3. Instructor: Engr. Jose Felimar B.
Valenzuela
Email address: jfbvalenzuela@yahoo.com
Students are strongly encouraged to meet with
the instructor for questions, additional
information or any other related matter. Office
hours are WTh, 10:30am – 12:00nn, no
appointment required. Any other time can be
scheduled by appointment (request by email or
in class).
4. COURSE DESCRIPTION
This is an introductory course that focuses on the
fundamental principles of chemistry and the impact of
chemistry in society. It is intended for non-science
majors that might not have a background in chemistry.
There are three units in this course:
1. Fundamental Principles of Chemistry:
introduces students to the building blocks of
matter, chemical bonding, principles of
reactivity, intermolecular
forces, solutions, thermodynamics and kinetics, as well
as the basics of nuclear, organic and biochemistry
5. 2. Health Applications of Chemistry:
explains, in a general manner, the input of chemistry in
the health sciences, ranging from the process to
develop a new drug and the mechanisms of action in
the body, to chemistry in the food industry and the
molecular basis of exercise
3. Societal Applications of Chemistry: the
relation between chemistry and other sciences or areas
of society will also be discussed, like energy
production, the impact of human activity on the
environment, forensic science to study a crime scene or
the chemistry behind painting a work of art.
6. COURSE OBJECTIVES
- To introduce students to the fundamental
principles of chemistry
- To establish relations between learned
concepts and a series of topics on health and
society
- To promote an understanding of the
importance of chemistry in many aspects of
every day life and the implications in other fields
and sciences, from the arts to environmental
science
- To provide the student a scientific basis to help
him/her developing a critical, educated analysis
of
7. STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
Students who complete this course will be able to:
Know and define the basic principles of chemistry
Formulate basic chemical equations and perform
calculations with quantitative material
Relate those concepts to other sciences and aspects of
everyday life
Recognize and value the impact of chemistry in our
society
Distinguish between the different areas of chemistry
and their applications
8. - Describe the chemical basis of energy production,
including some renewable sources
- Analyze the impact of human activity on the
environment and discuss some possible ways of
remediation
- Summarize the processes for drug discovery and
development in pharmaceutical companies
- Explain the mechanisms of action of medicinal
compounds that have a profound impact on society,
from medicinal drugs to “recreational” drugs
- Explain the basis of cutting-age biochemical topics
(cloning, genetic engineering, etc) and discuss their
14. CONVERSION TABLE FOR THE FINAL GRADE
RAW SCORE FINAL GRADE
96.01 – 100.00 1.00 Outstanding
91.51 – 96.00 1.25
87.01 – 91.50 1.50
82.51 – 87.00 1.75
78.01 – 82.50 2.00 Above Average
73.51 – 78.00 2.25
69.01 – 73.50 2.50 Satisfactory
64.51 – 69.00 2.75
60.00 – 64.50 3.00 Passing
58.00 – 59.99 4.00 Conditional
LESS THAN 58 5.00 Failure
15. COURSE POLICIES
Attendance:
Late – the student arrives 5 minutes after the scheduled class period.
3 tardy marks = 1 absence
Anyone who comes in after 23 minutes is considered absent.
The maximum number of hours of absences is 11 hours (for a 3-unit
course). Above this, the student gets a failing grade and earns no
credit for the subject.
If a student incurs 50% of the tolerated number of absences will be
issued his/her 1st written warning by the OSA.
Dropping of Subjects:
Should have endorsement of the subject teacher.
Should be done within a week after Midterm Exam.
16. REFERENCES
Lemkin, William Ph.D. “Graphic Survey of Chemistry.” Revised and
enlarged edition. Oxford Book Company, Inc. 1971.
Mortimer, Charles E. “Chemistry.” Sixth edition. Wadsworth Publishing
Company. 1986.
Sienko, Michell J. & Plane, Robert A. “Chemistry.” McGraw Hill Book
Company. 1976.
Silberberg, Martin S. “Principles of General Chemistry.” International
Edition. McGraw Hill. 2007.
17. Course curriculum adapted from the course
CHEM 100 – Chemistry and Society of
University of Hawai’i Manoa, under Dr. Oscar
Navarro, PhD. Permission granted by the
author.
