General Information
Materials:
- Textbook - Chemistry: The Molecular Nature of Matter and Change, 8th Ed., by Martin S. Silberberg (with Connect)*.
- Lecture notes: available at the NYU Bookstore.
- iClicker lecture response device: Download the Reef polling app from the iTunes App store for an iOS device, or the Google Play store for an Android device.
- Molecular models: A set of molecular models is necessary. The "Organic Chemistry Set for Student", set 1013A (by Maruzen) is highly recommended.
- Scientific Calculator - Your calculator must be capable of evaluating logarithms, performing exponentiation, and calculating trigonometric functions. It must have at least an eight-digit display and you must be able to switch between scientific notation and decimal notation. Most standard scientific calculators have these features and they are priced as low as $13.
* Your Chemistry course is participating in the Follett Access program. This is an NYU Bookstore initiative that delivers required course materials digitally at the lowest possible price. The book, Chemistry by Silberberg will be delivered through the CONNECT platform. The cost of the book is $94.75, which will be added as a "book charge" to your bursar bill, this is a savings of $189.25 over the new hardcopy price. If you decide not to use this digital edition you can opt-out of the program. The deadline for opting out is May 31st. The link to opt out of the program is:
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this course will be delivered remotely. It is unfortunate that we cannot meet in person, that we will be unable to utilize our traditional methods of assessment (i.e., written quizzes and exams), and that you will not have the opportunity to handle directly the apparatus and chemicals in the laboratory. Nevertheless, we believe that we can deliver to you the instruction, insight, motivation, and intellectual experiences necessary to understand chemistry. Because you will be working independently much of the time, it will probably require of you more than the usual level of dedication and diligence to "remain on task". However, if you do engage and actively participate in the course, you will be as well prepared for future chemistry courses as any student that has succeeded in General Chemistry.
Note that "remote instruction" is not the same as an online course. Online courses, designed from the start for that mode of learning, have little or no fixed scheduling, and do not encourage real-time interactions between student and instructor, nor between students and other students. We will do so. Lectures will be delivered via Zoom, and student questions will be encouraged. Recitations are intended to be a dialog between the students and the instructor, and Zoom accommodates that mode of interaction. I always have two office hours per week, during which you are more than welcome to drop in to ask detailed questions, or to just chat - again, Zoom allows this. This does, however, require that we meet at specific times, as described on the first page of this syllabus. Zoom lectures will be recorded, and you can view those recordings anytime that you wish (though it is best to be "present" so that you can ask questions). For recitations, quizzes, exams, and laboratories, you will need to participate in accordance with the NYC schedule (i.e., Eastern Daylight Time, EDT).
There are four lecture meetings per week for six weeks (less one for Memorial Day, plus one on 5/29). We'll also have our exams during three of those classes. This means that each of our lectures will correspond to roughly a week of the fall semester course. In some cases, you must solve homework assignments in one night that are allowed three to five days in the fall. You have an exam roughly every two weeks and one or two quizzes every week. You must eat, sleep, and breathe chemistry during this course to keep up. Can you do it? Yes. Can you learn chemistry well in this way? Yes. Can you get a good grade? It's up to you.
My lectures (pretty much) follow the book, but I do not lecture "from the book". I say things in the way that I believe is the easiest to understand. The text is a good one, but once in a while I disagree with it. In such cases, you must follow my methods (I will make it clear when this is necessary).
I use my computer (and Zoom) for all of my lecture presentations. Because I don't have to write everything out by hand, you probably won't have time to copy "everything" into your notebook. It is best if you sit back and listen and think. To make this possible, reduced size copies of my lecture notes have been printed and are available through the NYU Bookstore. The notes have some pieces missing to keep you alert. They also have nice wide margins and a small "Notes" section in which you can write any additional information that you feel will help you to prepare for exams (I say a lot that isn't in the notes too!).
Attendance of the lectures will be monitored through the iClickers. During a typical semester, after you miss three (3) lectures, I begin to deduct 1/2 point from your overall score for each additional absence. This semester, no deductions will be made for lecture absences, since many of you may be attending from different time zones, but you are strongly encouraged to attend the lectures live - you will be able to ask questions and it will keep you more fully engaged in the course.
Not everything in the text is important for this course, but there is no way of knowing what is and what is not except by listening to the lectures. The point is, you can't do well in this course without reading the book, attending/viewing the lectures, doing the assigned homework (or more), and going to recitation to get any clarification that you require (and this is the order in which you should do these things too).
