LYCOMING COLLEGE     CHEMISTRY 115     SPRING 2001

 

Course Description – Chemistry 115 is a survey course of organic chemistry and biochemistry; it is intended as a follow-up to Chemistry 111 (or its equivalent), which is a pre-requisite for Chem 115. The course is designed for students who need only one semester of organic chemistry. A schedule of events is attached; the approach is primarily descriptive with special emphasis on topics of interest to those in the health sciences.

 

Faculty – Dr. Henry E. Berkheimer: lectures, lab, and recitations

 

Texts and Required Equipment

 

a. text: “Fundamentals of General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry”, 6^th Ed.

b. Bound laboratory notebook (Freeman)

c. Chemistry 115 Lab Manual

d. Laboratory Safety Glasses

e. Electronic Calculator

[Note: all of the above are available at the campus store]

f. Lab Deposit - $10.00 at check-in (refundable less breakage at check-out)

 

Course Format

 

a. Lectures – MWF, 8:00 A.M. (HBC G41) – Attendance required.

Lectures will follow the textbook and assigned reading fairly closely; to maximize learning, assigned reading should be completed before the lectures.

b. Recitation – Thursday, 1:00 P.M. (note that this is a change in schedule) –

Attendance strongly recommended. In these periods, assigned homework will be covered, and questions dealing with previous lectures and assigned reading will be addressed.

c. Assigned homework

Weekly homework is assigned; the complete set of assignments for the semester is attached to the schedule of events. These questions (called Review Exercises in the text) are designed to reinforce learning. Organic chemistry cannot be learned without practicing problem solving.

Completed homework is due at the beginning of class every Wednesday. Every effort will be made to have this graded and returned to you by recitation the following day. Homework answer keys will be posted after class on Wednesday. No late homework will be accepted.

d. Laboratory – Tuesday, 2:00 – 4:50 P.M. Attendance is required.

Content and sequence of experiments have been chosen to coincide as closely as possible with lecture topics in order to reinforce learning.

 

Grading Scheme

 

    The final grade will be determined by the following weighting system:

             Quizzes          20%

             Homework         10%

             Hour Exam I      10%

             Mid-term Exam    15%

             Hour Exam II     10%

             Final Exam       15%

             Laboratory       20%

                               -----

                              100%

 

Letter grades will then be assigned on the usual basis:

             A = 90 – 100%

             B = 80 –89%

             C = 70 – 79%

             D = 60 – 89%

             F = less than 60%

 

Plus or minus grades will also be assigned where appropriate. Assignment of the final grade will also be influenced by such factors as attendance and lab performance, particularly where a student has a borderline average.

 

Policy on Attendance for Quizzes and Exams

 

a. Quizzes – there will be no makeup quizzes. The lowest grade of all the quizzes will be dropped, and the average of the remaining quizzes will be used.

 

b. Exams – there will be no makeup exams. If an exam is missed for a truly legitimate reason (as affirmed by the Dean of Students) and I am informed promptly, a zero will not be recorded, and the other exams will be weighted more heavily.