This is a one-semester course that covers topics with a special focus and relevance to life science majors. The major areas of study are chemical thermodynamics, chemical kinetics, and quantum chemistry of atoms and molecules. Some of the specific topics covered include properties of real gases, the kinetic theory of gases, the laws of thermodynamics as related to chemical systems, diffusion as a description of mass transport, rates of chemical reactions and molecular reaction dynamics, electronic structure of atoms and molecules, molecular motion, interaction of radiation with matter, and introduction to statistical thermodynamics. The laboratory program illustrates the fundamental topics through use of modern instrumental and computational methods.
