2104: General Science and Environment

Course Objectives:
According to scientists, everything in the world that we can see and feel can be divided into two parts:
matter and energy. The vision of including this course is to give some basic concepts of matter of earth,
energy, chemistry and issues of environmental chemistry which we see and use in our day-to-day life. The
general science teaching should develop certain abilities such as ability to sense a problem, organize and
interpret, analyze, generalize and predict. Objectives of studying general science are to:
(i) develop a scientific attitude in students;
(ii) know the fundamental principles and concepts useful in daily life;
(iii) acquire scientific knowledge of physical facts and concepts;
(iv) introduce the fundamental concepts of Chemistry and its significance in an industrial process;
(v) teach the students basic knowledge of environmental chemistry, such as chemistry of
atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere;
(vi) teach the student how to apply basic theories and methods of chemistry to study the
environmental issues caused by chemical substances (pollutants); and
(vii) provide the students with broad and strong knowledge base for solving related problems.
1. Speed, Velocity and Acceleration:
Scalar Quantity or Scalar and Vector Quantity or Vector; Distance and Displacement; Speed;
Average Speed and its Types; Velocity; Average Velocity and its Types; Mean Velocity;
Acceleration and its Types; Equations Uniformly Accelerated Motion; Graphs Relating to Motion
and their Uses; Laws of Falling Bodies (Gallileo Galilei).
2. Newton’s Laws of Motion:
Inertia and Force; Fundamental Forces; Momentum; Newton’s Laws of Motion; Explanation and
Derivation of Three Laws; Motion of a Rocket; Principle of Conservation of Momentum; Examples
of Principle of Conservation of Momentum; Friction; Kinds of Friction; Advantages and
Disadvantages of Friction; Rolling Friction, and Fluid Friction; Coefficient of Friction; Nature of
Friction; Brakes Lubrication; Air Lubrication-Further Developments.
3. Work, Energy and Power:
Work and its Unit; Measurement of Work; Zero Work; Gravitational Work; Energy and its Unit;
Classification of Energy; Kinetic Energy and Potential Energy; Measurement of Kinetic and
Potential Energy; Transformation of Energy; Dissipation of energy; Efficiency; Conservative and
Non-conservative Force; Power and its Unit; To Measure Personal Power Internal Energy; Heat
Energy; Nuclear Energy; Sound Energy; Solar Energy; Light Energy; Magnetic Energy; Atomic
Energy; Electromagnetic Energy; Chemical Energy; Mechanical Energy.
4. Gravitation:
Gravitational Force and Gravity; Newton’s Law of Gravitation; Units and Dimension of
Gravitational Constant; Acceleration due to Gravity; Mass and Density of the Earth; Mass and
Weight, Variation of Weight of a Body; Centripetal Force; Relation between Total Gravitational
Force and Weight; Weightlessness; Artificial Weight in a Space Station; Action and reaction Forces;
Simple Pendulum and Measurement of g–distance Moved by a Freely Falling Body related to Time
of Fall to Measure g by the Use of Centi-Second Timer; Natural and Artificial Satellites; Use of
Artificial Satellite, Strength of Materials elasticity- Hook’s law.
5. Some Molecular Properties of Matter:
Matter and States of Matter, Causes of Difference of the States of Matter, Gaseous State, Laws of
Gases, Absolute Temperature and Absolute Zero Temperature, Ideal and Real Gas, Diffusion of
Gases, Surface Tension, Molecular Explanation of Surface Tension, Adhesion and Cohesion-
Capillary Attraction, Kinetic Theory of Matter, to Measure the Approximate Length of a Molecule,
Industrial Applications of Metallurgical Studies.
6. Atoms: the Big Idea:
Atoms and Molecules; Brownian Movements; Different Atomic Theory(How Ideas of Atom are
Developed); Atoms and its Fundamental Particles(the Inside Theory of Atom); Atomic Number;
Atomic Mass; Relation among Proton; Neutron and Electrons; Isotope, Isobar and Isotones;
Quantum Number (How Electrons are Arranged).
7. Chemical Reactions, Equations and Amounts:
Chemical Equations; the Masses of Atoms-Percentages Composition from Molecular formula;
Empirical Formula and Molecular formula; Determination of the Empirical Formula of a Compound;
Equations for Chemical Reactions; Electrolytic Conductance; Non Electrolytic Conductor;
Electrolysis, Industrial Uses of Electrolysis.
8. Chemical Bond:
Chemical Bond; Nature of Bond Energy; Why Compounds Form; Causes of Chemical Combination;
Types of Chemical Bond; Ionic Bond; Covalent Bond; Metallic Bond and their Properties; Metals-
more Giant Structures.
9. Energy Changes and Reversible Reactions:
Chemical Equilibrium; Exothermic and Endothermic Reactions; Explaining Energy Changes;
Reversible and Irreversible Reactions; Shifting the Equilibrium; Making the Ammonia in Industry;
Fertilizers-the Pros and Cons of Fertilizers.
10. Useful Materials from Crude Oil:
Crude Oil; Separating Oil into Fractions; Cracking Hydrocarbon; the Alkaline and Alkenes;
Polymerization and Plastics; Polythene-Oil and Environment.
11. Chemistry and the Environment:
Carbon Cycle; Nitrogen Cycle; Global Warming; Ozone/ Greenhouse effect-the Ozone Hole; the
Greenhouse Effect; Air Pollution; Land Pollution; Water Pollution; Drinking Water; Nitrates in
Drinking Water; Eutrophication; Burning Fuels and the Air-Burning the Coal; Burning Petrol and
Diesel Oil; Getting Rid of the Rubbish; Landfill Sites; Cars of Tomorrow-Car Bodies; Emissions,
Safety Features; Home of the Future-the Shell-Walls; the Roof; Inside the House.

Recommended Text Books: