Survival Guide

About the Book:
Students often approach physical chemistry with some trepidation, both the mathematical skills and the laboratory present significant challenges to most. This book grew out of materials developed by the author over many years of teaching physical chemistry. It is neither a math book, nor a chemistry book, but instead places the mathematics and other skills necessary for physical chemistry in a usable context. The Survival Guide aims to give students the tools they need not only to survive physical chemistry, but perhaps even to enjoy it!

One of the major objectives of this book is to provide the student with a ready reference to the mathematical knowledge base necessary in a physical chemistry course, and provide ways to bridge the gap between the math and its application to physical chemistry. The chapter entitled “Guerilla Math” provides this and a wealth of other information. The basics, such as how to integrate sin(x), are covered; as are more sophisticated topics, including numerical solutions to differential equations and operator algebra. Particular emphasis is placed on techniques useful in physical chemistry that may not have been stressed in the corresponding math course. Worked examples are taken from typical physical chemistry problems. It's one thing to see the definition of a total derivative, quite another to realize how it can be used to derive the Maxwell relations in thermochemistry.

Computers are a ubiquitous tool for physical chemists and physical chemistry students. The chapter entitled "Beyond Pencil and Paper" takes students on a tour of what can be accomplished with a spreadsheet or symbolic math program such as Mathematica®. Typical uses of these computer tools are discussed in sufficient depth to allow a student to perform basic tasks. The basics of computer programming are also introduced, with examples in both BASIC and FORTRAN.

While students often believe that good writing skills should be reserved for their humanities course, anyone who reads physical chemistry lab reports hopes otherwise. The chapter entitled "The Write Stuff" offers advice to students about the usual writing tasks encountered in physical chemistry, from keeping a laboratory notebook to producing good lab reports. It also provides a brief guide to the use of scientific library collections, including electronic materials.

The approach taken throughout the book emphasizes mechanics at the expense of theory. Examples of the techniques discussed are provided, along with heavily annotated solutions; with the premise that being able to reproduce an example is the first step to being sure one understands how to apply a technique.

Contents

Chapter 1 — Lecture 1-1 Preparing for Class 1-2 Attending Lecture 1-3 After Class 1-4 Working in Groups 1-5 Solving Problems 1-6 Getting the Most from Your Professor 1-7 Exams: Strategies and Stresses Chapter 2 — Guerilla Math 2-1 Know Your Symbols 2-2 Numbers 2-3 Series 2-4 Logarithms and Exponentials 2-5 Trigonometry 2-6 Derivatives 2-7 Integral Calculus 2-8 Differential Equations 2-9 Probability and Statistics 2-10 Scalars, Vectors, and Matrices – Tensors, Too 2-11 Fourier Transform 2-12 Mathematical Miscellany 2-13 Error Analysis: How Reliable Are My Results? 2-14 More Information Chapter 3 — Beyond Pencil and Paper 3-1 Using a Computer Productively 3-2 How to Speak Computer: A Glossary for the Virtual Novice 3-3 Programming Languages: Getting a Computer to Do What You Want It to Do 3-4 Getting Down to Business: Using Spreadsheets 3-5 Leave the Solving to Us: Using Symbolic Math Packages 3-6 Computers in the Laboratory: Data Acquisition Chapter 4 — The Write Stuff 4-1 Keeping a Lab Notebook 4-2 Lab Reports 4-3 Searching the Literature 4-4 Resources

About the Author: Michelle M. Francl is professor of chemistry at Bryn Mawr College, where she has been on the faculty for 15 years. She has taught physical chemistry for 20 years, along with introductory chemistry, quantum chemistry, and a writing intensive course on the interplay between art and science. In 1994, she won the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Award for excellence in teaching. Her research is in the area of computational chemistry, where she is best known for her work on methods for assigning charges to atoms in molecules. She is on the Institute for Scientific Information’s list of the 1000 most cited chemists, a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Molecular Graphics and Modeling, and active in the American Chemical Society.