chemistry

Thom Dunning Jr.

Thom Dunning Jr. is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Thom Dunning Jr. rather than just read about it. In short: Thom H. Dunning Jr. is an American chemist who is currently Distinguished Professor Emeritus at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an Affiliate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Washington.

Key takeaways

Thom Dunning Jr. belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Thom Dunning Jr. to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Thom Dunning Jr. from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Thom H. Dunning Jr. is an American chemist who is currently Distinguished Professor Emeritus at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an Affiliate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Washington. He earned his B.S. in chemistry with minors in physics and mathematics from the University of Missouri Rolla and his Ph.D. in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology. In 1996, he was awarded the E.O. Lawrence Award in Chemistry by the U.S Department of Energy for his, "For his seminal contributions to the development of methods and techniques for electronic structure calculations on molecules; for applications to fundamental chemical problems in laser development, combustion chemistry, and environmental chemistry; and for his leadership in the use of high-performance computing for solving the most challenging chemical problems."

Awards E.O. Lawrence Award in Chemistry, U.S. Department of Energy (1996) Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer, Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (2000) Distinguished Associate Award, U.S. Departement of Energy (2001)

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Thom Dunning Jr.

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Thom Dunning Jr. claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Thom Dunning Jr. before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Thom Dunning Jr. ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Thom Dunning Jr.

In research: Thom Dunning Jr. appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Thom Dunning Jr. in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Thom Dunning Jr. is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 21st-century American chemists, American chemist stubs, California Institute of Technology alumni, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Thom Dunning Jr. outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Thom Dunning Jr. in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Thom Dunning Jr. means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Thom Dunning Jr. out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Thom Dunning Jr. in simple terms?

Why does Thom Dunning Jr. matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Thom Dunning Jr.?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Thom Dunning Jr..