General Chemistry

KBN804E-BE

Time of the lecture: Monday between 11h00-13h00 according to the weekly schedule

Place of the lecture: Béke building 4th floor "Tanuló" (BE-402-3), 1 Rerrich Béla tér, 6720 Szeged

Note that if the number of the students is below 3 at any occasions, the lecture will not be given in person, but handouts will be distributed and consultation will be offered.

Teacher: Dr. István Szilágyi (Department of Physical Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Szeged)

Requirements - 2025/2026 Fall semester

The purpose of the lectures is to establish and/or improve the chemistry knowledge of the students to support their primary major. Introduction to general chemistry serves to create an appropriate basic knowledge for learning further subjects in natural sciences. Completion of the course can be accomplished by a successful written exam during the exam period, or by accepting the grade offered by the teacher based on the student's performance during the semester, as detailed later. However, the condition for admission to the exam must be fulfilled within the term, before the exam season, as follows.

Conditions for admission to the exam:

The students can be admitted to the exam only if they aquire 40 points during 3 activities.

(i) A total number of 75 points can be collected by succesfully completing 2 exercise sections (ZH) containing test questions and calculations. The dates of these will be 27 October (ZH1) and 8 December (ZH2) between 11h00-13h00 in the lecture room. (ii) Another 15 points can be obtained by solving 3 homework assignments (HF1, HF2 and HF3) at the appropriate level. (iii) Besides, 10 additional points can be obtained by attending the lectures; the presence of the students will be randomly documented twice during the semester without notice (KT1 and KT2). Those who are present at the time of such a catalogue are going to get 5 points each. A total of 100 points can be gathered by ZH, HF and KT (ZH1+ZH2+HF1+HF2+HF3+KT1+KT2=100). Those who score below 40 points in total cannot be admitted to the exam. Furthermore, based on the points collected during the semester, a mark can be offered by the teacher, see later.

Mobile phones or any other device that is not considered as a calculator are not allowed to use, so bring solely a scientific calculator with you to the exercise sections and the exams. The use of a mobile phone or any other non-permitted device will result in grade insufficient (1) and failure in that exam. Only the sheets provided on site can be used for solving the tests and calculations. For the preparation and practice, recommended materials include books listed below, own class notes and the downloadable handouts of the lecture slides. To provide further help, personal consultation will be provided every Monday between 15h00 and 17h00 in the teacher's office (MF58/M28, ground floor of the Bolyai building). Note that personal consultations must be booked by 16h on Friday before that.

Homework assigments:

The subject of the first homework (HF1) is the calculation of solution composition.

The second one (HF2) is concerned with stociometry, i.e., calculations to describe chemical reactions.

The third homework (HF3) deals with chemical equilibria, mostly pH calculation of acidic and alkaline solutions.

All of the HF calculations will be taught and practiced during the class. Besides, additional materials will also be provided.

Completion of the course, the exam:

For those who met the conditions for admission to the exam (i.e., collected at least 40 points in ZH, HF and KT), there are two ways to complete the course and thus, to obtain a final grade. (i) Successful performance on one of the exams to be announced during the exam season. (ii) Reception of an offer from the teacher for excellent (5), good (4) or satisfactory (3) grade based on the results of ZH, HF and KT. In both case, the collected % can be converted to grades using the table below.

Conversion of points to grades:

The teacher has the right to change the number of points achieved by ±5.

Any controversial issue that is not clarified by this document will be decided on the basis of the Study and Examination Regulations of the SZTE TTIK!

Recommended literature:

Árpád Szűcs: General Chemistry, JATEPress (1998) or any other general chemistry book released in the past 15 years.

Schedule:

Week 1: Introduction to course requirements.
Week 2: Scientific knowledge, measurement and calculation.
• The concept of science.
• Gaining knowledge, performing measurements and calculations.
• Chemistry as a scientific discipline.
• SI - base, auxiliary and derived units.
• Historically important chemical reactions.
Week 3: Description of chemical systems by state.
• The relationship between the system studied and the environment.
• Air, liquid and solids and phase transition.
• State parameters.
• Description of the gas state - gas laws: ideal gas, real gases.
• Properties of the liquid state: surface tension, viscosity, evaporation.
• Properties of the solid state.
• Phase diagram of single-component systems.
Week 4: Composition of chemical systems.
• Element, chemical symbol, compound, formula.
• Description of solutions and their composition: mass percentage, mass fraction, mass ratio, mass concentration, mixed percentage, molarity, mole fraction, molality, volume percentage.
• Common errors in calculation of solution composition.
• Limitations in the composition of mixtures.
• Laws of dilute solutions.
Week 5: Stochiometry.
• Chemical equations and their correct representation.
• Redox reactions: oxidation number and arrangment.
• Acid-base reactions and theories.
• Stoichiometric calculations, titrations.
Week 6: Thermodynamics and thermochemistry.
• Work, heat, temperature, energy, heat capacity.
• Internal energy, the 1st law of thermodynamics.
• Properties of state functions.
• Calorimetry, enthalpy.
• Thermochemical equations. Reaction enthalpy, formation enthalpy and Hess' law.
Week 7: Chemical equilibria.
• Reversible reactions, the law of mass action.
• Reaction ratio, equilibrium constant.
• Factors affecting balance, the Le Chatelier-Braun principle.
• Effect of components, temperature and pressure.
• Homogeneous equilibria in aqueous solutions: electrolytes, dissociation.
• Equilibria of weak electrolytes, degree of dissociation, Ostwald's dilution law.
• Strong electrolytes, the chemistry of the solution, the concept of pH, the ionic product of water.
• Buffers.
• Acid-base features of salt solution.
• Heterogeneous equilibria, solubility product.
Week 8: Exercise section 1 (ZH1).
Week 9: Electrochemistry.
• Conductance, specific conductance/conductivity, molar specific conductivity.
• Első- és másodfajú vezetők. Electrochemical cell.
• Anode, cathode. Cell potential, Electrode potential. Standard hydrogen electrode.
• Nernst equation. Types of electrodes.
• Redox potential.
• Galvanic cell (or voltaic cell), battery, electrolysis.
Week 10: Reaction kinetics.
• Arrhenius equation. Reaction rate and order.
• Homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis.
• Reaction rate, empirical rate equation.
• Reaction mechanism and molecularity.
• Equations of elementary reactions.
Week 11: Structure and description of the matter.
• Structure and transformations of atomic nuclei. Radioactivity.
• The development of quantum theory.
• Wave and/or particle?
Week 12: Build-up of atoms.
• Description of the electron system of atoms, quantum numbers.
• Energy transitions in simple atoms.
• Aufbau theorem. Pauli's exclusion principle. Hund's rule.
• Periodic table, periodicity.
Week 13: Chemical bonds.
• Primary chemical bonds.
• Ionic bond. covalent bond: delocalization, dative/coordinate bond, octett expansion.
• Metallic bond. Electronegativity, Pauling scale.
• Secondary bonds.
Week 14: Exercise section 2 (ZH2).