Chemistry and Our Universe: How It All Works

Listening Length: 30 hours and 6 minutes Chemistry and Our Universe: How It All Works is your in-depth introduction to this vital field, taught over 60 visually innovative half-hour lectures that are suitable for the chemist in all of us, no matter what our background. Covering a year’s worth of introductory general chemistry at the college level, plus intriguing topics that are rarely discussed in the classroom, this amazingly comprehensive course requires nothing more advanced than high-school math. Employing simple concepts, logical reasoning, and vivid graphics that illuminate the wonders of chemistry, these lectures make essential concepts crystal clear. Best of all, this highly interactive approach features extensive hands-on, dramatic demonstrations, from which you will gain extraordinary insight into how the universe works. Your guide is Professor Ron B. Davis, Jr., a research chemist and award-winning teacher at Georgetown University. With passion and humor, Professor Davis guides you through the fascinating world of atoms, molecules, and their ceaseless interactions, showing you how to think, analyze problems, and predict outcomes like a true expert in the field. Chemistry and Our Universe Table of Contents INTRODUCTION Professor Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i Course Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 LECTURE GUIDES LECTURE 1 Is Chemistry the Science of Everything? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 LECTURE 2 Matter and Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 LECTURE 3 Wave Nature of Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 LECTURE 4 Particle Nature of Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 LECTURE 5 Basic Structure of the Atom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 LECTURE 6 Electronic Structure of the Atom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 LECTURE 7 Periodic Trends: Navigating the Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 LECTURE 8 Compounds and Chemical Formulas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Table of Contents iii LECTURE 9 Joining Atoms: The Chemical Bond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 LECTURE 10 Mapping Molecules: Lewis Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 LECTURE 11 VSEPR Theory and Molecular Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 LECTURE 12 Hybridization of Orbitals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 LECTURE 13 Molecular Orbital Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 LECTURE 14 Communicating Chemical Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 LECTURE 15 Chemical Accounting: Stoichiometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 LECTURE 16 Enthalpy and Calorimetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 LECTURE 17 Hess’s Law and Heats of Formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 LECTURE 18 Entropy: The Role of Randomness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 LECTURE 19 Influence of Free Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 LECTURE 20 Intermolecular Forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 iv Chemistry and Our Universe LECTURE 21 Phase Changes in Matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 LECTURE 22 Behavior of Gases: Gas Laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 LECTURE 23 Kinetic Molecular Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 LECTURE 24 Liquids and Their Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 LECTURE 25 Metals and Ionic Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 LECTURE 26 Covalent Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 LECTURE 27 Mixing It Up: Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 LECTURE 28 Solubility and Saturation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 LECTURE 29 Colligative Properties of Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 LECTURE 30 Modeling Reaction Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 LECTURE 31 Temperature and Reaction Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 LECTURE 32 Reaction Mechanisms and Catalysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 Table of Contents v LECTURE 33 The Back and Forth of Equilibrium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .242 LECTURE 34 Manipulating Chemical Equilibrium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .249 LECTURE 35 Acids, Bases, and the pH Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 LECTURE 36 Weak Acids and Bases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262 LECTURE 37 Acid‑Base Reactions and Buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270 LECTURE 38 Polyprotic Acids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278 LECTURE 39 Structural Basis for Acidity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285 LECTURE 40 Electron Exchange: Redox Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 LECTURE 41 Electromotive Force and Free Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301 LECTURE 42 Storing Electrical Potential: Batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307 LECTURE 43 Nuclear Chemistry and Radiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315 LECTURE 44 Binding Energy and the Mass Defect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323 vi Chemistry and Our Universe LECTURE 45 Breaking Things Down: Nuclear Fission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332 LECTURE 46 Building Things Up: Nuclear Fusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340 LECTURE 47 Introduction to Organic Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347 LECTURE 48 Heteroatoms and Functional Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358 LECTURE 49 Reactions in Organic Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 LECTURE 50 Synthetic Polymers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374 LECTURE 51 Biological Polymers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381 LECTURE 52 Medicinal Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389 LECTURE 53 Poisons, Toxins, and Venoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397 LECTURE 54 Chemical Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404 LECTURE 55 Tapping Chemical Energy: Fuels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411 LECTURE 56 Unleashing Chemical Energy: Explosives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419 Table of Contents vii LECTURE 57 Chemistry of the Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426 LECTURE 58 Chemistry of Our Oceans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433 LECTURE 59 Atmospheric Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440 LECTURE 60 Chemistry, Life, and the Cosmos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447 SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455 Image Credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460