Best Intro Gen Chem Textbook w/ *Conceptual* Questions?

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ricorico
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Hello all,

I was wondering, what is a really great introductory general chemistry book/source (covers chemical kinetics, thermodynamics, electronic structure, electrochemistry, acid-base equilibria, etc.) that has a lot of conceptual questions and not just quantitative? An example is like the end of chapter questions in the older Giancoli Physics texts. I would like this book's content to still be rigorous.

The reason why I ask is because I have taken general chemistry, and I know it well in my opinion (at least from in the context of academia a.k.a getting an A on a test, but that doesn't mean anything nowadays), however my textbook was primarily plug and chug, and didn't have many questions forcing me to think about changing situations, perturbing conditions, or analyzing charts, etc. Coupled with my background as a trained mathematician, the plug and chug route was a bore and I felt like I didn't learn as much as I could have.

Thank you!
 
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ricorico said:
Hello all,

I was wondering, what is a really great introductory general chemistry book/source (covers chemical kinetics, thermodynamics, electronic structure, electrochemistry, acid-base equilibria, etc.) that has a lot of conceptual questions and not just quantitative? An example is like the end of chapter questions in the older Giancoli Physics texts. I would like this book's content to still be rigorous.

The reason why I ask is because I have taken general chemistry, and I know it well in my opinion (at least from in the context of academia a.k.a getting an A on a test, but that doesn't mean anything nowadays), however my textbook was primarily plug and chug, and didn't have many questions forcing me to think about changing situations, perturbing conditions, or analyzing charts, etc. Coupled with my background as a trained mathematician, the plug and chug route was a bore and I felt like I didn't learn as much as I could have.

Thank you!

What book did you use for your intro class? We used Silberberg, wasn't a bad book, but I'm not sure how "rigorous" it was.
 
If you know calculus maybe try Linus Pauling?

I never took a chemistry course, however, I self studied from that book. I really liked it and it didn't feel like plug n chug.