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Topic: Is physical chemistry harder in America  (Read 22436 times)

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Offline SM30

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Re: Is physical chemistry harder in America
« Reply #15 on: July 17, 2008, 01:43:31 PM »
we took 4 in a quarter system. Thermodynamics, Quantum I, either Quantum II or Stat mech, and P-chem Lab.

Offline macman104

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Re: Is physical chemistry harder in America
« Reply #16 on: July 17, 2008, 02:04:53 PM »
We take PChem 1&2:  Posting verbatim text beacuse I'm lazy.

PChem 1:
Quote
Equations of state; kinetic molecular theory; temperature dependent enthalpies and heat capacities of chemical compounds and of chemical reactions; entropy and the Gibbs free energy; chemical equilibrium; phases with variable composition; solutions of charged particles; surface phenomena

PChem 2:
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Quantum theory, molecular structure and spectroscopy, chemical equilibrium constants from statistical mechanics, phenomemological and mechanistic chemical reaction kinetics, transport phenomena from molecular perspective. The laboratory will include experiments dealing with gases, thermochemistry, liquid solutions, phase equilibria, electrochemistry, chemical kinetics, spectra, molecular structure and treatment of data

Offline Hunt

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Re: Is physical chemistry harder in America
« Reply #17 on: July 17, 2008, 02:32:51 PM »
thank you

Offline Hunt

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Re: Is physical chemistry harder in America
« Reply #18 on: July 18, 2008, 03:16:16 AM »
We take PChem 1&2:  Posting verbatim text beacuse I'm lazy.

PChem 1:
Quote
Equations of state; kinetic molecular theory; temperature dependent enthalpies and heat capacities of chemical compounds and of chemical reactions; entropy and the Gibbs free energy; chemical equilibrium; phases with variable composition; solutions of charged particles; surface phenomena

PChem 2:
Quote
Quantum theory, molecular structure and spectroscopy, chemical equilibrium constants from statistical mechanics, phenomemological and mechanistic chemical reaction kinetics, transport phenomena from molecular perspective. The laboratory will include experiments dealing with gases, thermochemistry, liquid solutions, phase equilibria, electrochemistry, chemical kinetics, spectra, molecular structure and treatment of data

Where does Group theory fit in your curriculum ? Do you take it as part of inorganic chemistry ?

Offline macman104

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Re: Is physical chemistry harder in America
« Reply #19 on: July 18, 2008, 10:03:49 AM »
Yes, Group theory is part of inorganic chemistry.

Offline tamim83

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Re: Is physical chemistry harder in America
« Reply #20 on: July 18, 2008, 10:07:42 AM »
We did "quantum first" at my school.  We have two courses Pchem 1 is quantum, bonding, spectroscopy and PChem 2 is statistical mechanics, thermo., phase changes, and kinetics.  We also have two corresponding lab courses. 

Offline dfx-

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Re: Is physical chemistry harder in America
« Reply #21 on: December 09, 2008, 12:07:03 AM »
tamim it know it was enahs that mentioned ACS guidelines.

In the US you major in chemistry but do other things as well for it seems ½ your time.

In the UK if you take chemistry that's all you study, with only bits of other subject added to be used on the chemistry course.  As I said before we did inorganic organic and physical chemistry each year plus analytical, industrial chemistry/chemical engineering, along with some maths, physics, computing and english/report writing.  You had no choice in what you took when, except for some extra modules in the final year.  We spent 1-2 days a week in the lab and the rest in lectures.  The course started in year 1 and finished in year 4 (I did a sandwhich course with two 6months placements working in industry).  You had to pass every subject in each year to continue.  Every student on the course did the same subjects at the same time in the same order.

So in a 3 year UK degree you'd be doing chemistry for >25hrs a week 30weeks a year.  How much chemistry do US students do in a 4 year degree course?

Very interesting to hear the details of the different approaches..

In Ireland, after the Leaving Certificate in school (slightly above A-Level standard), it's 4 years and about 30-35 hours labs and lectures of chemistry a week. All branches getting increasingly harder as you say. My course also had a 6 month placement inbetween. A course verified by the RSC.
BSc(Hons) in Forensic and Environmental Analysis

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