Physical Chemistry

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Course teacher

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Status of the course

Course objectives

The aims of the course are to enable students to:
- understand basic concepts, laws and principles of thermodynamic and kinetic approaches to physical and chemical changes,
- resolve different physicochemical problems,
- perform measurements in the laboratory individually or in a team, present and process measurement data,
- apply acquired knowledge and skills in professional and specialist courses.

Course enrolment requirements and entry competences required for the course

Course enrollment prerequisite is General Chemistry.
Required competences are knowledge of Mathematics (Calculus) and fundamentals of Physics and Chemistry.

Learning outcomes expected at the level of the course (4 to 10 learning outcomes)

Upon successful completion of the program, students will be able to:
1. Describe basic concepts, laws and principles of thermodynamic and kinetic approaches to physical and chemical changes.
2. Explain different physicochemical dependencies of the examined systems.
3. Calculate physicochemical parameters using thermodynamic and kinetic equations.
4. Perform experiments and measurements in the laboratory.
5. Interpret experimental and numerical data.

Course content broken down in detail by weekly class schedule (syllabus)

Lectures (2 hours weekly):
1st week: Introduction: Physical chemistry - course contents. Basic terms. System and surroundings. Intensive and extensive thermodynamic variables. Progress of the reaction. Zeroth low of thermodynamics.
1st and 2nd week: Properties of gases: The perfect gas equation of state. The ideal gas temperature scale. Ideal gas mixtures and Dalton’s law. The kinetic model of gases. Real gases. The van der Waals equation of state.
2nd, 3rd and 4th week: First law of thermodynamics: Work and heat. Internal energy. Enthalpy. Heat capacities. Joule-Thomson expansion. Adiabatic processes with gases. Thermochemistry. Enthalpy of formation. Calorimetry.
4th, 5th and 6th week: Second and third laws of thermodynamics: Direction of spontaneous change. Entropy as a state function and the second law. Entropy changes in system and surroundings. Entropy changes in irreversible processes. Entropy change accompanying a phase transition. Entropy of mixing ideal gases. Calorimetric determination of entropies and the third law. Gibbs energy. Properties of the Gibbs energy.
6th and 7th week: Phase equlibria-pure substances: Condition of stability. Variation of Gibbs energy with pressure. Variation of Gibbs energy with temperature. Phase diagrams, phase boundaries and location of phase boundaries. The phase rule. Significance of the chemical potential. Fugacity.
8th i 9th week: Properties of mixtures: Partial molar properties. Gibbs-Duhem equation. The chemical potentials of liquids. Spontaneous mixing. Ideal solutions. Ideal-dilute solutions. Real solutions: activities. Colligative properties. Phase diagrams of mixtures.
10th and 11th week: Principles of chemical equilibrium: Homogeneous and heterogeneous reactions. The reaction Gibbs energy. Reactions at equilibrium. Equilibrium constants and determination of equilibrium constants. Standard reaction Gibbs energy. Effect of temperature on the equilibrium constant. Effect of pressure, initial composition, and inert gases on the equilibrium composition.
11th and 12th week: Ionic equilibria: Activity of electrolytes. Debye-Hückel theory. Proton transfer equilibria. Salts in water. Solubility equilibria.
12th and 13th week: Electrochemistry: Ions in solution and migration of ions. Conductivity of electrolyte solutions. Viscosity. Strong and weak electrolytes. The drift speed. Ion mobilities. Mobility and conductivity. Measurement of transport numbers. Electrochemical cells. Varietes of cell. The cell reaction and electromotive force. Cells at equilibrium. Standard potentials. Determination of pH. Membrane potential.
13th i 14th week: Chemical kinetics: Empirical chemical kinetics. Reaction rates. Rate laws and rate constants. Reaction order. Half-lives and time constants. The temperature dependence of reaction rates. The relation between rate constants and equilibrium constants. Parallel and consecutive reactions.
15th week: Properties of surfaces: Properties of liquid surfaces. Colloidal systems. Adsorption on solid surfaces. Adsorption isotherms. Catalytic activity at surfaces.
Seminars (one hour weekly):
Solving numerical problems in physical chemistry.
Exercises (five hours weekly):
By working out 6 exercises student evidences in practice some of the principles presented through lectures and seminars: Coligative properties. Viscosity. Chemical equilibrium. Phase diagrams of ternary system. Conductivity and conductometric titration. Kinetics of inversion saccharose by polarimetric method.

Format of instruction:

Student responsibilities

Lecture and seminar attendance and active participation of at least 70 percent of the planned schedule.
Complete all laboratory exercises.
The exam can be taken continuously (cumulatively) through colloquiums (partial tests) combining theoretical and practical tasks or as one comprehensive exam (written and oral).