damage. Then I can move to the thermodynamics overview.
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August 6, 2013
Published by Bryan at August 6, 2013
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Physical Chemistry—hotness and coldness

When I start into heat capacity I contrast the temperature of a substance with the feeling of hot and cold. A thermometer will tell you the temperature of a substance, but that does not tell you how much heat is present. If you touch something, you can tell if it is hotter or colder than your hand, but what about two substances at the same temperature? Suppose outside it is -10 C (14 F) and there you find a piece of steel and a piece of Styrofoam. Which is colder? If you touch the steel it feels colder than the Styrofoam, but they are both at the same temperature. If you placed the steel on the Styrofoam, no heat will flow between them (Third Law of thermodynamics). Since your hand is much hotter than the objects, heat must flow from your hand into them.
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August 2, 2013
Published by Bryan at August 2, 2013
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Teaching physical chemistry–lecture recording?

Although the obvious "pro" of recording is to give students the chance to listen numerous times; review the material; and listen to missed lectures, there is a huge "con" and that is they skip class and opt to listen to my lectures at home. Last year the attendance dropped to half because lectures are available on line, but this year the time has been shifted to 8:30 a.m. from 10:30. I am going to predict that very few will want to attend at that hour.
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July 25, 2013
Published by Bryan at July 25, 2013
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Physical chemistry-Where is chemical energy stored?

One question I pose every year to my physical chemistry class of life science students in the first lecture is “Where is chemical energy stored?” Almost all of them say in chemical bonds. Ask how the energy is released, and they say “When bonds are broken.” Wrong!
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July 23, 2013
Published by Bryan at July 23, 2013
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Teaching physical chemistry to life science students.

a required course on physical chemistry that deals with entropy and laws, ugh this is not what they want to know and, besides, "How useful will it be?" they naively ask. The problem is that it is impossible to avoid the use of mathematics, and they are not motivated to work through simple derivations.
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June 4, 2012
Published by Bryan at June 4, 2012
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Physical chemistry course outline on intrinsic spin angular momentum.

The lectures will be recorded at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras which is part of the NPTEL program. A major goal of NPTEL is to raise awareness and improve scientific and technological education throughout India by use of multimedia. I will be giving a series of lectures on basic spin theory for chemistry and physics undergraduate students who have a basis in quantum mechanics; know of spin and its importance; and want to go deeper.
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January 30, 2012
Published by Bryan at January 30, 2012
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E-Books for post-secondary education

I believe it is long overdue to do away with hard copy text books at the freshman level altogether, along with their high cost and adopt ebooks. Think of the advantages: no paper, nothing to ship, can be updated so users always have the latest edition, integrated into the internet, easy to copy protect, and can be sold for a fraction of the price of hard copy. No resale market.
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December 19, 2011
Published by Bryan at December 19, 2011
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Entropy (Part 6): Randomness and ensembles

httpvh://youtu.be/wFe2zu2116I After rolling 2, 3, 4, 10 and Avogadro’s dice, as seen in the entries below, it becomes clear that the most random states (most number of ways of rolling a number) always dominate while those with fewer arrangements occur less frequently: 1 Entropy: Randomness by rolling two dice 2 […]
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December 14, 2011
Published by Bryan at December 14, 2011
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Exams: Teach yourself to learn.

A “course” is a “path” through the material which your prof. decides is important and attempts to teach you. Exams come from that material, so listen to him/her. You need to organize that material, see how it fits in the big picture and manage your time properly: that is you must be efficient.
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