Assignment Deadlines and Contact Times

  1. Assignment Deadlines: This web-course includes seven home-works and three quizzes, as well as a final exam. All these assignments are mandatory and must be completed sequentially! If you complete them by the closing date indicated below in the table, you will spread the course load uniformly across the semester.
    • On the midnight of the closing date, the respective homework/quiz shall be 'closed' (i.e. you will not be able to take it in the future, you will be assigned a zero grade for the respective assignment, and you will automatically progress to the next assignment).
    • Read the FAQ: For each assignment, please refer to the topics covered (see Text, Gradings on left panel) and the items of particular importance (highlighted in each Chapter's "Study Guide"). For all assignments, you can work in teams (up to 3 people).
    • Note: If you choose to do so, you may also pace yourself faster than the pace dictated by these deadlines, all the quizzes and home-works are already open and ready to take.
    • In either case, the natural flow (sequence) of homeworks and quizzes is as shown below. Heads-Up: not all chapters are of equal difficulty and thus not all chapters require the same amount/time of work (e.g. chapter 1 is extremely simple and fast, whereas chapter 11 will take up much more time).
  2. Office Hours: Office hours will be on TUESDAYS 11am-2pm at 313 Forest Resources LAB (south of Bryce Jordan Center, map), or by appointment (email me) other times.
  3. Specific questions by email will also be replied (email:
    General questions (e.g. can you please explain me the thermodynamics of crystal formation?) can not be addressed via a detailed email (e.g. for the previous question, one needs to type 30 pages of the book to explain the thermodynamics of crystal formation). For questions that cannot be addressed through email, the instructor will be available in his office during office hours (see above), or other times by appointment; in the latter case, please email/call ahead to make sure that I am around and available.
 

Assignment Deadlines

Assignment Assignment CLOSED on:
1. Homework #1 Sep 13
2. Homework #2 Sep 27
3. Homework #3 Oct 04
4. Quiz #1 Oct 07
5. Homework #4 Oct 18
6. Homework #5 Nov 01
7. Homework #6 Nov 15
8. Quiz #2 Nov 18
9. Homework #7 Dec 10
10. Quiz #3 Dec 11
11. Final Exam Dec 17
12. Extra Credit Dec 17
 
 

Bibliography & Material Covered in Assignments

1. (Textbook) PC Painter & MM Coleman's "Fundamentals of Polymer Science" (2nd ed., CRC Press)
2. (Alternate text) PC Painter & MM Coleman "Essentials of Polymer Science and Engineering" (DEStech Pubs)
 
Assignment Painter & Coleman "Fundamentals ..." (CRC) Painter & Coleman "Essentials ..." [1] (DEStech)
Homework 1 Chapters 1 and 2 (pgs 1-61) Chapter 1 (pgs 1-4 only)
Chapters 2 and 3 (pgs 23-85)
Homework 2 Chapter 3 (pgs 63-81) Chapter 4 (pgs 87-111)
Homework 3 Chapter 4 A-C (pgs 83-93 only)
Chapter 5 A-C (pgs 107-119 only)
example of copolymer (pgs 130-136)		 Chapter 5 (pgs 113-120 only)
Chapter 6 (pgs 135-148 only)
example of copolymer (pgs 159-160)
Quiz 1 All the above (Homeworks 1-3) All the above (Homeworks 1-3)
Homework 4 Chapter 7 (pgs 207-257) Chapter 8 (pgs 205-242)
Homework 5 Chapter 8 (pgs 259-305) Chapter 10 (pgs 281-330)
Homework 6 Chapter 9 (pgs 307-337)
Lecture Notes (web), or
Chapter 10 (pgs "339-381" [2])		 Chapter 11 (pgs 331-356)
Lecture Notes (web), or
Chapter 12 (pgs "357-389" [2])
Quiz 2 All the above (Homeworks 4-6) All the above (Homeworks 4-6)
Homework 7 Chapter 11 (pgs 395-469) Chapter 13 (pgs 399-471)
Quiz 3 All the above (Homework 7) All the above (Homework 7)
Final Exam All the above (Homeworks 1-7) All the above (Homeworks 1-7)

Notes:
 [1] Items in boxes, i.e. "Polymer Milestones" and "Fascinating Polymers", are not examined in any assignment.
[2] Focus on Concepts and Methods; No mathematical derivations; No equation memorization (working understanding of equations/ dependencies is needed)