🎓 Chemistry 1301A Midterm 1 - Study Guide

📋 Course Structure

📖 Chapter 1: Atomic Theory and Electronic Structure

What this chapter covers:

🔑 Essential Concepts & Formulas

🛠️ Problem Types

Type A: Calculating Photon Energy

Type B: Determining Electron Configurations

🧮 Solved Example

Problem:

Given:

Answer:

⚠️

❌ Mistake 1: Forgetting to convert units (e.g., nm to m) when using E = hc/λ. ✅ How to avoid:

❌ Mistake 2: Incorrectly applying Hund's rule when filling orbitals. ✅ How to avoid:

🦁

Visualize the Aufbau principle using the diagonal rule to correctly predict the order of filling orbitals. Practice writing electron configurations for common elements and ions.

📖 Chapter 2: Periodic Trends

What this chapter covers:

🔑 Essential Concepts & Formulas

🛠️ Problem Types

Type A: Predicting Atomic Size

Type B: Comparing Ionization Energies

🧮 Solved Example

Problem:

Given:

Answer:

⚠️

❌ Mistake 1: Confusing the trends for ionization energy and electron affinity. ✅ How to avoid:

❌ Mistake 2: Not considering the effect of electron configuration on ionization energy (e.g., removing an electron from a filled or half-filled subshell). ✅ How to avoid:

🦁

Use the periodic table as a visual aid to remember the trends. Draw arrows on the periodic table to indicate the direction of increasing atomic size, ionization energy, electron affinity, and electronegativity.