Question about my Chemistry textbook

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on the suitability of the Chemistry - Eighth Edition textbook for someone with minimal prior chemistry knowledge. The textbook is designed for introductory courses and does not assume extensive chemistry background, making it accessible for beginners. The participant has a brief high school chemistry experience and a physics background, which is beneficial as it involves skills like dimensional analysis that are relevant in chemistry. While some contributors express confidence that the book's content is manageable, they advise that extra time may be needed, particularly in the initial chapters. Overall, the consensus suggests that with dedication and effort, the participant should be able to study effectively from the textbook.
JWHooper
Okay, I just bought a new Chemistry textbook a week or two weeks ago (it's called Chemistry - Eighth Edition by Whitten, Davis, Peck and Stanley). Also, at the beginning of the textbook, it says:
"Chemistry - eighth edition, is intended for use in the introductory chemistry course taken by students of chemistry, physics, engineering, and related subjects. Although some background in high school science is helpful, no specific knowledge of topics in chemistry is presupposed. This book has self-contained presentations of the fundamentals of chemistry."

Here's my situation. I didn't took any chemistry courses in high school (except a short introductory one that is half semester long in freshmen year...). I took physics class, though. So, here's my question: will I be okay studying my new chemistry book? Please let me know!

P.S. Moderators, please don't move this post, or do anything to it that will not make this post noticable! This post is important for me! :(
 
Physics news on Phys.org
From what is written there , I would say it is designed for those with little or no previous chemistry, so you should be OK.

However, a failure to becone a brilliant chemist may not be the fault of the book
 
If it is an introductory chemistry book, you should be fine. With your high school physics background, you should have already a good ability in applying dimensional analysis to obtain quantities in a specified form. This is used extensively in introductory chemistry courses (e.g. determining the number of molecules present from a given number of grams). If you are still concerned, work through the first couple of chapters and solve some problems, since for most students school doesn't start until the end of August.
 
No idea. I had firm HS chemistry before doing intro chem. And from experience, these books that claim "blah blah is reccommended but not really neccessary" flat out lie. You should be okay, because the material is pretty easy, but you might need to spend extra time on it, especially the first few chapters.
 
For the following four books, has anyone used them in a course or for self study? Compiler Construction Principles and Practice 1st Edition by Kenneth C Louden Programming Languages Principles and Practices 3rd Edition by Kenneth C Louden, and Kenneth A Lambert Programming Languages 2nd Edition by Allen B Tucker, Robert E Noonan Concepts of Programming Languages 9th Edition by Robert W Sebesta If yes to either, can you share your opinions about your personal experience using them. I...
This is part 2 of my thread Collection of Free Online Math Books and Lecture Notes Here, we will consider physics and mathematical methods for physics resources. Now, this is a work in progress. Please feel free comment regarding items you want to be included, or if a link is broken etc. Note: I will not post links to other collections, each link will point you to a single item. :book:📚📒 [FONT=trebuchet ms]Introductory college/university physics College Physics, Openstax...

Similar threads

Replies
3
Views
5K
Replies
7
Views
9K
Replies
3
Views
3K
Replies
2
Views
2K
Replies
1
Views
2K
Replies
23
Views
5K
Replies
39
Views
7K
Replies
34
Views
6K
Back
Top