General Chemistry

Chemical equilibrium: pH-controlled equilibria, buffers, precipitation reactions, complexes, combination of equilibria.

Heterogeneous equilibria: Gases, gas laws, gas solubility, activities, standard state.

Thermochemistry: The laws of thermodynamics. Enthalpy, entropy, Gibbs free energy, criteria for spontaneity, calculation of thermodynamic equilibrium constants, van't Hoff's equation. Phase equilibria for water and metals, iron-carbon phase diagram and steel.

Electrochemistry: Description and function of galvanic cells, Nernst equation, concentration cells, thermodynamic data and K from electrochemistry.

Applied electrochemistry: Corrosion and corrosion protection, passivity and Pourbaix diagram. Batteries, electrolysis.

Valence bond theory: Covalent bonds, ionic bonds, metal bonds. Liquids and solids, forces between molecules, solubility.

Inorganic Chemistry: The most important inorganic compounds and their properties and reactions, particularly related to materials, minerals and environmental issues.

Organic chemistry: Hydrocarbons, N- and O-containing compounds. Addition and condensation polymers. Polymer structure and properties. Examples of the application of chemistry in a technological context and environmental issues.

After completing the course the student should be able to:

• Describe important chemical reactions with balanced chemical equations and interpret such equations.
• Use numerical tools to solve chemical equilibrium problems.
• Describe important elements and inorganic compounds, especially related to key environmental issues.
• Explain the chemical structure, structure and properties of different thermoplastics and thermosetting polymers.
• Describe bonding relationships in and between molecules and discuss properties based on this.
• Calculate concentrations using equilibrium constants and thermodynamic data, and interpret the result.
• Use thermodynamic relationships and data to assess equilibria at different concentrations and temperatures.
• Calculate and interpret phase equilibria for water with dissolved gas or other compounds, for alloys and for steel.
• Explain the function of and calculate voltages and current yields in electrochemical cells and know their use.
• Explain and calculate areas for passivity and immunity of metals, as well as aeration cell corrosion in iron.
• See the logical connection between different parts of the chemistry, especially equilibrium, thermochemistry and corrosion.

Lectures (56 hours) and exercises (24 hours). 120 hours of self-study. There will be 11 excercises, where three of the first five, and five of the last six must be approved to gain access to the exam.