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8.1: Introduction

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    This project is only assigned to students in CHEM310L (not CHEM301L). Its time to see how physical chemistry can be applied to a topic that really interests you.

    In 310L, you can choose a topic for your independent project, and choose whether you would like to dive into more computational work, or explore other applications of physical chemistry in the peer-reviewed literature. You should begin searching the literature (eg using Web of Science or looking at the Table of Contents for leading Physical Chemistry journals) for physical chemistry topics that interest you. Alternatively, you can think about simple chemical phenomena or reactions that you are interested in and that you can model using Spartan. You should prepar a brief written proposal (1 paragraph) on at least two ideas for what you might do for your independent project and be prepared to discuss it with your instructors. 

    You will choose a topic, study it using computation or literature, and present your work to your classmates. Please prepare two proposals for this project and discuss them with your instructors. 

    Objectives of the Independent Project:

    1. To apply what you're learned in class and lab to learn more about computation and/or a cutting edge research application!
    2. To teach your classmates about a cool new topic in physical chemistry!
    3. To practice communicating technical scientific topics through an oral presentation.

    Start here:

    Start by seeing what's out there. Find the table of contents for a journal that focuses on physical chemistry or find the most popular articles for the last 12 months from one of the ACS journals. Links for some of the Journals of Physical Chemistry from ACS are linked below. 

    With one of the lists, do the following.

    1. Spend 10 minutes to scan the titles and abstracts of the articles in the latest issue(s).
      1. What subdisciplines or applications of physical chemistry do you notice?
      2. Are there any applications that surprise you?
      3. Is there anything that piques your interest?
    2. Look at the synopsis figure that accompanies each title.
      1. Do the figures change your assignment of subdiscipline?
      2. Do the figures change your interest in reading the article?
    3. Choose one paper that you would be interesting in learning more about and examine the abstract more closely. Decide if you want to actually read this paper. If not, move on to another, check out the Journal's ASAP articles, or go to a different journal to find something that is interesting to you. Alternatively, you can check out the list of top articles read for a specific year (eg: Top articles for 2021 are here: https://axial.acs.org/2022/01/20/mos...articles-2021/)

     

    8.1: Introduction is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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