Physical Chemistry I

Class Material provided via Dropbox

Date	Reading/Class Discussion	STAX Text Review

Lecture Vids

Welcome, all, to Physical Chemistry I!

This website is the source for much of your course information that includes the syllabus, schedule, etc. During the course, I will disseminate course materials such as lecture notes and worksheets via a Physical Chemistry Dropbox file sharing site. You will receive an invite from me to join and share the physical chemistry folder. If you keep the lecture notes in this folder, then you will always have the latest edits and updates to the notes. I will also post the homework assignments there as well.

The course text is one that is an excellent text and has propelled many a PChem student to achieve excellent knowledge and skill and has led a great number to success in graduate school. However, the text is no longer in print. This is actually quite good for you as it is readily available from used book sources and a significantly lower cost. Below is an amazon link, for example.
http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Physical-Chemistry-Lionel-Raff/dp/013027805X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405347901&sr=8-1&keywords=Lionel+M.+Raff

The lecture notes and worksheets are going to be given MathCad format. MathCad, or MCAD is a computational software program that is extremely powerful and has a learning curve that is quite low. It allows you to enter equations as you see them on the page and it will execute them including numerical and symbolic results. Other such software such as MatLab, Maple and Mathematica are all excellent software packages however require significantly more of a programming style of input.

MathCad is put out by PTC software and had reached a near flawless version. Since software engineers can’t have such a product, they completely reengineered it. PTC has undertaken a major platform change and have named the new software, MathCad Prime. Version 1.0 was a disaster and version 2.0 was improved but significantly inferior to the latest MathCad 15.0 version that was sold prior to the platform change. I have spoken with representatives and have listed a great deal of deficiencies that I have noted and they assure me that future versions will have such corrections. We will see.

So for this course, no students are obligated to purchase MathCad as it is available in the resource room. Should you decide to purchase this software, purchase the latest version of Prime. When you purchase Prime you are allowed to download and install the latest MathCad 15.0 under the same license. In addition, Prime comes with a converter that will convert all your MathCad 15.0 files into Prime. The correct MCAD 15 version can be downloaded from my website. A link is posted.

This course will use MathCad 15.0, so your purchase of Prime will allow you to use my material and then transition going forward. Alternatively, you could use Prime instead as it will convert my files. However, be aware that I will not be able to use your converted files. This software is expensivers but academic versions of equal power are available for about $100. You can purchase from PTC directly at:

https://store.ptc.com/store/ptc/DisplayHomePage/

You should purchase MCAD in advance and become familiar with the software prior to the semester start. To help, execute the tutorial provided. There is a basic and advanced set. Execute the “Primers” set in its’ entirely and in the “Features in Depth” section, execute the assignments listed below.
I welcome any questions you might have concerning the upcoming course and look forward to working closely with all of you. This is not a course for the faint of heart so be prepared to dedicate the necessary time and energy and stay in close contact with me. Included here is a link from a previous set of students that successfully completed the course. I asked them to provide advice to the incoming students, those being you. Read and heed their advice as they were the ones that succeeded. Again, I look forward to seeing all of you this Fall.

Dr. J

Features in Depth Assignments:

Arrays and Range Variables
Solving Equations and Systems
Handling Data
Data Analysis
Calculus in MathCad
Creating 2D Graphs
Formatting 2D Graphs
Working with Text
Formatting Math Regions
Presenting Your Work

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