AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The module provides to the students the foundatments of a basic chemical culture indispensable for describing the structure and the reactivity of materials and for interpretation of the transformations in nature, environmental and technological processes.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The training activities proposed in the form of lectures, exercises and numerical applications, associated to the individual study, will allow the student to:

know the atomic structure;

understand the mechanisms of strong and weak chemical bond formation;

know the structure of solids, liquids and understand the gas state equations;

understand the relationships between electrical, magnetic and mechanical structure and properties;

evaluate the conditions of the chemical equilibrium;

to know the kinetics involved in the transformation of matter;

determine quantitatively the equilibriums in gas phase and in aqueous solutions;

understand the fundamental structure-property relationships in the macromolecules;

know the main fossil and renewable energy sources;

know the basics of water treatment;

discuss all the proposed activities with a scientific method and appropriate language.

TEACHING METHODS

Lectures and exercises in the classroom. The assessment of learning and operational skills during the course will take place through the monitoring carried out during the numerical exercises.

The transversal skills in terms of independence of judgment will be acquired through the classroom performance of the exercises to be carried out in a group.

Students who have valid certification of physical or learning disabilities on file with the University and who wish to discuss possible accommodations or other circumstances regarding lectures, coursework and exams, should speak both with the professor of the course  and with Professor Federico Scarpa (federico.scarpa@unige.it ), the Polytechnic School - Engineering's disability liaison.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Structure of matter: composition of the atom and its stability; matter-energy interactions; quantization of energy and wave nature of the matter; Schrodinger equation and its application to atomic structure; periodicity of chemical properties; valence bond theory and molecular orbitals, band structure theory in the solids; solid structures; amorphous and crystalline state; properties of liquids; ideal and real gases; relationship between structure and mechanical, magnetic and electrical properties. Nomenclature of chemical compounds.

Fundamentals of the chemical reactivity: Gibbs function and chemical equilibrium; aqueous solutions, strong acids and bases, weak acids and bases, hydrolysis of the salts, buffer solutions; solubility of salts; chemical kinetics and kinetic equations; Arrhenius law, transition complex and catalysis.

Polimeric materials: introduction to organic chemistry; relations between property and structure of the synthetic poymers (fibres, plastics, elastomers, thermosetting polymers, Tm, Tg, crystallinity, mechanical properties,conductive polymers); liquid crystals; environmental impact of synthetic polymers.

Energy and environment: energy sources and sustainable development; hydrogen production; renewable sources.

Numerical applications: units; mole; formulas; atomic and molecular weight; chemical reactions; gas laws; concentrations; shift of the chemical equilibrium; pH.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

The teaching material used during the lessons will be available in aulaweb, as well as the examples of final tests proposed in previous years with the related solutions. The notes taken during the lessons and the material in the aulaweb are enough for the preparation of the exam, but the following books are suggested as supporting and in-depth texts.

Structure of matter and fundamentals of the chemical reactivity
 

P. Atkins, L. Jones, L. Laverman, Fondamenti di chimica generale, Zanichelli;

Autori vari a cura di M. Speranza, Chimica generale e inorganica, Edi.Ermes;

Autori vari a cura di P. Tagliatesta, Chimica generale e inorganica, Edi-ermes;

R. Chang, Fondamenti di chimica generale, McGrow-Hill;

V. Lorenzelli, Elementi di Chimica per le Facoltà di Ingegneria, Genova, Ed. Univ.;

D.W. Oxtoby, H.P. Gills, A. Campion, Chimica moderna, EdiSES;

R.H. Petrucci, W.S Harwood, F.G. Herring, Chimica generale, Piccin;

M.S. Silberberg, Chimica, McGrow-Hill;

Polymeric materials, energy and environment

F. Cavani, G. Centi, M. Di Serio, I. Rossetti, A. Salvini. G. Strukul, Fondamenti di chimica industriale. Materie prime, prodotti, processi, sostenibilità, Ed. Zanichelli

Exercises
 

R.A. Michelin, P. Sgarbossa, M. Mozzon, A. Munari, Chimica – test ed esercizi, Ambrosiana;

M. Panizza, G. Cerisola, Esercizi di Chimica per Ingegneria, ECIG.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

ANTONIO BARBUCCI (President)

MARCO PANIZZA (President Substitute)

GIANGUIDO RAMIS (President Substitute)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

https://corsi.unige.it/8722/p/studenti-orario

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The exam includes a written and an oral exam with open questions.

The written test must establish only the minimum level of necessary knowledge for the admission to the next oral exam. This test does not have a numerical evaluation and is based on the solution of 9 questions on the following topics discussed during the exercises and present in the appropriate section available to all the students in Aulaweb:

1) Inorganic nomenclature;

2) Balancing exchange ion reactions;

3) Stoichiometric calculations or numerical application of the perfect gas law;

4) Radiochemistry or representation of the electronic configurations of atoms and molecules or chemical bond;

5) pH calculation of strong acids and bases;

6) Description and exploitation of energy sources;

7) Calculation of the equilibrium constant or composition;

8) Description of polymeric material or description of the relationship between the structure and a property or kinetics and catalysts;

9) pH calculation of weak acids and bases or salt solubility or organic nomenclature.

The written test is considered passed with a number of correct answers greater or equal than to 5. 3 appeals will be available in the winter session and 3 in the summer session.

The oral exam is structured on 3 questions of weight 10/30, one for each of the 3 chapters related to: 1) state of matter; 2) properties and transformations; 3) applications. In more detail, for each chapter one of the questions listed below will be asked.

Part 1:

Electromagnetic waves and matter; Radioactivity; Bohr atomic model; Quantum numbers and atomic orbitals; MOLCAO method; σ and π bonds; Configurations of diatomic molecules; Hybridization; Delocalized electrons and resonance; Weak interactions and hydrogen bonds; Kinetic theory and gas laws; Metal structures; Band theory and electrical conductivity; Ionic lattices and lattice energy; Defects and surfaces.

Part 2:

First law and enthalpy; Second law and entropy; Free energy; Reaction quotient and equilibrium; Equilibrium constant and temperature; Equilibrium and pressure constant; H2O state diagram; Colligative properties; Raoult's law and distillation; Electrolytes and pH; Hydrolysis and buffers; Velocity and collision theory; Kinetic equations; Catalysis.

Part 3:

Polar molecules; n-p doping; Ferroelectricity and piezoelectricity; magnetic properties; Ellingham diagram; Polymeric structures; Young's modulus in polymers; Molecular weights of polymers; Tactical polymers; Thermal behavior of polymers; Polymerization kinetics; Liquid crystals and silicones; Greenhouse effect; Nuclear and renewable energy; Hydrogen as an energy carrier.

For each written test passed, 2 oral exams are possible in the same session.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The exam tests with the student will allow:

evaluate the knowledge of the atomic structure;

verify the understanding of the mechanisms of strong and weak chemical bond formation;

evaluate understanding of the structure of solids, liquids and to understand the gas state equations;

understand the relationships between electrical, magnetic and mechanical structure and properties;

verify the ability to identify the conditions of chemical equilibrium;

verify the knowledge of the kinetics involved in the transformation of matter;

verify the ability in the quantitative evaluation of gaseous equilibriums and in aqueous solutions;

evaluate the fundamental structure-property relationships in the macomolecules

discuss all the proposed activities with a scientific method and appropriate language

Exam schedule