Physical Chemistry ---- Just how difficult...?

[Chris127]

Hey, quick question. I'm currently a Biology major, however, I have been messing around with the idea of switching to a Biochem degree. Since the degree requirements are similar, it wouldn't be that significant of a change in terms of coursework to complete (just a few different courses). One of these is physical chemistry.

Would anyone who has taken this course recommend it, or care to comment on it's difficulty when compared with Biochem, Ochem, etc? Thanks.

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[RPedigo]

Is it the real physical chemistry course (for chemistry majors), or an altered physical chemistry course (for the life sciences)? My institution has both-- a calculus-based course for the engineers and chemists, and a non-calculus-based course for the biologists and biochemists. If it's the latter... it will be very straightforward. If it is the former, hopefully you have the mathematical background for the course; it doesn't require a ridiculously difficult set of math, but you will have to be well-versed in partial derivatives and integration.

 

[Piyush]

My school only had one stream of phys chem, but the first course was quite simple, the second one however was death by the book. if your school only has one stream of phys chem courses, then you probably wanna do some calc courses to go along cause the math will get a little tougher. Also, hopefully you have a good prof too, cause mines often got himself mixed up with all the letters and after half the class he himself sounded jibbrish

Cheers
Piyush.

 

[LaMusicienne]

I'm taking the quantum portion of pchem right now (at my school, it's divided into two semesters - quantum and thermo), and it is conceptually HARD. It's like you think in a completely different way from what you're used to in gen chem and ochem. Take what you learned in previous chem - evergy states, molecular orbitals - and redefine them in terms of energy operators and all that good abstract stuff. That said, if you have a good professor, he/she can make it comprehensible. I really enjoy my class.

We use calculus to define principles but rarely solve integrals/derivatives by hand. Thank goodness for computers!

 

[VoiceofReason]

Is it the real physical chemistry course (for chemistry majors), or an altered physical chemistry course (for the life sciences)? My institution has both-- a calculus-based course for the engineers and chemists, and a non-calculus-based course for the biologists and biochemists. If it's the latter... it will be very straightforward. If it is the former, hopefully you have the mathematical background for the course; it doesn't require a ridiculously difficult set of math, but you will have to be well-versed in partial derivatives and integration.

This is pretty much the most definitive advice on the subject. Physical chemistry really isn't as bad as a lot of people make it out to be. Any and all problems usually stem from lack of preparation. If you aren't very comfortable with calculus, you should likely steer clear of P. Chem for chem majors. The life sciences version that I took had minimal calculus and was mostly conceptual. We basically only had to know calculus 1 and 2 to be really comfortable with the math in the life sciences version. It was most often used to show us how our thermo equations were derived and left at that, rather than actually used to solve problems.

 

[bluesTank]

It will depend heavily on:

-Your professor
-Your background in chemistry

If you had trouble in thermo in freshman chemistry then you might struggle in P chem. Also the quantum portion of P. chem is very abstract and takes a little while to get your mind around the concepts (it did for me at least) but once you do it becomes manageable.


It was pretty hard though, but doable with work.

 

[BMBPSU2008]

Hey, quick question. I'm currently a Biology major, however, I have been messing around with the idea of switching to a Biochem degree. Since the degree requirements are similar, it wouldn't be that significant of a change in terms of coursework to complete (just a few different courses). One of these is physical chemistry.

Would anyone who has taken this course recommend it, or care to comment on it's difficulty when compared with Biochem, Ochem, etc? Thanks.

I thought P-chem was easy, and I'm a biochemistry major. But I also had to take 12 credits of Calculus based physics as a pre-requisite... which helped ALOT.

I agree P-chem is more manipulation of numbers (as with Gen Chem) while O-chem is a manipulation of concepts.

 

[surferdoc]

A bumper sticker I saw one day: Even God got a B in P-chem

 

[bluesTank]

I thought P-chem was easy, and I'm a biochemistry major. But I also had to take 12 credits of Calculus based physics as a pre-requisite... which helped ALOT.

I agree P-chem is more manipulation of numbers (as with Gen Chem) while O-chem is a manipulation of concepts.

Physics (as in Physics I and II) has very little to do with P. chem besides the electrical stuff in quantum.

And please don't believe someone that says P. chem was easy...it requires a lot of work and dedication to do well, things just don't come to you naturally. I also took 12 credits of physics, along with 12 credits of engineering calculus and it wasn't "easy"

 

[njbmd]

Hey, quick question. I'm currently a Biology major, however, I have been messing around with the idea of switching to a Biochem degree. Since the degree requirements are similar, it wouldn't be that significant of a change in terms of coursework to complete (just a few different courses). One of these is physical chemistry.

Would anyone who has taken this course recommend it, or care to comment on it's difficulty when compared with Biochem, Ochem, etc? Thanks.

Physical Chemistry is no more "difficult" than any other chemistry course if you have solid math skills and an interest in the subject matter of this course. If you don't have the math, then get yourself up to speed before taking this course. The minimum math requirement for chemistry majors at my university was two semesters of Calculus. My suggestion would be not to attempt Physical Chemistry with less math than this.

Without exception, the people who had difficulty with this course were people who did not have a solid math background. If this is not you, then you should be fine as long as you are interested sufficiently in this course of study. If you don't like chemistry, then Biochemistry and Physical Chemistry are not going to be fun especially if you are taking these course to try to "impress" a prospective admissions committee. Nothing is as impressive as good grades which are far more difficult to obtain in subject matter that does not interest you.

