Is this actually a good beginner's Chemistry book or is it just a meme?
I also have Chemistry: The Central Science. I can't decide which to start with. I am wanting to self-teach myself Chemistry for fun.
Is this actually a good beginner's Chemistry book or is it just a meme?
Ryder Davis
Angel Perry
>self teach.
Despite all things people here call a meme, chemistry is something you can't teach yourself if you want to know more than just theory. See it like surgery or medicine.
Thomas Flores
Well fuck.
I mean I DO want to know just the theory though I guess? I want to understand how things like Hydrogen Peroxide work, why Alcohol sterilizes things, why soda has all this shit in it and what those chemicals in it do, etc.
So would I be able to self teach myself all that? I don't want to become some fucking chemist and get a job in it I just want to expand my knowledge of how things generally work is all. Is that being a brainlet?
Noah Ross
All "beginner's" textbooks are mediocre. Brown and Zumdahl are the least mediocre but still mediocre. If you want a thorough introduction, go with Atkins or Oxtoby (maybe both for alternative explanations, you can find them easily online). Though they're harder, they're a notch above mediocre and will give you a solid foundation in general chemistry.
That kind of know-how is hard to teach in a book. A good textbook can you get you so far without you being inquisitive on your own.
Alexander Bailey
Thanks for the extra book recommendations.
I think I'll go with Atkins.
exordio.qfb.umich.mx
This seems to be REALLY from what I can see from the first 30 pages. Way better than Zumdahl and Brown.
But, what would say Zumdahl, or atleast Brown, is not worth reading at all? I still have next to 0 knowledge at all when it comes from Chemistry, just some stuff about the structure and properties of Atoms from my studying Electronics and Electricity, and some very light Physics.
Jack Mitchell
Oh shit, you're jumping into physical chemistry. Atkins wrote a general chemistry book called Chemical Principles: A Quest for Insight. That's the Atkins you're looking for. His physical chemistry book is alright as well, but Macquarrie is better.
In your case, I would use Atkins's Chemical Principles textbook primarily and work through that. You can use a PDF copy of Oxtoby and Brown when you want a different explanation or more problems.
Brandon Diaz
Oh cool.
Alright I found the right one.
I thought it was kinda weird how that other one didn't seem to have stuff I saw in Zumdahl.
So why are Zumdahl and Brown so popular for entry people anyway? Is it just a meme that spiraled out of control from college professors picking it?
Asher Martinez
Because they're easier and can be used by high school classes. It depends on the general chemistry class you take. Go to Caltech or MIT and you'll be using either Atkins or Oxtoby.
Gabriel Jenkins
en.wikipedia.org
Close enough to create life.
Do you guys think we will actually create a living cell with elements and some energy?
Hunter Walker
Chang maybe?
I thought it was pretty complete.
and as other anons stated, Chemistry is not something tht you should learn on your own. it is best if you have an instructr and once you deeply understad the subjects, you must have acess to a lab to land the knowledge.
It is pretty awesome overall. good luck.
I would compare it with Electricity, you can learn it with the handbook, but you NEED the lab experience to fully understand it.
David Fisher
Urey and Miller created a few amino acids. More have been created since then by other experimenters.
That's a really, really long way from creating DNA or proteins or cells. It does show how the component parts of life could have become available on a primordial Earth. It does not show what happened next.
Joshua Foster
So here's a dumb question, but... Can I just make my own lab somehow? Given I have the money to get ahold of the Chemicals?
Joseph Rivera
>Can you?
Sure
>should you?
Defenitely not.
And much less if you have only the higschool lab background or none.
Ever seen fightclub? That scene where they put a powder which has strong Base properties on the reverse of their hands? If he were to clean it up with water, his skin would have dissolved much worse. But thwy used acetic acid (IIRC) to neutralize it. This is something that can commonly happen on a lab.
Just as an example of why you need someone with experience and knowledge in order to be safe in a chemistry lab.
Elijah Collins
Well fuck.
So there's no way then? I can only just learn the theory? I mean again, I am content with just knowing the theory of things, but I'd like to experiment with things if possible.
Austin Powell
Why would water have made it worse? Was it because the water would not have been a poor neutralizer and would have only increased the effects of the base by concentrating it and making it more free to move and corrode the skin? Just thinking to check out my chemistry intuition.
Aaron White
Chemistry kids for middle and high school kids used to be more popular but I think they've been banned or watered down due to safety reasons. The best you can do is look up lists of "laboratory basics", only get the things that are relatively cheap, and probably learn to make illicit drugs with safer methods, like extracting DMT or something, NGL. If it's any danger at all, you should not do it at all, because you won't have the safety equipment to prevent yourself from suffering severe injuries or burning your house down.
Adam James
chemistry kits*
Benjamin Harris
General Chemistry is a meme
You don't really actual learn much chemistry, just industry standards.
Organic chemistry is where it's at
Jace Ramirez
You do learn a bit about atomic structure, bonding, intermolecular properties, equilibrium, kinetics, and thermodynamics, which I think are pretty much the foundations of chemistry and how it works, though you go into a lot of it in more detail in physical and organic chemistry. General chemistry is only a meme because they still haven't figured a way to boil down the essentials of a good chemist's intuition about chemical objects and chemical reactions into a concise and readable textbook while distinguishing between the basics and what's to come in further chemistry classes.
Evan Baker
your mom is a meme.
Alexander Peterson
bump