Basic Chemistry

The course aims to introduce the student to Chemistry and how it can be applied to describe substances and processes in nature and how this knowledge can be applied in scientific problem solving. The course should give the student an understanding of the building blocks and properties of chemical substances, and how they are involved in different types of chemical reactions.

Important topics are chemical equilibrium, state functions, energy, entropy, the properties of solutions and states of matter, kinetics and properties of acids and bases. The course contains a laboratory course that illustrates parts of the theoretical curriculum, and provides experience in experimental work and how to report the results.

On completion of the course the student should have the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student

• Has basic knowledge about the different components in a substance and how they are assembled
• Has basic knowledge about properties of different substances and the reactions these substances are involved in
• Can describe properties of chemical bonds in molecules
• Has knowledge about the most important properties of a chemical equilibrium
• Can describe the properties of acids and bases
• Has knowledge about energy conversion and energy transfer in chemical reactions
• Has basic knowledge of the reaction rates of chemical reactions
• Can describe of the solubility of different substances

Skills

The student

• Can perform stoichiometric calculations
• Can apply the principles of chemical equilibrium to determine equilibrium constants, equilibrium concentrations, etc, for simple reactions
• Can perform simple thermodynamic calculations
• Can perform experiments in a laboratory according to a written procedure

General competence

The student

• Understands English scientific literature
• Can describe, in a lab report, the purpose, the procedure, and the results from a laboratory exercise.
• Can give a critical evaluation of the results obtained in a scientific experiment.