Physical Chemistry 3: — Chemical Kinetics — - Christian-Albrechts ...

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Preface
This scriptum contains lecture notes for the module “Physical Chemistry 3: Chemical
Kinetics” (chem0405), the last part of the 3 semester course in Physical Chemistry for
B.Sc. students of Chemistry and Business Chemistry at CAU Kiel. It is assumed (but
not formally required) that students have previously taken courses on chemical thermodynamics
(“Physical Chemistry 1: Chemical Equilibrium” or equivalent) and elementary
quantum mechanics (“Physical Chemistry 2: Structure of Matter” or equivalent) as
well as “Mathematics for Chemistry” (parts 1 and 2, or equivalent). Module chem0405
includes 3 hours weekly (3 SWS) for lectures and 1 SWS of exercises (56 contact hours
combined). Students who started their studies at CAU Kiel should normally be in their
4th semester.
The scriptum gives a summary of the material covered in the scheduled lectures to
allow students to repeat the material more economically. It covers basic material that
all chemistry students should learn irrespective of their possible inclination towards inorganic,
organic or physical chemistry, but goes well beyond the standard Physical Chemistry
textbooks used in the PC-1 and PC-2 courses. This is done in recognition of the
established research focus at the Institute of Physical Chemistry at CAU to enable students
to pursue their B.Sc. thesis project in Physical Chemistry. Some more specialized
sections have been marked by asterisks and may be omitted on first reading towards the
B.Sc. degree. Useful additional reference material is given in the Appendix.
A brief lecture scriptum can never replace a textbook. For additional review, students
are strongly encouraged (and at places required) to consult the recommended books
on Chemical Kinetics beyond the standard Physical Chemistry textbooks. The book
by Logan 1 is a comprehensive overview of the field of chemical kinetics and a nice
introduction; it also has the advantage that it is written in German. The book by Pilling
and Seakins 2 gives a good introduction especially to gas phase kinetics. The book by
Houston 3 includes more information on the dynamics of chemical reactions. The book
by Barrante 4 is highly recommended for everyone who wants to brush-up some math
skills. A highly recommended web site for looking up mathematical definitions and
recipies is the MathWorld online encyclopedia (http://mathworld.wolfram.com).
The computer has become indispensable in modern research. This applies especially
to Chemical Kinetics, where only computers can solve (by numerical integration) the
coupled nonlinear partial differential equation systems that describe important complex
reaction systems (e.g., related to combustion, the atmosphere or climate change). The
integration of differential equations, a major task in chemical kinetics, can be performed
using Wolfram Alpha (http://www.wolframalpha.com). More complicated problems can
be solved with versatile computer algebra systems, e.g. (in order of increasing power)
Derive, 5 MuPad, MathCad, 6 Maple, Mathematica 7 . A graphics program (e.g., Origin, 8
1 S. R. Logan, Grundlagen der Chemischen Kinetik, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 1996.
2 M. J. Pilling, P. W. Seakins, Reaction Kinetics, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1995.
3 P. L. Houston, Chemical Kinetics and Reaction Dynamics, McGraw-Hill, 2001.
4 J. R. Barrante, Applied Mathematics for Physical Chemistry, Prentice Hall, 2003 ($ 47.11).
5 Derive is available as shareware without charge.
6 MathCad is installed in the PC lab.
7 Mathematica has been used by the author for some of the lecture material.
8 Student versions of Origin are available for ≈ 35 − 120 (depending on run time).