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Educational Initiatives
Imagine the following mission: distill chemistry to its essence and deliver that essence in such a way that it becomes part of the student's repertoire as they go forth to solve problems in the larger world.
And by the way, do this in one semester.
This is not a hypothetical test: It is exactly the challenge handed to chemical educators by the engineering community as increasing numbers of engineering students take only one semester of chemistry. Grappling with this issue we have generated a course and a supporting text to address this challenge. The text takes an atoms up, applied approach with the central goal of connecting macroscopic, observable properties with atomic, molecular level interactions. Fundamental topics are intertwined with applications. For example, the elastic, plastic properties of metallic materials are determined by the bonding (metal's valence electrons) and the microscopic structure of metal. The microscopic structure can be controlled, within kinetic and phase diagram constraints, by processing conditions. Applications are presented that encapsulate the fundamental topics of molecular structure, intermolecular interactions, and kinetics.
Web page for the text: http://college.hmco.com/pic/shultz1e