Last Updated:
09/06/07
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Amongst students, physical chemistry has the ill reputation of being an incredibly hard subject, filled with mathematical equations and regarding concepts that only a few brainy people can handle. As Professor Michele Francl states in the preface to her Survival Guide for Physical Chemistry:
"The American Chemical Society sells a bumper sticker that reads 'Honk if you Passed P-Chem' and while I¹ve never actually seen it on a car, it certainly adorns bulletin boards and office doors in chemistry departments around the country. Physical chemistry is considered by many students to be the make or break course of the major. I certainly approached p-chem with trepidation, thanks in part to the stories my parents (both chemists) had to tell about their experiences. My mother boasts of climbing in the basement window of the p-chem lab at dawn to finish off an experiment - this in the days when women students had curfews. Forty years later, my father can still recite the physical chemistry problems on his graduate preliminary exams ("Water falls from a square faucet, what shape will it be when it hits the sink. Give all relevant equations."). Needless to say, by the time I was a junior chemistry major, physical chemistry had taken on mythical, and not very reassuring, proportions. Imagine my suprise when I found I enjoyed it - imagine my parents' shock when I decided to pursue it as a career!"
Most students believe that we make them take pchem because we like to make their life miserable and enjoy seeing them struggle. Nothing farther than the truth! Medical schools, graduate programs, universities and biochemists everywhere know that pchem is an essential tool for the understanding of many biochemical systems and processes. So don't be intimidated by the reputation. You will be surprised to find that by remembering the basic pchem fundamentals that you learned in introductory chemistry, adding a little more calculus and expanding a bit new physical chemistry knowledge, you will understand how your chemistry, biochemistry and biology works, even better. Who knows, one day in your future career you will be glad you took pchem and might find yourself honking at the sight of one of those bumper stickers. C.Suarez
Chemistry 335 is a one semester Physical Chemistry course offered to Biochemistry majors and all students interested in learning how biomolecular systems work. It allows us to understand the vast human genome, why proteins take on specific configurations, how fast transcription and translation occur, what necessary elements we must include in the design of synthetic cellular transporters, etc. The course simply builds and expands on the knowledge acquired during the introductory chemistry sequence (I-IV) but focuses solely on the application to biochemical systems. Thermochemistry, spectroscopy, transport properties will all be covered in this course. A perfect finishing touch to your biochemistry education! C.Suarez
Chemistry 338 is a course designed for those students who are interested in learning a bit more about one of today's most important analytical tools: NMR spectroscopy. A record four Nobel Prizes have been awarded to the developers of modern NMR and MRI. CHM 338 starts with an overview of the fundamentals of NMR, moving on to its application to the study of biomolecules. Where Mass spectrometry helps us answer questions such as "which type of biomolecule?" and "how much?", NMR answers the "what does it look like?"The end of the semester is used to introduce students to the use of MRI in medicine and research. Anyone with a basic exposure to NMR spectroscopy (typically through Organic Chemistry CHM222-223) will find this course easy to follow and full of information. Chemistry, Biochemistry and Biology students are all welcomed to enroll. C.Suarez
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