5.60 Thermodynamics and Kinetics
Spring 2015
Instructors: Moungi G Bawendi, Robert W Field, Susan Solomon
TAs: Trevor John Erickson, Nathan Darrell Ricke, Maria Anna Zawadowicz
Lecture: MWF11 (4-370)
Subject Description:
Equilibrium properties of macroscopic systems. Basic thermodynamics: state of a system, state variables. Work, heat, first law of thermodynamics, thermochemistry. Second and third law of thermodynamics: entropy and free energy, including the molecular basis for these thermodynamic functions. Phase equilibrium and properties of solutions. Chemical equilibrium of reactions in gas and solution phases. Rates of chemical reactions. Special attention to thermodynamics related to global energy issues.
Announcements
Practice Problems
I've posted a number of practice problems compiled from a variety of sources (the kinetics problems came directly from Professor Solomon and Maria, the rest are from past exams and homeworks from other years) that should provide some good review of the material covered in this class. It is by no means an exhaustive list, and the span of the material of these problems is only a subspace of the material covered in this class, but they should get all of you started on reviewing for the material in the class. In total, if you took them under timed conditions, I would anticipate you should be able to do them in 4 hours (perhaps not with 100% accuracy, but if you want an estimate of how the exam itself might feel. If they take a little longer, don't stress out over that, as I may have picked a few that are particularly tricky).
I understand all of you are busy, but I have personally always found that working through the problems before looking at the solutions is more helpful for me, but if you don't have time for that I would suggest at least making sure you understand the solutions themselves. Trevor and I can go over these as part of the review session if there is a demand for it.
-Nathan
Announced on 14 May 2015 4:03 p.m. by Nathan Darrell Ricke
Final Exam Review Session
Trevor and I will be holding a review session this Sunday from 4-6pm in room 4-145. We will review as much of the material from the semester as possible, but as always we encourage you to come with questions.
I'm planning on shortening my regularly scheduled recitation from 9-10am this coming Thursday, and cancelling my office hours from 6:30-8:30pm, unless at least several people email me indicating that they intend to be there for substantial portions of either of those times (the recitation will still happen, it's just only going to be 1 hour). If enough people email me about office hours, I will send out an announcement that it is back on, but otherwise I can just schedule individual meetings if some of you just want to cover a few questions that come up while you're studying.
-Nathan
Announced on 12 May 2015 2:03 p.m. by Nathan Darrell Ricke
Problem 5 on Practice Exam
Hi, everyone,It was pointed out last night there were a few difficulties with problem 5 on the practice exam. First off, there is an error in the solutions where it writes the rate equation for B2H4 as it drops the term associated with k7. This is not important, however, as B2H4 only decays into products, and does not cause any further propagation steps (so it won't affect the propagation rate and it's concentration at any given moment in time won't affect the rate of products formed other than H2 and solid products, which are not produced elsewhere). Now, the solutions also refer to reaction 7 as a propagation step, but there is an ambiguity here because while the reaction removes an intermediate (B2H4) and produces stable product, that intermediate was no longer participating in the chain reaction, so it's not exactly a termination step that we could use to quantify chain length. I would like to assure all of you that this level of complexity and these possible ambiguities should not appear on the exam this evening.
-Nathan
Announced on 07 May 2015 8:23 a.m. by Nathan Darrell Ricke
Stat Mech Lecture Notes, Problem Set 9, VdW Equation
The final stat mech lecture notes are now posted.
Problem set 9 has been graded and will be returned during the review session tonight. If you aren't at the review session, it may be picked up at the Chemistry Education Office on weekdays, 9-5pm, in the graded problem set filing cabinet under either Trevor's or my folder.
Also, as a few of you have asked, the Van der Waals equation (lecture 22) will not be part of this exam; it is limited to kinetics and statistical mechanics. The Van der Waals equation is, however, material that may still appear on the final exam.
-Nathan
Announced on 06 May 2015 2:24 p.m. by Nathan Darrell Ricke
Practice Exam 3 Posted
Hi, everyone,Practice exam 3 has been posted; Solutions will follow later in the week. Email me if you think there are any problems with the exam.
-Nathan
Announced on 02 May 2015 11:16 a.m. by Nathan Darrell Ricke
