Industrial Process Pathways
Class Expectations and Grading Policies

Exams: Exams are open book, open notes. The tentative schedule for exams is as follows:

Exam 1: March 6

Exam 2: April 24

Final Exam: May 8

Homework: There will be a homework assignment due every week, except when an exam is scheduled. Late assignments will not be accepted for credit, though special circumstances will be given fair consideration.

There will be no formal homework teams. Students are encouraged to discuss assignments outside of class, but each student should turn in their own solutions. Homework and class participation will only affect your final grade if it helps you- see below.

Class Attendance/Participation: ACTIVE participation in class is expected. A typical class session will consist of:

1) Presentation of new material (~1 hour)

2) Problem-solving exercises utilizing new material (~45 minutes)

3) Discussion of exercises (~30 minutes)

After each class, I will review your contribution to the discussion. I will not be assigning letter grades to your efforts on individual exercises, but at the end of the semester, each student will receive a class participation grade.

Grading:  Your numerical grade will be calculated two ways, and your final grade for the course will be determined from the higher of the two.

    1)  Three exams 33.3% each
    2)  Three exams 25% each, homework and class participation 25%

Projects: If you wish, you may give an oral presentation, and the grade you earn on it will replace your lowest test grade. Select a paper or book chapter in the general area of reaction kinetics and mechanism- subject to my approval. The paper you choose must involve chemical reactions that were not discussed in class, or must go beyond what was discussed in class in some other crucial respect.

You will give a presentation about the paper on the last day of class (May 1.) You will summarize the science behind the paper, explain what the authors were trying to accomplish and what they found, and discuss why the work is significant. Obviously, this will require some research beyond simply reading the paper. Keep in mind your target audience for this presentation will be your classmates- NOT the professor.

Instructor
Dr. Kevin D. Dahm
330 Rowan Hall
256-5318
dahm@rowan.edu
 
 
 
 
 

List of References

General

Benson, S.: Thermochemical Kinetics, Wiley, 1976.

Fogler, H. S.: Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering, Prentice-Hall, 1992. (chapters 5 and 7 of the second edition could be particularly helpful in this course.)

Moore, J. and Pearson, R: Kinetics and Mechanism, Wiley, 1981.

Free Radicals

Fossey, J. Lefort, D. and Sorba, J.: Free Radicals in Organic Chemistry, Wiley, 1995.

Kochi, J. K.: Free Radicals, Volumes I and II, Wiley, 1970.

Note: Most any general organic chemistry book will give at least an introductory treatment of free radical chemistry. Organometallic Catalysis

Eisch, J.: The Chemistry of Organometallic Compounds, MacMillan, 1967.

Elschenbrioch, C. and Salzer, A.: Organometallics, VCH Publishers, 1989.

Wilkins, R: Kinetics and Mechanism of Reactions of Transition Metal Complexes, VCH, 1991.

Yamamoto, A.: Organotransition Metal Chemistry: Fundamental Concepts and Applications, Wiley, 1986.