Introducing Polymer Science Across the Chemistry Curriculum

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Chemistry (12)Polymer science and other materials related disciplines represent important areas of work and academic research for chemistry graduates. Also, due to their ubiquitous nature, even within fields where polymers are not the principal focus, an understanding of their chemistry, structure and properties is often important. Yet, many small college and university chemistry programs, lack the student numbers and resources to justify a course dedicated to polymer chemistry. The goal for this project is to establish a polymer emphasis across the chemistry curriculum that would provide students an appropriate knowledge base and experience for future work with polymer materials in commercial or academic settings. Based upon the professional backgrounds and experiences of the investigators as well as discussions with past NSF-ILI project investigators who have developed similar projects, it was decided that an effective approach for accomplishing this goal is through the adoption of a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) into the laboratory program. A variety of polymers related laboratory experiments using DSC is designed and adapted into freshmen through senior level chemistry courses. The implementation plan provides chemistry students the opportunity for introductory to advanced level study of polymer topics relating to structure, synthesis and physical properties. The acquisition of a DSC also permits the opportunity for more significant student contributions to original research. Non-chemistry science majors are also expected to be impacted by this project through laboratory exercises designed for the General and Organic Chemistry courses. The DSC also offers an additional tool for the illustration and study of fundamental chemical concepts, such as, enthalpy, heat capacity, phase transitions and kinetics at all levels of the chemistry program.