Quantum Chemistry and Molecular Thermodynamics
Instrumental Analysis II
Mechanical Properties of Materials
Ceramic Materials
These are the modules I’m taking this semester. The first 3 are Chemistry modules and the last 2 are material science ones.
The first module is similar to what I had last semester. The only difference is that I get to synthesise stuff in the lab but otherwise, the same requirements as the module last semester. A little side note, in one experiment, I got to make a variant of the stuff that supposedly makes up our red blood cells (for the chemically inclined people, I got to make a porphyrin, the stuff that surrounds the iron(II) centre). Science fiction has it that werewolves and vampires are that way because of a change in structure in that porphyrin molecule.
Quantum chem… I bet it’ll put off a whole lot of people from that title of that module. (Btw, there are only 6 of us taking this module out of a possible 150 or so ppl in my cohort). I’m grateful that my lecturer is able to break it down for us in a simple manner. I don’t know… he seems kind of flustered each time he lectures us too. Another science fiction thingy from this module here: I learnt how the whole theory of multiple universes (Sliders is a good TV show to illustrate this) was generated from ideas of quantum theory.
For the material modules, they provide a much better learning environment, rather than chemistry. And a point of note, I don’t know of any lecturers in this department that are out to screw students either. In the earlier part of this semester, I had to do the lab experiments required for this module, and that took a huge proportion of time in my schedule. But, now, that time is all freed up to slack more. *rant* if not for a certain lecturer in IA2 who had to drop a last minute bomb on us about submitting a project like out of the blue~… grr. */rant*
3 comments:
hi, kinda came across ur blog. are u majoring in chemistry in NUS? because i have some doubts, does the chemistry major include alot alot of lab research/expt? how much is the weightage of the lab expt for the 3-4 years? just confused btw choosing material science engine and chemistry. personally preferred chemistry but im not good in lab(hands on stuff). thanks, ur help is sincerely appreciated :)
hey, matty old boy, jiayou! just do your best and give Him all the glory and honour, k?
Sorry, I don't come to this blog to often to check for updates often.
And yes, I'm a 3rd year Chemistry major.
Anyway, here's my 2 cents:
In regards to lab, both material engin and chemistry has a certain CA % weightage contribution. It just varies from module to module (typically 15%)
However, the big difference between these 2 is the following:
1) In material engin, all your lab work are done in pairs. In chemistry, there are certain modules that requires individual lab work.
2) For material engin(from what I know at least), there's a maximum of 6 hours of lab divided up to 2 3-hour sessions; whereas in chemistry, do prepare for clocking up to 8 hours straight during 3rd year.
It's usually because of the intensive long lab hours that put most ppl off from doing Chemistry.
I'd be happy to answer more of your queries if you have any more, but of course as a student of course. (eg. life in Chemistry etc.)
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