Midterm Exam 3 Study Guide

The second midterm exam will cover Lectures 8-13 & Chapters 6-8 in the textbook. See below for a comprehensive summary of the topics included on the exam. While the end of chapter problems in the textbook are always a great place to start, the REVIEW MATERIALS page has many additional practice problems and their answer keys. Use the iClicker Questions to review common misconceptions & typical mistakes. Remember, the annotated lecture slides are also posted to the course schedule. If you need additional review, you can always consult the video tutorials and animations posted for each lecture (also found on the course schedule).

All relevant equations will be provided; there is no need to memorize equations or unit conversions.

Disclaimer: Practice Exams from previous semesters may cover more or less material than the current semester. No two problems will likely ever be the same. Avoid memorizing how to solve a specific problem, and instead focus on the concepts and logic necessary to problem solve.

Practice Exam Download Practice Exam
(Fall 2013) & ANSWER KEY Download ANSWER KEY
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(Fall 2014) & ANSWER KEY Download ANSWER KEY
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(Summer 2015) & ANSWER KEY Download ANSWER KEY
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(Spring 2016) & ANSWER KEY Download ANSWER KEY

Electromagnetic Waves:

Frequency, wavelength & their relationship
Amplitude
Nodes

Electron Orbitals:

Shape of s, p, & d orbitals

Know how to write the electron configurations up to Calcium

Be able to identify which electrons are CORE electrons & which are VALENCE electrons
Understand how Group Number in the periodic table relates to VALENCE ELECTRONS

Be able to use these steps to write VALID Lewis Dot Structures Download use these steps to write VALID Lewis Dot Structures

Understand how electronegativity varies throughout the periodic table
Understand the OCTET Rule and when it is violated

VSEPR Theory:

Understand the basic premise behind VSEPR Theory:
Electron regions repel one another and generate electron geometries with the maximum space between these regions
Be able to count the number of bonding regions, and lone pairs coming off a central atom to find the total number of electron regions
Use the number of bonding regions to determine the electron geometry
Know the difference between electron geometry and molecular geometry, and determine the molecular geometry once the electron geometry is known: Download Know the difference between electron geometry and molecular geometry, and determine the molecular geometry once the electron geometry is known:

Know the bond angles for each type of shape
Be able to draw sketches of the molecules depicting their three-dimensional arrangement

Polarity:

Know the cut-offs below for distinguishing between nonpolar covalent, polar covalent and ionic bonds. Understand how differences in electronegativities relate to the types of bonds below.

Nonpolar Covalent: $\Delta EN\le0.4$ $\Delta EN\le0.4$
Polar Covalent: $0.4<\Delta EN\le2.0$ $0.4<\Delta EN\le2.0$
Ionic: $\Delta EN\:>2.0$ $\Delta EN\:>2.0$

Be able to classify bonds according to the categories above
Be able to draw dipole moment vectors and partial charges to describe charge separation in polar covalent bonds
Use Lewis dot structure, bond polarities and molecular geometry to classify the molecule as POLAR or NONPOLAR Download Use Lewis dot structure, bond polarities and molecular geometry to classify the molecule as POLAR or NONPOLAR

Understand how the symmetry of a molecule can cause dipole moments to cancel (resulting in a NONPOLAR molecule) or add together (resulting in a POLAR molecule overall)

Gas Laws: Understand the basic behavior of gases and how one variable like pressure is affect by other variables like volume, temperature or number of moles of gas. Use the gas laws below to quantify these relationships:

Boyle's Law: $P_{1} V_{1} = P_{2} V_{2}$ $P_1V_1=P_2V_2$ assuming constant temperature (T) and fixed quantity of gas (n)

Charles' Law: $\frac{V_{1}}{T_{1}} = \frac{V_{2}}{T_{2}}$ $\frac{V_1}{T_1}=\frac{V_2}{T_2}$ assuming constant pressure (P) and fixed quantity of gas (n)

Gay-Lussac Law: Links to an external site. $\frac{P_{1}}{T_{1}} = \frac{P_{2}}{T_{2}}$ $\frac{P_1}{T_1}=\frac{P_2}{T_2}$ assuming constant volume (V) and fixed quantity of gas (n)

Combined Gas Law: Links to an external site. $\frac{P_{1} V_{1}}{T_{1}} = \frac{P_{2} V_{2}}{T_{2}}$ $\frac{P_1V_1}{T_1}=\frac{P_2V_2}{T_2}$ assuming a fixed quantity of gas (n)
Avogadro's Law: Links to an external site. The number of moles of a gas and its volume are directly proportional [assuming constant temperature (T), constant pressure (P) and constant volume (V)]
TIP: All of the gas laws above can be derived from the Ideal Gas Law (PV=nRT). Be Lazy! Don't memorize the gas laws! Links to an external site.
Ideal Gas Law: PV=nRT Links to an external site.

Practice Problems Links to an external site.
Always use temperature in KELVIN: $Kelvin\:=\:^oC\:+\:273.15$ $Kelvin\:=\:^oC\:+\:273.15$
Be sure all units are consistent with one another. For example, if pressure is reported in psi (pounds per square inch), mmHg and kilopascals (kPa), it's probably best to get everything into a standard unit like atmospheres (atm) using the unit conversions provided
Use the right form of R (the Universal Gas Constant) so that the units are consistent throughout the problem:

R = 0.08206 Latm/molK
R = 62.37 LmmHg/molK
R = 8.314 LkPa/molK

Use the ideal gas equation to find the number of moles of a gas given pressure, temperature and volume of a gas, or vice versa: find the volume of a gas given the number of moles of the gas + temperature and pressure.
Know how to solve for the density of a gas given its temperature and pressure. Links to an external site.
Know how to solve for the molar mass of a gas given its density, temperature and pressure. Links to an external site.
Use Avogadro's law and stoichiometric analysis to determine the volumes of gases needed for complete stoichiometric reactions. Links to an external site.