1. Office Hours 3014 Chemistry Annex decoste@illinois.edu
11am-12pm Mondays and Wednesdays (after lecture)
10-11 am Tuesdays and 1-2 pm Thursdays
By appointment; open-door policy

2. Web Site https://chemistry.illinois.edu/clc Lon-Capa Lecture Slides
HW assignments
Lecture videos
Lecture Slides
Contact information, announcements, gradebook, weekly assignments.

3. Don’t forget…
Textbook
Read
Do text homework

4. Three Big Topics
Stoichiometry: information on “what” happens; allows us to determine amounts of reactants and products.
Thermodynamics: information on “why” reactions happen; allows us to make predictions about whether a reaction will occur.
Kinetics: information on “how” reactions happen (mechanisms); relates to the speed of reactions.

5. “Ball on a Hill”

6. Some Big Ideas Low energy  low in potential energy  more stable.
If a system absorbs energy, the natural tendency is to release it.
That is, achieving low potential energy is “natural”.
Ground state preferred over excited state.
Energy is converted from one form to another but is NOT created nor destroyed.
First law of thermodynamics.
Energy is a state function (heat and work are not).

7. Thermodynamics vs. Kinetics

8. Questions To Consider
How can we predict which reactions are spontaneous (and what do we mean by spontaneous)?
How can we provide support (mathematical and qualitative) for observations?
Ice cream melts
Coffee cools
Why do systems reach equilibrium? That is, why doesn’t the ball go “all the way down the hill”?