Welcome to General Chemistry II, CH 222z, the second course in the General Chemistry sequence. I'm genuinely glad you're here and I'm excited to explore how your thinking will evolve throughout this quarter.

This series is built for student pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree and supports many majors across campus. For those of you who took CH 111, you will encounter topics similar to those introduced in that course, but we will move through them at a quicker pace and examine them at a deeper level.

One thing worth saying out loud early: learning at this level is not meant to feel easy or immediately comfortable. Real learning requires the brain to build new pathways, so when you find yourself wrestling with a new idea, that's not a sign you're doing it wrong. It is evidence that your brain is doing exactly what it should be doing. 

Throughout this term, we will practice metacognitive and reflective skills to help you track your own learning. Struggle is not the opposite of success. It is essential to the process. 

After completing this course students will be able to:

1. Apply stoichiometric relationships to determine amounts of reactants and products, limiting reactants, reaction yields, and quantitative composition of chemical analysis methods. 

2. Solve quantitative problems involving gases, including gas laws, partial pressures, gas stoichiometry, and kinetic molecular theory.  

3. Describe and calculate energy changes associated with chemical and physical proexsses using calorimetry, enthalpy, Hess's law, bond energies, and lattice energy.

4. Explain how intermolecular forces govern the behavior and properties of liquids, solids, and solutions. 

5. Describe and predict the behavior of chemical systems using the principles of kinetics and equilibrium.

Office hours are a great chance to connect with your instructors. It is also a great place to meet classmates and forge study groups. Office hours can be spent working through a tricky concept or homework problem, other times they might be spent talking about study strategies, career plans, or anything that sparks your curiosity that connects to the class. You do not need to have a specific question prepared. Office hours are just as much about brainstorming and conversation as they are about clarification. If you have never been before, I encourage you to give it a try this term. Office hours for all instructors, GEs, and PLAs are listed on our Canvas home page.

Through strategic partnerships, Class Encore provides weekly, peer-led study groups that focus on engaging and collaborative learning environments that enhance participants’ communication and critical thinking skills.

The Class Encore Peer Leaders have passed the course previously and work to craft opportunities for you to engage with your classmates in activities and problems, helping hone study practices and deepen knowledge in the course. Interested? Registration opens Friday, April 3rd at 9am and can be found on the Class Encore website (https://engage.uoregon.edu/class-encore)