Principles
of Biophysical Chemistry--Chem 341
MWF 11-11:50;
Carey Bagdassarian
ckbagd@wm.edu
204-C
There will be no text for the course—but my lecture notes will be made available on Blackboard after every class. We’ll also draw many ideas from Signs of Life—How Complexity Pervades Biology. The course will be a weaving of classical physical chemistry—which will serve to develop our math skills—and the new science of complexity theory.
A crucial component of learning Biophysical Chemistry is the working of problems. Problem sets will be assigned though they will not be graded.
Three 1 hour exams are scheduled during the semester, in addition to the final. Each hour exam will be worth 100 points, and the cumulative final will count for 100 points. Of the 3 in-class exams, your lowest grade will be dropped. The maximum score in the course is therefore 300 points.
There are no formal office hours—just write me an email if you need to see me.
We’ll be covering the following in some depth:
Math Review
Quantum Mechanics
Statistical Mechanics
Thermodynamics
Self-organization and emergent behavior in
physical and biological systems
Exam schedule to be announced