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5.02x will allow participants to experience the world at the molecular-level! Learn about spontaneity, equilibrium, and mechanisms and rates of reactions. Applications include the energy problem, acid/base chemistry, electrochemistry and batteries, climate science, catalysis, and more.

Image courtesy of the researchers.

Department of Chemistry launches 5.02x: General Chemistry II

by Danielle Doughty | Department of Chemistry |
Categories: Faculty, Research, Staff

General Chemistry II: Chemical Equilibrium, Kinetics, and Transition Metals, aka 5.02x, debuted on the EdX platform on September 9, 2021.

Following the successful launch of 5.01x: General Chemistry I in the Fall of 2020, the Department of Chemistry recently began a second course on the edX platform: General Chemistry II: Chemical Equilibrium, Kinetics, and Transition Metals, or 5.02x.

5.02x is designed to instruct learners in the second half of a general chemistry course, including the topics from the second half of 5.111 and 5.112. The first half of a general chemistry course, 5.01x, will continue to be run periodically in the future.

One of the major assets for the development of 5.02x is the recent development of MIT Chemistry Guided Learning Demos (GLDs). These GLDs demonstrate several exemplary experiments for providing insight into the material of 5.111/2 as well as 5.02x. However, the majority of them are too impractical or dangerous to perform in a classroom setting. In 5.02x, these demonstrations are packaged with targeted questions to provide a strong connection between theory and experiment.

Professor Matt Shoulders, accompanied by MIT lecturers Dr. Patti Christie and Dr. David Grimes, will lead the second in a series of two general chemistry courses that together cover first-year University-level chemistry. In this course, participants will explore fundamentals of chemical reactions, such as how thermodynamics defines the energy released or consumed by a reaction, the nature of chemical equilibrium, and whether a reaction is spontaneous. They will also learn chemical kinetics to examine rates and molecular mechanisms of reactions, and learn about the design and use of catalysts.

5.02x will run through December 21, 2021.