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This module examines two important areas of physical chemistry: (i) Group Theory. The symmetry characteristics of molecules are described and related to mathematical matrix operations. This allows the use of character tables to predict the physical properties of molecules. In particular reducible and irreducible representations are handled with the reduction formula, derived from the Great Orthogonality Theorem, to analyse translational, rotational and vibrational motion.
(ii) Thermodynamics. Material covered includes the Gibbs energy and the direction of spontaneous change, the Van't Hoff equation and the temperature dependence of equilibrium constant, the application of thermodynamics to phase diagrams, the Claussius-Clapeyron equation and the application of phase diagrams.
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