 

[FlowLimited]

I think it all depends on what sort of material is covered in your p-chem course. Physical chemistry is a very broad field that encompasses thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mechanics, kinetics, etc. Depending on what topics your class includes, it may be a very difficult class or it may be relatively manageable.

 

[Drogba]

Physics (as in Physics I and II) has very little to do with P. chem besides the electrical stuff in quantum.

And please don't believe someone that says P. chem was easy...it requires a lot of work and dedication to do well, things just don't come to you naturally. I also took 12 credits of physics, along with 12 credits of engineering calculus and it wasn't "easy"

Your avatar is awesome

 

[Bacchus]

I'm in the thermo/kinetics portion right now. It is not easy. I've had a math background due to my major (biochemistry - up to calc III). If you aren't math oriented its going to require some serious dedication. That being said, despite my inabilities in math, I'm surviving.

 

[kristwt323]

I'm about to take my P-chem final on Tuesday and the class wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. For a Biochem major we only have to take Pchem 1, which for me means that it spent a majority of the semester on thermo and a little bit on kinetics. I found that a majority of the class was just applying calculus to the concepts we learned in inorganic. So if you are good with Calc and manipulating numbers and doing word problems, at least where I go, you would be fine.

 

[BMBPSU2008]

Physics (as in Physics I and II) has very little to do with P. chem besides the electrical stuff in quantum.

And please don't believe someone that says P. chem was easy...it requires a lot of work and dedication to do well, things just don't come to you naturally. I also took 12 credits of physics, along with 12 credits of engineering calculus and it wasn't "easy"

Ok maybe "easy" was the wrong word to use... overrated is more appropriate.

 

[Aynsl156]

I was a biochem major, so I only had to do Pchem1, which was a lot of kinetics and thermo. Pchem2 was supposed to be quantum and stat. mech., which I never got to.

Pchem 1 was very math heavy. I think the most important part of that class was learning how to use the definitions. It was easy to get them tangled up, so your reasoning can't be muddy at all.

 

[bluesTank]

Ok maybe "easy" was the wrong word to use... overrated is more appropriate.

Yes its absolutely doable if you put in the effort, but it is in no way an easy class. Just like ochem would be.

 

[Mayday]

According to my chem teacher, p chem is like taking chemistry, physics, and calculus and smooshing it all together to make an all new thing.

Does it make the MCATs easier having taken p chem?

 

[Picklesali]

Physical chemistry, eh? Well, pheromones are important, but when two people really like each other, the chemistry will come.😍

 

[littlealex]

PChem isn't that difficult, it just has a reputation for being difficult because people don't understand it. If you're decent at math and am good at understanding what equations represent, you'll do fine.

 

[ChubbyChaser]

PChem isn't that difficult, it just has a reputation for being difficult because people don't understand it. If you're decent at math and am good at understanding what equations represent, you'll do fine.

Nothing is difficult for this guy^^^^
Everyone can score 12+ on the sciences, everyone can score 700+ on the sat verbal, 800 on the math section is doable, and P chem is easy🙄🙄

 

[ColombianDoc]

I'm actually taking P chem right now, my final is this Tuesday. It's been really hard, and I have a fairly decent background in calculus. It's almost like the chemistry part of "physical chemistry" is lost in all those differentials. Maxwell equations, ugh.

 

[Xotica]

I think that quantum chem was the hardest class that I took in college... Seriously though, I remember very little of it (3 years later) and doubt that I will have any use for it in the future. Kinda a waste of time IMO.

 

[Omyss]

chem major here....


No it wasn't that difficult. Go to class and study and you'll be fine.

It depends on the teacher too. For ex my teacher gave us problem sets with ?questions that closely resembled the type you'd see on an exam. Studying the notes and using those problem sets went a long way in getting a good grade in the course.

I thought it was a fun course.

 

[Bacchus]

Its doing a great job of slicing my GPA in pieces.

 

[sunnyskies]

P Chem is the reason I switched from Biochem to Biology haha! There was no way I was going to take P chem 2 and P chem lab! Anyways, I thought it was impossible. It was by far the hardest class I took at undergrad, although it wasn't the class I made the C in. I had to go to my professor and TA like 3 times a week and worked my butt off for the B (Which my professor bumped me up to because he knew I was trying so hard). But, I did bad in calculus, so that's why I didn't understand Pchem.

 

[BlueCow]

Physical Chemistry is no more "difficult" than any other chemistry course if you have solid math skills and an interest in the subject matter of this course. If you don't have the math, then get yourself up to speed before taking this course. The minimum math requirement for chemistry majors at my university was two semesters of Calculus. My suggestion would be not to attempt Physical Chemistry with less math than this.

Without exception, the people who had difficulty with this course were people who did not have a solid math background. If this is not you, then you should be fine as long as you are interested sufficiently in this course of study. If you don't like chemistry, then Biochemistry and Physical Chemistry are not going to be fun especially if you are taking these course to try to "impress" a prospective admissions committee. Nothing is as impressive as good grades which are far more difficult to obtain in subject matter that does not interest you.

I am a physics major. We had to take 3 courses in quantum mechanics and solved the Schrodinger equation of the hydrogen atom before we could come up with the wave function for the S, P, D, F orbitals. The math was quite dense.

In P-chem they do this in the first semester without developing the background for it. Most students have no idea how to derive such wave functions or not even attempt to do it themselves. They basically took the concept as it is. I would say that P-chem is easier if you have a solid concept of physics.

 

[Medikit]

I switched from Biology to Biology+Biochemistry like you're talking about. I didn't think it was terrible. It wasn't my most difficult class but it definitely gave me the most in class headaches (during quantum). I think it's very dependent on the lecturer so ask the students ahead of you what they think.