AP Chemistry

This AP Chemistry course is structured in alignment with the AP College Board’s Framework based upon: seven Curriculum Requirements, six Big Ideas that generate enduring understandings, and seven Science Practices. As a result of this structuring, Learning Objectives will be used to identify what students should know as well as what performance tasks student should be able to complete. Throughout this syllabus, several bracketed abbreviations are used: Curriculum Requirement(s) [CR]; Big Idea(s) [BI]; Science Practice(s) [SP]; and Learning Objective(s) [LO].

Prerequisites: : Algebra 2 and Chemistry. The course is strongly aligned with the typical freshman college chemistry course for science majors. It places particular emphasis on atomic structure and periodicity, chemical bonding, stoichiometry, reaction kinetics, acid/base and solubility equilibrium, states of matter, gas laws relating to both ideal and real gasses, nuclear chemistry, thermodynamics, introductory organic chemistry and electrochemistry. Students taking this course should have a strong interest in the subject and a solid background in mathematics and basic chemistry.

STATEMENT OF THE SIX BIG IDEAS

• Big Idea 1 : The chemical elements are fundamental building materials of matter, and all matter can be understood in terms of the arrangement of atoms. These atoms retain their identity in chemical reactions.
• Big Idea 2: Chemical and physical properties of materials can be explained by the structure and the arrangement of atoms, ions, or molecules and the forces between them.
• Big Idea 3: Changes in matter involve the rearrangement and/or reorganization of atoms and/or the transfer of electrons.
• Big Idea 4: Rates of chemical reactions are determined by details of the molecular collisions.
• Big Idea 5: The laws of thermodynamics describe the essential role of energy and explain and predict the direction of changes in matter.
• Big Idea 6: Any bond or intermolecular attraction that can be formed can be broken. These two processes are in dynamic competition, sensitive to initial conditions and external perturbations.