Chemical Principles: From Molecules to Solids

A one-quarter course for students who have taken chemistry previously. This course will introduce the basic chemical principles that dictate how and why reactions occur and the structure and properties of important molecules and extended solids that make up our world. As the Central Science, a knowledge of chemistry provides a deep understanding of concepts in fields ranging from materials, environmental science, and engineering to pharmacology and metabolism. Discussions of molecular structure will describe bonding models including Lewis structures, resonance, crystal-field theory, and molecular-orbital theory. We will reveal the chemistry of materials of different dimensionality, with emphasis on symmetry, bonding, and electronic structure of molecules and solids. We will also discuss the kinetics and thermodynamics that govern reactivity and dictate solubility and acid-base equilibria. A two-hour weekly laboratory section accompanies the course to introduce laboratory techniques and reiterate lecture concepts through hands-on activities. Specific discussions will include the structure, properties, and applications of molecules used in medicine, perovskites used in solar cells, and the dramatically different properties of materials with the same composition (for example: diamond, graphite, graphene). There will be three lectures and one two-hour laboratory session each week. The course will assume familiarity with stoichiometry, unit conversions, gas laws, and thermochemistry. All students who are interested in taking general chemistry at Stanford must take the Autumn 2021 General Chemistry Placement Test before the Autumn quarter begins, regardless of chemistry background. Same as: MATSCI 31