AP® Chemistry
Mr. Hahn
AP chemistry is a one year course that is designed to be equivalent to a college-level, freshman chemistry course, both conceptually and in the lab,with expectations that will be comparably high. The class will meet daily for one 45-minute period and occasionally after school to complete lab work. Lab work will require a minimum of 25% of our instructional time. This will allow us to apply discussion topics and techniques to solve problems. At least six of these labs will be formatted to guided inquiry, and will require you to develop solutions to chemistry questions and then put them into action. It will be very important that you come to class everyday prepared to be an active member. AP chemistry will often build on content previously learned, much like chemistry did. This makes it very important for you to constantly check yourself for understanding, ask questions when you don’t understand and be your own learning advocate. These will be very valuable traits for any of your education to come. Everybody in the class has, or should have, the goal of ending this class with an extended understanding of the world around us. For all of us to achieve this goal, we will need to be respectful and helpful to others, especially when you may have already mastered a topic. Any understanding gained in this class will be earned, not handed out. The challenges and discomfort you may face are just part of the process of growing as a learner, and the confidence you gain by overcoming these challenges will make you better prepared for future challenges.
Semester Grades
1st Semester2nd Semester
90% Cumulative Semester Work90% Cumulative Semester Work
10% Semester Exam10% Final Exam
-Semester grades will be weighted as follows: Tests 70%, Labs 15%, Projects 15%, Quizzes 0%, Practice 0%
Tests – Tests will be a mix between multiple choice and free response questions. Students are able to retake an alternative version of a unit test (one per semester) after completing a test autopsy for their initial attempt. This whole process should be completed within two weeks following the initial unit test and the second score will replace the initial test.
Labs – Lab scores will depend on the completeness and quality of the lab reports from the lab notebook each student is required to use (report requirements attached). You will often work in a small group and may be graded as a group. Many labs will require two class periods to complete and some will require time outside of class.Students will also be evaluated with lab assessments.
Quizzes and Homework – Both quizzes and homework will be used to check for understanding during the unit. Scores will be recorded to monitor progress, but they won’t have a significant, direct impact on your grade. Students are welcome to retake any quiz before the unit test.
Resources
Kotz, John C., et al.Chemistry & Chemical Reactivity. 7th ed., 2009
Vonderbrink, Sally Ann, Laboratory Experiments for Advanced Placement Chemistry. 2nded.
Course Structure
The AP Chemistry course is organized around six big ideas:
1)The chemical elements are fundamental building materials of matter, and all matter can be understood in terms of arrangements of atoms. These atoms retain their identity in chemical reactions.
2)Chemical and physical properties of materials can be explained by the structure and arrangement of atoms, ions, or molecules and the forces between them.
3)Changes in matter involve the rearrangement and/or reorganization of atoms and/or the transfer of electrons.
4)Rates of chemical reactions are determined by details of the molecular collisions.
5)The laws of thermodynamics describe the essential role of energy and explain and predict the direction of changes in matter.
6)Any bond or intermolecular attraction that can be formed can be broken. These two processes are in a dynamic competition, sensitive to initial conditions and external perturbations.
AP Chemistry includes seven science practices that require students to think and investigate like working scientists. These include the following:
1)The student can use representations and models to communicate scientific phenomena and solve scientific problems.
2)The student can use mathematics appropriately.
3)The student can engage in scientific questions to extend thinking or to guide investigations within the context of the AP course.
4)The student can plan and implement data collection strategies in relation to a particular scientific question.
5)The student can perform data analysis and evaluation of evidence.
6)The student can work with scientific explanations and theories.
7)The student is able to connect and relate knowledge across various scales, concepts, and representations in and across domains.
