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Physical Chemistry for Undergraduates

By Prof. Sandip Paul   |   IIT Guwahati
Learners enrolled: 685   |  Exam registration: 143
ABOUT THE COURSE:

The main objective of this course is to introduce undergraduate students of different engineering and science branches to the molecular level approach to understand different physical processes. This course covers the properties of perfect and imperfect gases, solutions, and solids. It will also lay foundation of classical thermodynamics, chemical equilibrium, reaction rates and electrochemical cells. Thus this course will give the students a broader spectrum of skills as well as a better understanding of the basics of physical chemistry.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: Under Graduate Students of All Engineering and Science Branches

INDUSTRY SUPPORT: Different petrochemical and pharmaceutical companies
Summary
Course Status : Ongoing
Course Type : Elective
Language for course content : English
Duration : 12 weeks
Category :
  • Chemistry
Credit Points : 3
Level : Undergraduate
Start Date : 19 Jan 2026
End Date : 10 Apr 2026
Enrollment Ends : 02 Feb 2026
Exam Registration Ends : 20 Feb 2026
Exam Date : 24 Apr 2026 IST
NCrF Level   : 4.5 — 8.0

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.


Page Visits



Course layout

Week 1: Atomic Theory and Mole Concept - Planck’s quantum theory, the atomic spectra, Bohr’s theory, Sommerfield theory, Uncertainty principle, Pauli’s exclusion principle, Wave mechanics, Schrodinger equation, Concepts of molarity, molality and mole fraction

Week 2: The Gaseous State - Gas Laws, Kinetic Theory of Gases, Maxwell’s Distribution of Molecular Velocities, Collision in Gas, Mean Free Path, Perfect Gas, Deviation from ideal behavior, reduced equation of state, compressibility factors, intermolecular forces

Week 3: Thermodynamics - Concepts of heat, work and internal energy, first law of thermodynamics, reversible and irreversible processes, enthalpy, heat capacity

Week 4: Thermodynamics - Spontaneous processes, second law of thermodynamics, Carnot cycle, concept of entropy, Gibbs and Helmholtz Free Energy

Week 5: Chemical Kinetics - Order and molecularity of a reaction, basic kinetic laws, first, second and third order reactions, determination of order of a reaction, simultaneous reactions, opposing and consecutive reactions, The Arrhenius Equation, The collision Theory, The transition state theory, chain reactions.

Week 6: Chemical Equilibrium - The law of mass action, equilibrium constants, the reaction isotherm, La Chatelier’s Principle, External Effects of Equilibria 

Week 7: Phase Equilibria - Phase rule, phase diagram of one, two and three component systems, Liquid-Liquid and Solid-Solid Equilibria, Eutectic point

Week 8: Dilute Solutions: Colligative Properties - Raoult’s and Henry’s law, Ideal Solution, Deviations from Raoult’s law, lowering of vapour pressure, Elevation of boiling point and depression of freezing point, osmosis, osmotic pressure, molecular weight determination, abnormal behavior of solutions.

Week 9: Ionic Equilibrium - Sparingly Soluble Salt, Solubility Products and their applications, acids and bases, ionic product of water, hydrolysis of salt solutions.

Week 10: Electrochemical Cells - Galvanic Cells, EMF and Free Energy Change, EMF and Equilibrium Constant, Standard Electrode Potentials, Liquid Junction Potentials, Concentration Cells, Potentiometric Titrations

Week 11: The Colloidal State - The Colloid System, preparation of sols, dialysis, classification of colloids, properties of lyophobic sols, electrophoresis, zeta potential, stability of sols, properties of lyophilic sols, Avogadro Number Determinations, Macromolecules, Donnan Equilibrium, Sedimentation, Ultracentrifuge, Association Colloid, Emulsions.

Week 12: The Solid State - The laws of crystallography, Types and Macroscopic Properties of Solids, , Close-packing in crystals, atomic and ionic radii, radius ratio rules, lattice energy-Born Haber Cycle, isomorphism and heat capacity of solids.

Books and references


1. Physical Chemistry by P. W. Atkins
2. Physical Chemistry: A Molecular Approach by D. A. Mcquarrie and J. D. Simon
3. Physical Chemistry: Silbey Alberty Bawendi

Instructor bio

Prof. Sandip Paul

IIT Guwahati
Prof. Paul completed his PhD in computational chemistry from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. The broad area of instructor’s teaching and research interest is statistical mechanics and its applications to chemistry and biology. Later he worked with Prof. Gern Patey of University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada and with Prof. Max Berkowitz of University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA for his postdoctoral research. Soon after, he joined in the Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati as an Assistant Professor. In the year of 2017, he became Professor at the same institute. Understanding the effect of osmolytes on the protein conformation, the use of hydrotrope molecules to enhance the aqueous solubility of sparingly soluble drug molecules etc. is the main interest of his research group. He has published more than 120 journal research papers as of now.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.
The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).
Date and Time of Exams: April 24, 2026 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.
Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.
The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.
Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Guwahati .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team
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