[michealyounger]

I hope this is the right sub to ask. I'm a chemical engineering major and am gonna be taking the 2 course sequence of physical chemistry starting next semester. I've heard that it's essentially general chemistry on steroids, but can someone please elaborate? (And yes, I've heard that it's incredibly difficult)

[Corribus]

The major topics covered usually include:

Quantum mechanics (molecular/atomic structure, bonding, spectroscopy)
Thermodynamics and statistical mechanics (bulk properties of matter, gas laws, entropy/enthalpy)
Reaction kinetics (rate laws, transition state theory, equilibrium, diffusion)

Pretty heavy on the math, basically a physics course applied to chemistry principles.