Topic Outline
Unit 1: Calculation and Measurement Review (Ch.1, 1 week)
Topics:percent error, statistics, significant figures, dimensional analysis
Lab: Lab for safety review, notebook setup and review of graphing and statistics (SP2, 4, 5)
Guided Inquiry Lab: Nuclear Power Plants – An Issue of Hard Water (SP2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
Unit 2: Atoms, Molecules, and Ions (ch.2, 2 weeks)
Topics: name and formula review, percent abundance, empirical and molecular formulas, hydrate formulas
Lab: Analysis of Alum (Vonderbrink #4) (SP2,3,5)
Guided Inquiry Lab: Determination of Empirical Formula by Synthesis (Jennifer Cook Miller – Moline HS) (SP 2, 4, 5, 6)
Unit 3: Chemical Reactions (ch. 3 & 4, 3 weeks)
Topics: chemical equilibrium, solubility, precipitation reactions, net ionic equations, strong and weak acids/bases, neutralization reactions, gas forming reactions, oxidation-reduction reactions, limiting reactants, qualitative analysis, pH, spectrophotometry
Guided Inquiry Lab: Mass & Mole Relationships Lab (Jennifer Cook Miller – Moline HS) (SP 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
Unit 4: Thermodynamic Basics (ch. 5, 1.5 week)
Topics: thermal equilibrium, specific heat capacity, state changes, first law of thermodynamics, enthalpy, state functions, calorimetry, Hess’s Law, product/reactant favored reactions
Lab: Thermodynamics – Enthalpy of Reaction and Hess’s Law (Vonderbrink #6) (SP 2, 5, 6, 7)
Unit 5: Structure of Atoms (ch. 6 & 7, 2 weeks)
Topics: particle-wave duality, uncertainty principle, quantum mechanics, quantum numbers*, orbitals, electron spin, exclusion principle, orbital diagrams, electron configurations, periodic trends
Lab: Preparation and Analysis of Tetraaminecopper (II) Sulfate Monohydrate (Vonderbrink #24) (SP 1, 5, 6, 7)
Activity: Atomic Models Activity (PhET)
Unit 6: Bonding and Molecular Structure (ch. 8 & 9, 2.5 weeks)
Topics: Lewis structures, formal charge, resonance, octet exceptions, VSEPR, molecular shapes, bond polarity, electroneutrality principle, molecular polarity, bond properties, valence bond theory, molecular orbital theory, cis-/trans- isomerism
Lab: Paper Chromatography (Ft. Collins HS) (SP 1, 4, 5, 6)
Guided Inquiry Lab: Modeling Molecular Geometries (SP 1, 4, 6, 7)
Activity: Coulombic Attraction Activity
Unit 7: Organic Chemistry Basics (ch. 10, Winter break)
Topics: isomers, alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, nomenclature, aromatic compounds, functional groups and their properties, polymers
Unit 8: Gases (ch. 11, 1.5 weeks)
Topics:Avogadro’s hypothesis, ideal gas law, molar mass and density of gases, gas stoichiometry, partial pressures, kinetic-molecular theory, diffusion and effusion, nonideal behavior
Labs: Determination of the Molar Mass of Volatile Liquids (Vonderbrink #9) (SP 2, 3, 5, 6)
Determining the Molar Volume of a Gas (Vonderbrink #8) (SP 1, 2, 5, 6, 7)
Unit 9: Liquids and Solids (ch. 12 & 13, 2 weeks)
Topics: intermolecular forces, enthalpy of vaporization, liquid properties, unit cells, structures and formulas of ionic solids*, lattice energy, molecular, network and amorphous solids, phase changes and diagrams*
Lab: Gravimetric Analysis of a Metal Carbonate (Vonderbrink #3) (SP 2, 5)
Unit 10: Solutions (ch. 14, 1.5 weeks)
Topics: solubility, enthalpy of solution, Henry’s Law, Le Chatelier’s principle, Raoult’s Law, colligative properties*
Lab: Molar Mass by Freezing Point Depression (Vonderbrink #11) (SP 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7)
Unit 11: Kinetics (ch. 15, 1.5 weeks)
Topics: rate of reaction, rate changes, rate laws, half-life, collision theory of reaction rates
Lab: Kinetics of a Reaction (Vonderbrink #12) (SP 2, 5, 6)
Activity: Rate and Concentration Activity (ChemQuest)
Unit 12: Chemical Equilibrium (ch. 16, 1.5 weeks)
Topics: equilibrium constant expression, ICE tables, reaction quotient, determining and using equilibrium constants, disturbances to equilibrium
Activity: Equilibrium Activity (POGIL)
Unit 13: Acid and Base Equilibrium (ch. 17, 2.5 weeks)
Topics: water autoionization, ionization constants, pH, pOH, acid/base equilibrium constants, polyprotic acids and bases*, acid/base properties of salts, predicting direction of acid-base reactions, acid-base reaction types, calculations with Ka/Kb, Lewis acid/base concept*
