Physical Chemistry and Calculus

[soccerchamp76]

For anyone who has taken P-chem before, is it absolutely necessary to have completed or taken concurrently Calculus III with the class? I took my university's lower Calc I class (Math 150), so I need to take the upper Calc I class next semester (Math 170). But I need to decide if I should take Calc II over the summer and Calc III the fall semester 2006 with P-Chem, or Calc II first semester, and Calc III 2nd semester.

Any ideas?

[BigBen]

My cat's breath smells like cat food...



Seriously, there are several factors at play here:

1) what program you are in
2) where you go to school
3) your learning habits
4) previous classes you have taken

Just like someone says in Tilted Health and Fitness "I am not feeling good. Any Ideas?" and everyone comes back and says "Go To The DOCTOR"

I am telling you "GO TO AN ACADEMIC ADVISOR IN THE PROGRAM YOU ARE ENROLLED."

Don't let some TFP response fuck with your academic career. You wouldn't take some stranger's response about your health, right? Then don't do it with your MIND...

[Astrocloud]

I took P-Chem and my prior courses in both Mathematical Statistics AND abstract algebra were suitable prereqs. Calc 1 is hardly suitable but if you already know Diff Eq and think that you are ready for it -then go ahead.



Then again -the course I took was clearly designed as a "weeder". Talk to the professor first and see if you can look at his previous years sylabus.

[Slavakion]

At my college, the math prerequisite is only Calc II.

[snowy]

Yes, do go see your advisor.

But as an aside, at my university, the prereqs are Vector Calculus I, a year of general chemistry, and a year of physics.

[kutulu]

It all depends on your teacher. The version I took required through Calc III and Diff Eq. In second semester PChem, we were often working with PDEs (partial differential equations). Few in the class had actually ever taken a class that covered PDEs but thankfully, we had a great teacher that told us everything we needed to know in order to understand the coursework.

[soccerchamp76]

Thanks for all the advice, I know I'm going to talk with my advisor but I wanted to get the opinions of people who took the course as well.

[Lebell]

Thank GOD I don't have to worry about this anymore.

I hated p-chem...

[stingc]

What does you pchem course cover? Even the basic syllabus can be completely different in different schools. Where I was, the first half of the year was all quantum mechanics. You needed to be comfortable with simple partial differential equations, Fourier transforms, volume integrals and Gauss' theorem, etc. The more math, the better. But that might not be normal.

[soccerchamp76]

Well, I am pre-med, and just a chemistry major. If I do not get into medical school, I am going to graduate school for organic and plan on teaching organic chemistry to students plus research. P-chem is basically a requirement. My school, Xavier University, is a small Jesuit school not known for its graduate work so I don't have to worry abut P-chem being a huge issue. If a student was *really* interested in P-chem, he wouldn't be at Xavier, but a Big-10 school.

[Blackthorn]

Differential equations, et al....yeeeecht! Seems like a compleletely different life time when I went through that nonsense. haha...Good luck however it turns out. And I agree with others in this thread. Go and see an advisor/counselor who can help you best answer that question.

[Daniel_]

You think that's bad?

I was taught chemical physics (think Physical Chemistry on steroids) by one of the guys that invented SI units and VSEPR.

Ouch.

[Yakk]

Soccer, you'd have to at least post the course prospectus' here for anyone to give decent advice.

Calc 1 2 and 3 vary between universities. As, almost certainly, does the first p-chem course.

In my case, Calc 1 was "build the real number system, integration, and differentiation from the peano axioms", Calc 2 was "Rebuild everything from a topological perspective, and play with some more advanced subjects", and Calc 3 was "Lets add more dimensions!", or something like that.

[soccerchamp76]

Well, as it turns out, I have to have Calc I, II, III for this class. This should be a blast....

[Zeraph]

I almost went down chem/physics major, does anyone here actually like this stuff? Just curious, I always wonder if I dodged a bullet or would have really loved the stuff.

[soccerchamp76]

Go to a library and look at some books on thermodynamics and sorts and see if you are interested and actually knowing what you are looking at.

[Zeraph]

Originally Posted by soccerchamp76

Go to a library and look at some books on thermodynamics and sorts and see if you are interested and actually knowing what you are looking at.

Me? I already know I am to that extent or I wouldn't have seriously considered it for a major. I've taken pretty much all the basic classes in science, geology, physics, chem, astronomy, etc. and done really well in them.

Can't really know though until you start taking the more serious stuff and even then it will probably be a lot different from whatever job you end up doing.

So I was just wondering if anyone here was into this stuff and actually likes it rather than having to have taken it.

[analog]

This graph makes me want to gouge out my eyes.

Originally Posted by Astrocloud

[kutulu]

There are prereqs that are formal and those that you really need. In the PChem class I took I would have been DEAD without all the prereqs. I graduated Chem E and the math in my PChem classes was just as intense as any course in my major.

[BigBen]

My cat's breath still smells like cat food.

[sunkssd]

I graduated with degrees in Biochem, Bio, and polymer Chem. I am in medical school now and P Chem was still the hardest class I ever took. My college required Calc I, II, and III. Good luck.