Aspects of physics

S. S. Shark, H. B. Schlegel, and S. Wolfe, Theoretical Aspects of Physical Organic Chemistry The Sf,i2 Mechanism. Wiley, New York, 1992. 

However, a certain discrepancy remains in the way NMR is understood, which can be explained by the various points of view that are assumed by different people. The year 1945 did not merely represent the birth of a new method for understanding the properties of matter nor did it see the birth of an entirely new branch of science, although some may prefer to view it that way. Although NMR is based on fundamental aspects of physics and chemistry, the principles of which were mostly understood and described in seminal works during the first two decades of the lifetime of NMR, during this time, NMR has developed a whole toolbox of methods that can deal with almost any question arising in the context of structure and the dynamics of matter. 

This whole area of spectroscopy touches on many different topics and can only be approached confidently with a reasonable working knowledge of basic NMR, stereochemistry and certain aspects of physical chemistry. 

Maxwell s theory of the electromagnetic field represents the reduction of several apparently disparate aspects of physics, to a common basis. It shows... 

Aspects of Physical Organic Chemistry The SN2 Mechanism, Wiley, New York,... 

Physical organic chemistry is to be viewed as a particular approach to scientific enquiry rather than a further intellectual specialization. Thus organic compounds are taken to include organometallic compounds, and relevant aspects of physical, theoretical, inorganic and biological chemistry are incorporated in reviews where appropriate. Contributors are encouraged to provide suiRcient introductory material to permit non-specialists to appreciate fully current problems and the most recent advances. 

Conceived in its widest terms, the aspect of physical adsorption con-... 

Changes in the specific properties of the polymer can also be taken as a hint of some form of degradation. Properties examined include different aspects of physical behaviour of the polymer, different microscopic images, or changes in simple parameters such as the total weight of the polymer in the test or an altered molecular mass of the polymer under evaluation. 

A second important aspect of physical accuracy has a decidedly sociological tinge to it How accurately does the property of interest need to be predicted in order to make a useful scientific judgment The answer to this important question varies significantly across scientific disciplines and even subdisciplines and depends strongly on what the information from a calculation will be used for. The answer also evolves over time studies that were the state of the art 5, 10, or 20 years ago often become superceded by new approaches. This evolution of ideas due to the appearance of new methods is probably more rapid in computational modeling of materials than in experimental arenas, although it is important in both areas. 

Computational chemistry offers many advantages to teachers of physical chemistry. It can help students learn the material and develop critical thinking skills. As noted before, most students will probably use some sort of computational method in their chemistry careers, so it provides students with important experience. Furthermore, computational chemistry is much more accessible to undergraduate students than it was a decade ago. Desktop computers now have sufficient resources to calculate the properties of illustrative and interesting chemical systems. Computational software is also becoming more affordable. Students can now use computers to help them visualize and understand many aspects of physical chemistry. However, physical chemistry is also an experimental science, and computational models are still judged against experimental results. 

In this article I hope to introduce chemical educators to some of the work carried out in the philosophy of chemistry. The relevance of such work and especially that carried out on the reduction of chemistry to physics is considerable, and especially so in the case of physical chemistry. As the very name of the discipline implies, physical chemistry juxtaposes aspects of chemistry with aspects of physics. The relationship between these two classical areas of science needs to be considered in order to ascertain the extent to which chemistry should be taught as applied physics or to inform the teaching of physical chemistry per se. 

The primary objective of this book is to bridge the gap between today s typical physical chemistry course and the literature of colloid and surface chemistry. The reader is assumed to have completed a course in physical chemistry, but no prior knowledge of the topics under consideration is assumed. The book is, therefore, introductory as far as the topic subjects are concerned, although familiarity with numerous other aspects of physical chemistry is required background. 

We clearly cannot cover all aspects of physical chemistry here. However, we attempt to provide enough theoretical background for the reader with training in mechanical or chemical eningeering to understand what is needed to develop and analyze chemically reacting flow models. This includes understanding the chemistry input parameters that someone else has determined and, more important, being able to estimate parameters that are needed to do a simulation but simply do not exist in the literature. 

---