Labs: Standardization of a Solution Using a Primary Standard (Flinn Scientific) (2, 5, 7)
Determination of Concentration by Acid-Base Titration, Including Weak Acid or Weak Base (Flinn Scientific) (SP 2, 5, 7)
Determination of Ka of Weak Acids (Vonderbrink #14) (SP 1, 3, 5, 6)
Unit 14: Equilibrium Extensions (ch. 18, 1.5 weeks)
Topics: common ion effect, buffer solutions, Henderson-Hasselbach equation*,preparing buffers, pH indicators, acid-base titrations, solubility product constant, precipitation reactions, complex ions
Labs: Selecting Indicators for Acid-Base Titrations (Vonderbrink #16) (SP 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7)
Guided Inquiry Lab: Analysis by Redox Titration (Jennifer Cook Miller – Moline HS) (SP 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
Activity: Electrochemistry Reaction Simulation (Jennifer Cook Miller – Moline HS)
Unit 15: Entropy and Free Energy (ch.19, 1.5 week)
Topics: spontaneity, second law of thermodynamics, entropy, third law of thermodynamics, Gibbs free energy, equilibrium
Activity: Reversible Reaction Activity (PhET)
Unit 16: Electron Transfer Reactions (ch. 20, 1.5 weeks)
Topics: oxidation-reduction reactions, simple voltaic cells, commercial voltaic cells, standard half-cell potential, Nernst equation
Lab: Electrolysis (Vonderbrink #23) (SP 1, 2, 5, 6, 7)
Unit 17: Nuclear Chemistry (ch. 23, 1 week)
Topics: radioactive decay, nuclear equations, half-life
Test Preparation
Guided Inquiry Lab: Qualitative Analysis Lab (SP 3, 4, 5, 7)
*Topics receiving less depth
Lab Book Guidelines
The purpose of a lab book (in the real world) is to help communicate to your colleagues and boss the progress of your work. It also helps to document processes, discoveries and dates that may be important in legal situations. In order to do that efficiently, there are a few guidelines that you need to follow. First, you must always write in ink (always a dark color) because this makes it less likely for information to be lost or to know if it has been tampered with. Unfortunately, this means that even your calculations must be in your lab book and in ink. This brings us to the next guideline. All errors must be crossed out with a single line. In other words, no scribbling out errors and definitely don’t use white out. It has been rumored that many a discovery was scratched out data that could be read through a single line. In your lab notebook, you will only write on the right side of your notebook for credit. You many use the left side for notes.
Here is how your lab notebook with be set up:
Page 1 – Your own page
Page 3 – Title Page (“Your Name” Lab Book, your name, period)
Page 5 – Table of Contents (Title on top, leave two pages)
(far left) title of lab(far right)page # the lab starts on
Page 9 – Copy of the safety contract (stapled in)
Page 11 – Lab Book Guidelines/Lab Report Requirements (stapled in)
Page 13 – Drawings of lab equipment
Here is a list of requirements for each lab:
ALWAYS IN BLUE OR BLACK INK
SINGLE LINE CROSS-OUT AND X-OUT & INITIAL LARGE, OPEN SPACES
ONLY WRITE ON THE RIGHT SIDE FOR CREDIT
PAGES MUST BE NUMBERED
WRITING MUST BE LEGIBLE
Lab Report Requirements
Your Name & Partner’s Name (if applicable)
Date of Lab Work
Title:Must be a descriptive title of what is happening in the lab (most likely the name on the lab handout)
Purpose:What are you hoping to determine in this lab?
Safety:Important safety precautions connected to the lab
Pre-Lab ?’s:Any pre-lab ?’s will be answered here
Procedure:A summary of the procedure you plan to follow
Data Table:Clear and concise table(s) of all of your data, both qualitative and quantitative.
Graph:Must have a title, x & y-axis labels and units, be of appropriate scale and have a key (if appropriate)
Calculations:Formulas must be shown along with all work. Answers should be boxed and include a unit.
Questions:Answer post lab questions
Conclusions:This part with be in detailed, paragraph form that addresses the following:
- Restate the purpose
- Analyze your data; describe why it is the way it is, answer the original purpose question, describe trends in the data.
- Describe at least two possible errors that could have happened and how these may have affected your data
- What did you learn from the lab? For many labs, you will need to model selected events.
- What might you do differently the next time you do this lab?