In this module, we're going to be discussing atomic details of various types of materials. Before we begin that, I want to include some factors that we're interested in addressing as we compare different types of materials to the structure of the material. One of the things that we'd like to get at is, why certain materials have particular sets of properties. For example, why are metals good conductors of electricity as well as thermal conductivity, whereas some plastics and ceramics tend to be good insulators? Why do some materials have a high stiffness or a high elastic modulus, and what is it about the structure that controls the stiffness of these materials? Lastly, we'd like to understand a basic notion that, as the temperature increases, many materials wind up increasing in their dimension, so they expand with temperature. While as some other materials see no change with respect to temperature, and in some cases we'll actually find that there will be a contraction as the temperature increases. We need to know, what is it about the structure that controls all of the properties that I have just gone through? We know that materials, the properties of materials, are going to be controlled by a variety of levels of structures that go all the way from the atomic level all the way to the macro scale. In this particular module, we're going to be addressing the types of atoms that are present. We're going to be looking at the types of bonds that exist in the material. We're interested in the way the ions and atoms are packed to create a three-dimensional structure. As a consequence, to answer all of these questions, we're going to be looking at some specific objectives that we can use to help address the questions that we have just asked. We're interested in, what is the structure of the atom? We're interested in the type of bonds, and lastly, what we want to do is to introduce some basic concepts of thermodynamics and kinetics with all of this. We'll then be able to understand more readily the behavior of the different materials that we will be exposed to during the completion of this course. This module then, in summary, is going to be divided into portions which discuss the atomic structure, and under the atomic structure we'll be talking about the Bohr Model. We'll be looking at energy levels. We'll describe orbitals including spdf, the electronic configuration. We'll introduce the concepts of primary bonds and extend those concepts of bonds. We'll look at bond-energy and bond force curves. Ultimately, we're interested in packing from materials in three dimensional space, so we're interested in the way atoms and ions pack and coordinate. We'll also be interested in looking at secondary bonds, and the secondary bonds are particularly important when we start looking at parametric materials. We'll look at what we refer to as mixed bonds, we'll see that the bonds that we have in these materials are not pure in nature. In other words, they're not purely metallic, they're not purely covalent, or purely ionic, but there's a certain degree of mixing of some of these types of bonds. We'll look at the structure of polymers and include discussions between the covalent bonding and secondary bonding that can exist between the polymer chains and the structure. Lastly, what we want to do is to go through and examine some of the basic concepts of thermodynamics and kinetics. That we will see how we will be able to use in very basic forms so that we can begin to understand how materials behave, as a function of the parameters, such as temperature. In the next lesson, we are going to be describing the Bohr model, modifications to the Bohr model, and how we might be able to use those modifications to understand the behavior of materials. Thank you.