This course always demands a lot of time and effort. The summer version requires the same amount of effort (and time spent studying), compressed into a six-week period. It is not abbreviated, and it is not made easier. But now that I've said all that I can to scare you (so that you'll work hard), let me assure you that most people have done well in this summer course and they have learned just as much chemistry as those who take it during the fall semester. It is even possible to enjoy the course (and you will find it easier to learn the material if you do). This should be the only course that you be taking this summer and the ability to concentrate on just one subject is a pleasure in itself. Finally, I don't think that there is any other science that can approach the range and the depth of chemistry or which can better help you to understand the (physical) world around you. Everything is chemistry.
The recitation is designed to help you to understand the course material. While it is where you will take your quizzes, you should view its primary purpose as a question and answer session where you can obtain an explanation of any course material.
The quiz will be given at the end of each recitation meeting. It will consist of a couple of problems or questions dealing with material covered in the lectures. You will always have more than 24 hours between lecture coverage and the quiz on a particular topic. However, even though we might not be completely finished with a chapter, if we started it more than 24 hours previously, then I can ask questions from the early parts of that chapter. The quiz is meant to keep you current, not as a chapter review. Stay up to date on topics, and you'll stay up to date for the quiz. 10 minutes is scheduled for each quiz.
For the first time, we will be using the McGraw-Hill Connect system to accompany your reading of the textbook, and for homework, quizzes, and exams. It is tailored to our textbook, so it should work well in helping you to work through the assigned materials. The assigned problems have been chosen to clarify concepts that I regard as important and to give you practice in solving problems of the types commonly encountered on quizzes and exams. It is not possible to perform well at test time unless you have done the homework. One of the most frequent remarks I hear (after an exam) is "I really understand the material. I just can't solve the problems!" What would you do if your doctor said "I understand your illness completely. I'm just not very good at curing it!" I'll be happy if you do understand the material. But the fact is, your grade is going to depend upon your demonstrating that you understand it. To prove it, you have to answer questions and solve problems. Responding correctly, quickly, and coherently to these problems will require practice. So, do the homework assignments. In addition to the 20 % of your grade that they earn, you will perform better at test time.
Some recommendations:
- Read the chapter (and answer LearnSmart questions) before trying an assignment.
- Work independently, but (at least some of the time) discuss problems with another class member (via Zoom, Skype, etc.). If you keep getting stuck, discuss it. Discuss concepts too! Visit office hours regularly.
- Write notes to yourself while you do the homework so that you can remember which problems gave you trouble and what was unclear. When you get to recitatio n (or office hours) use those notes to frame your questions.
The molecular models that are required course materials will help you to understand the concepts of Chapter 10. You will not be allowed to use the models during the exams and quizzes, so use them extensively while you do the homework for that chapter.
There is a web page for the general chemistry courses at NYU. The URL is
We have set up an NYUClasses page for the lecture and laboratory. There will also be an NYU Classes page for your recitation section.
A note about eail: Do not send email to me. See me in person (via Zoom) whenever you have a question or need something from me. I have 2 hours set aside to meet with you each week and I am willing to talk with individuals at the end of each lecture. I will not reply to any email sent to me (so you will be wasting your time by sending it).
| lab | 25% |
| exams | 15% each |
| quizzes | 10% |
| LearnSmart | 5% |
| Connect | 15% |
If you have a documented disability you can arrange to take exams and/or quizzes at the Center for Students with Disabilities (csdexams@nyu.edu). It is your responsibility to make arrangements with that office and with me before the first quiz or exam.
If you miss a lecture due to illness, study the lecture notes and feel free to ask questions about them. If you miss a quiz, you must provide documentation on a physician's stationery that says that you were too ill to attend the recitation. If you are ill on the day of an exam and can provide a doctor's note, your grade will be calculated based upon the other exams and coursework. Lecture/recitation/exam documentation must be sent directly to Prof. Halpin; laboratory documentation must be sent to Prof. Geggier. All documentation MUST include your name and dates to which it applies. YOU MUST attach to that a "documentation cover sheet" (downloadable in PDF format from our course web page) that shows exactly what work you missed (e.g., lecture, quiz, exam, lab) and the section number of your recitation (if that cover sheet is missing, the documentation will not be used and the absence will go unexcused). Prof. Geggier will provide her own documentation cover sheet for the laboratory portion of this course. ALL documentation is subject to verification. An excused quiz will not count, but you still have to complete the homework. Unexcused quizzes count as zeros. If you miss more than one of the three exams and you have a doctor's note, I will give you an incomplete (I) for the course and you can take a make-up exam during the fall 2020 semester. Any absence will put you behind in your work. At the pace of the course, it will be difficult to catch up.
Cheating in any form will result in a failing grade for this course and will be noted in your university records. It will ruin your career. If you give information to another student during a quiz or an exam, you are both cheating. We are very good at detecting cheating. Don't try it.
last updated 3:27 pm, Wednesday, May 13, 2020
