CHM 1046-01--Class Syllabus--Spring 1998

CHM 1046-01

CLASS SYLLABUS

SPRING 1998

Instructor:

Robley J. Light: Office: 204 DLC

Telephone: 644-3844

email: rlight@garnet.acns.fsu.edu

Class Hours:

8:00-8:50, MWF, 255 Fisher Lecture Hall

Office Hours:

9:15-10:15 Mondays and Fridays

12:30-1:30 Mondays and Wednesdays (or by appointment)

(back to top) Help Sessions:

Help Sessions will be given prior to Hour Tests.

Times will be announced.

Text:

Chemistry, The Central Science 7th Edition, by T. L. Brown, H. E. LeMay, Jr., and B. E. Bursten; Prentice-Hall, 1997.

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Lab Meetings: The laboratory (CHM 1046L) is a corequisite and is separate from the lecture in grading and organization. You are expected to register for both unless you have already passed the laboratory. The laboratory syllabus is attached. The first laboratory meeting will be the week of January 12th. Calculator: A calculator capable of the operations 10^x, e^x, log x, and ln x is required. (You will be doing a number of calculations involving logarithms this term, so you should review their use). (back to top) Prerequisite: Completion of CHM 1045 with a C or better grade. It is assumed you have a reasonable commmand of the first 11 chapters of the text except for Chapter 4. Audience: This course is the second term of a two-semester general chemistry course intended for science majors who will take further chemistry courses. It will count for liberal studies credit, but non-science majors desiring a single terminal course in chemistry should consider CHM 1020 instead. CHM 1030 is an alternative shorter general chemistry course leading to CHM 2200C, a one-semester organic chemistry course intended for some majors such as nutrition and food science. (back to top) Exams: There will be three hour-tests and a final exam. Note their scheduled dates now, and plan your calendar accordingly.

Hour Test 1 Monday, February 2

Hour Test 2 Monday, March 2

Hour Test 3 Monday, April 6

Final Exam Monday, April 27, 12:30-2:30

(This is a block exam time.

Location will be announced)

Make-up exams will be available only in case of a legitimately excused absence (sickness, death in family, university business, etc.). In all cases but extreme emergencies, you must notify me of the absence before the exam. Make-ups will be given on the last day of class. (back to top) Group Quizzes: A take home quiz will be available on the class web page by Friday before the quiz week. It is to be completed by a group of 3-5 students working together and handed in by noon Wednesday of the quiz week in the box in room 208 HTL. (Be sure that all names are on both quiz pages, and that the pages are stapled together). The two lowest group quiz grades will be dropped. Class Pop Quizzes Short unannounced quizzes, 5 points each, will occasionally be given during class. No make-ups or excuses will be allowed for missed pop quizzes. (back to top) Grading: The course grade will be calculated on the basis of 730 points, distributed as follows:
Three hour exams, 100 each        300 points
Nine of eleven quizzes, 20 each   180 points
Pop quiz average x 10              50 points
Final Exam^*                       200 points

Total 730 points

^*The final exam grade may substitute for a low test grade.
The course average is based on Total/7.3

Grading Scale:

A 90-100
B 80-89.9
C 70-79.9
D 60-69.9
F 0-59.9
(This scale represents the minimum grade to expect. It may become necessary to modify the grade cut-off points downward, depending on test difficulty, class performance, etc. However, I will not know for sure how much adjustment might be made until all grades are in)

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Electronic Mail:

You will each be given an account on a campus computer which can be used for electronic mail and for exploring the Internet. I will use electronic mail to make class announcements, reading and problem assignments, etc. You can use electronic mail to ask me questions and give feedback. This opportunity is not meant to replace office hours, but to complement them. A newsgroup bulletin board is also available to which I will post answers to questions I feel are relevant for all the class. (back to top)

Class Web Page A class web page will be available by the end of the first week of classes. It will contain a copy of the class schedule, this syllabus, and other materials relevant to the class, including copies the group quizzes as they are administered. In addition there will be pointers to the class newsgroup and to useful chemistry sites that you may find useful in addition, including interactive drill problems. You also should have received an account name and password to the Prentice Hall textbook web site, which has practice problems for all the chapters and pointers to a text reference for each problem. You can access these pages, as well as previous CHM 1046 web pages containing old tests, through my class index page at the URL:

http://www.chem.fsu.edu/editors/rlight/course-pages.html.

(back to top) Study Groups: You are to organize yourselves into groups of three to five individuals. Try to group with individuals in the same laboratory section and with similar enough schedules that you will have several blocks of time each week to get together outside of class. Sit together in class, as there will be some classroom activities you will be called on to work together. You will work together on the quizzes and submit one quiz for the group. You should also meet together at least once or twice a week to work problem sets and prepare for tests. (back to top) Study Hints: Prepare for class. Read the book before material is to be covered in class, and come prepared with questions on things you don't understand. A large portion of the course involves solving various problems, even more so in CHM 1046 than in CHM 1045. In addition to the old tests and quizzes on the web, interactive drill problems on the web, and the practice quizzes and tests on the Prentice Hall web site, a list of suggested end-of-chapter practice problems is given below. Answers to the odd problems are given in the book, and a solutions manual is available that explains how the problem is worked. Usually there is more than one way to set up and solve chemistry problems, especially complex ones, and understanding what you are doing and why is preferred to memorizing steps.

Some memorization will be necessary, such as solubilities, and you should undertake these tasks as they come up, not the night before a test. Take good class notes, revise them after class to see if there are points you don't understand, and develop a content outline from the notes to serve as a study guide for each exam. When you have trouble working a problem, after it is explained try working another similar one from those at the end of the chapter. Try making up your own substitute problem to solve.

(back to top) Homework: There is no required homework, but you are strongly encouraged to work as many end-of-chapter problems as you can. A good strategy would be to work each of the Practice Exercises in the body of the chapter and at least one end-of-chapter problem of a similar nature. Also for each problem that I work in class, try to find a similar end-of-chapter problem to work on your own or with your group. As you encounter difficulties, you should seek help during office hours, from the help desk, from your laboratory instructor, or by email. (back to top) American Disabilities Act Students with disabilities needing academic accommodations should:

register with and provide documentation to the Student Disability Resource Center (SDRC);
bring a letter to the instructor from SDRC indicating you need academic accommodations. This should be done within the first week of class.

Academic Honor Code Students are reminded of the Academic Honor System of the Florida State University. Collaboration is permitted and encouraged on the take-home quizzes, but signing one's name to the group effort without having participated in it would be considered a violation of the honor code. Receiving or giving unauthorized help on the hour tests is a violation. (back to top)