Chemistry 211 Course Page
The files listed below are in PDF format. They can be viewed using Adobe Acrobat Reader. University computers have Acrobat Reader already installed.
Although the notes below have been proofread, there may well be mistakes in them. I would appreciate it if you would let me know when you find mistakes. Please let me know either by telephone (x6486) or email (castella@marshall.edu). There is a date at the end of each chapter’s notes. When substantive corrections are made, that date will be changed so you know how current is the posted version. Finally, the notes are a work in progress. For that reason, when you click on a link you may get an error message. In all likelihood, it means that those notes haven’t been posted yet.
Below the “Old Tests and Answer Keys” section are some links that you might find interesting at different times during the semester.
General Information
Lecture Notes
Supplementary Material
| Nomenclature |
| Dr. Frost’s Compound Naming Flowchart |
| Dr. Frost’s Ion Naming Flowchart |
| Old Ion Naming Handout |
The figures on the pages listed below may be rotated in place to better view the shapes. Place the cursor over the molecule and click. A new box will open and a molecule will appear and rotate. When it stops, on a PC hold the left mouse button down and move the mouse to rotate the molecule. Control-left mouse button drags the molecule around on the page. You can change the appearance of the molecule using the list of choices at the bottom of the window.
Movable VSEPR Images
| bent – H2O | trigonal planar – BF3 |
| trigonal pyramidal – NH3 | tetrahedral – CH4 |
| trigonal bipyramidal – PF5 | “seesaw” – SF4 |
| “T-shaped” – IF3 | octahedral – SF6 |
| square pyramidal – IF5 | square planar – XeF4 |
Old Tests and Answer Keys
| Test 1 | Test 1 Answer Key |
| Test 2 | Test 2 Answer Key |
| Test 3 | Test 3 Answer Key |
| Test 4 | Test 4 Answer Key |
| Final Exam |
Extra Homework Problems and Answer Keys
Miscellaneous Resources
ON-LINE TEXTBOOK INFORMATION: Your textbook, Principles of General Chemistry has a website with a study area you might find valuable. Also, you will need to bookmark the ALEKS login page.
How to Study video series: Prof. Stephen Chew of Samford University was the 2011 U.S. Professor of the Year for baccalureate institutions. His area of research is student learning and he has produced a series of five videos on how to study most effectively. Each video is 5-7 minutes long. The first is more background material, while the other four are more applied. They have a lot of good advice.
The Khan Academy has over 100 videos discussing topics from both this course and CHM 212. The videos range from a few minutes to around 20 minutes. Each is on an individual topic, so if you have trouble with one item and want to see a short discussion on it, this website might be very helpful. It has videos on a wide range of subjects so this could help you with a variety of topics.
OUTSIDE LECTURE AVAILABILITY: If you would like additional discussion of the material we cover in class, there are two sources of high quality lecture materials that I know of that you might find helpful.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has their freshman chemistry courses from 2005 & 2008 online alone with lecture notes. Each lecture is labeled by topic.A series of lectures from the University of California at Berkeley. There is no cost to view these lectures, but you will need a high speed internet connection to view them. The lectures include many of the topics we will discuss in class, but the topics are not listed and so you’ll have to hunt through them for the particular topic of interest.A series of lectures by Profs. Dean Harman, Gordon Yee and Tarek Sammakia available at Thinkwell for about $80. These lectures include topics for both CHM 211 and 212 and so will be good for the entire year. There are a number of sample materials available at the link above, including part of a lecture, several animations, and a page of notes.
Mahjong Chemistry is a game that allows you to practice some of the topics that we cover in class in game format. There are 11 different topics including: Metric prefixes, element nomenclature, matching ions with charges, polyatomic ions names, and electron configurations with atoms and ions. The game is available for download to iPhones and iPads.
WebElements is website devoted to the periodic table. It provides information about the physical properties, history, and reactivity of all of the elements. In some cases, there are movies for downloading that show aspects of the reactivity of the element or one of its compounds. The site also contains interesting chemistry trivia (e.g. the origin of the names of elements). Finally, there are some excellent graphics for comparing the physical properties of all elements collectively. You might find this site of value when studying Chapters 2 and 7.
The Orbitron by Mark Winter at the University of Sheffield (also the creator of WebElements) shows images of the different orbitals at various energy levels (e.g. 1s, 2s, 3s, …) as well as molecular orbitals. Animations of orbital formation are also included. If you’re having trouble imagining what the orbitals look like or how MOs come into existence this is a great site.
A company called 3DChem.com has a website that shows the 3-dimensional structure of a large number of molecules that can be manipulated by you much including the VSEPR figures available in the table shown on this page. The structures of the top 50 prescription medicines are available, as are 1600 structures of inorganic compounds (e.g. the structure of the gemstones Ruby and Garnet), and assorted other molecules (e.g. the molecules that give rise to the scents of garlic and cloves).
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