Chemistry

Reviewed by Alan Jircitanp, Associate Professor of Chemistry, Penn State Behrend College on 2/1/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 5

This book is as good as any printed Chemistry Textbook. It has an index that lists all (and more) fundamentals of chemistry: Phases, physical and chemical changes, atomic model, ions, nomenclature, Periodic Table, the mole, formulas, concentration, reactions and stoichiometry, Thermodynamics, Lewis dot structures, polarity, bonding, gases, Intermolecular Forces, phase diagrams, Kinetics, equilibria, acid-base chemistry, titrations, pH, electrochemistry, etc.
These are all fundamentals in General Chemistry I and II; needed to understand many phenomena and solve problems. For example: understanding Lewis dot structures to determine why certain things dissolve (or don’t) (sugar in water vs. oil in water) and how that can be used to make better water or oil based paints. Polarity and electronic ink, Gorilla® Glass (ions in glass strengthen the glass, based on Periodic Properties (Periodic Table)), goiter (iodide ion deficiency), Mohave Desert Solar Power plant, Astronomy (energy and supernovae) and atoms.
Each chapter has practice problems as the student goes through the chapter (some with answers worked out stepwise, some with just answers). The book gives lots of examples where chemistry shows up in a typical person’s daily life- food, minerals (rocks), cleaning products, air bags, etc.
At the end of each chapter a review key terms list, a chapter summary and more problems for the student to work through at the end of each chapter as more practice.
The book goes into at least adequate detail on all needed topics, and a few in even more detail than I (personally) need (but more is better than not enough). These are: significant figures, Mulliken’s oil drop experiment, and atomic mass units (amu’s).
As for not enough detail (the absence of one thing in an equation, Ch. 11): The book doesn’t give quite enough detail on the change in boiling point or melting point of a solution via the Van’t Hoff ‘i’ factor. No book has that constant, that I’ve seen, in many years. Also, Ch. 13: I derive the integrated forms of the rate law, this book does not (it is a mix, many books don’t show the derivation, but a few do)

Content Accuracy rating: 5

In the book, the examples relate well to everyday life and give lots of accurate uses of chemistry and accurately worked out examples (math problems). In terms of errors, most are typographical (ex.s p. 174, ‘sight’ instead of ‘side’, p. 191 duplicate notes (1 and 2), p. 235 (Tfina – Tinita instead of Tfinal – Tinital), p. 489 (effusion instead of effusion), p. 490 (xygen and ydrogen instead of oxygen and hydrogen).
The only accuracy issue (minor) was on p. 345; electronegativity was defined as electron pulling power of an atom, but with NO mention of it being an atom IN a molecule.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

Lots of everyday examples (cell phones, cars, brewing beer, fruit ripening chemistry, artificial sweeteners, examining molecules in exhaled breath as early disease indicators, ionic compounds and their uses (CaCO3- antacid), solid rocket fuels, touch screens, lithium batteries, etc. Some of these will be around for a long time (and already have been), some will change or become outdated. But since the book is primarily on-line (but students can have it printed and bound for a small fee; a nice feature for those that want a physical copy), updates are easy to implement.
The book already has the ‘new’ definition of the standard meter and the ‘new’ concept of atom economy (not just percent yield).
Book still has a few elements in the Periodic Table missing. Not crucial, but since the elements were made ‘official’ this past summer (2017), the Periodic Table should be up to date (missing Nh, Mc, Ts and Og).
But basic information is there and because chemistry books are written mostly as fundamental facts (that haven’t changed much in many decades; ex. water will always be essential to life—like the fundamentals of physics (ex. gravity)) the book won’t ever really be out-of-date.

Clarity rating: 5

Nice pictorial representations of chemical processes. Shows representations of atoms combining to form new compounds. Great as students often have trouble “seeing” this concept. Ex. 2 H (two separate atoms) vs. H2 (two combined atoms; a molecule) vs. 2 H2 (two molecules).
Terminology in explaining terms is adequate, some definitions are clearer than others, but all terms are defined in plan, clear English. And not chemistry textbook explains everything perfectly. This book is just as good as any other in terms of this (and this one is free!).

Consistency rating: 5

Every chapter is consistent in that it has a small introduction with a real-life example or current issue that we are trying to solve. This is followed by the chapter being divided into sections with main topics for each section with example problems throughout (some worked out step-wise, some with just the answer). Then end of chapter list of terms to know (with definitions), then the chapter summary, then many more practice problems for the student to work out. Each chapter also has real-life examples and profiles of people that contributed towards our chemical understanding or policy-making through environmental stewardship.

Modularity rating: 5

Just like a printed text, it is split into chapters and sections within the chapters. So you can navigate to any page or section you want, much like a printed book. It also has Figures, Tables, and little sub-sections with chemistry of every-day things and examples that break up the chapters nicely.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The order is a typical order of presentation of General Chemistry textbooks (note: there are two versions, the ‘regular’ order and the ‘atoms first’ approach. The ‘regular’ order was reviewed here). But the order isn’t that crucial as teaching from the book (being separated into chapters) allows the professor’s syllabus to be put together in whatever order they would like). Since the topics often build off of each other, the first few chapters tend to not be moved around much, but later chapters can be moved around a bit more.
In terms of within each chapter; again the flow is logical (brief introduction, then each section with a main topic (with examples and short topics on chemistry or the people behind the chemistry), then an end of chapter review, then more practice problems at the end of the chapter.

Interface rating: 5

The format is a bit different depending upon what device you are using, but all allow easy navigation through the book. On a tablet device, one can tap the screen and get a small representation of all the pages, just flip through them like a book, or scroll on the bar below the pages representation to go through the pages even faster (with pages marked as you move the bar from left to right).
Includes links to videos and applications that help visualize concepts not possible (as easily) with a printed textbook.
All pictures (Figures, Tables, etc.) are clear (Note: there are two versions of the book, a high and a low resolution, and both are very easy to see and are very clear without any visibility issues. Pictures used well in conjunction with everyday examples. Lots of worked examples, examples with just an answer, crossing out of units (showing each step in unit analysis. This makes for a very clear and easy way to follow this concept. Unit analysis is a very important concept, not just for chemistry, but any scientific analysis).

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The book is written in plain, simple to understand English whenever possible. Sometimes some special terms are unavoidable, but this is fairly rare. Also see #2 accuracy and #10 (below).

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

More about the facts / compounds / science than people… but science is based on facts and has always been written in a neutral third-person- so really not an issue (more an issue if it were a humanities text). But pictures with people / people’s hands are all colors- so even more inclusive and relevant than chemistry books of the past. Also includes scientific contributions from men and women from many races and backgrounds (England, Russia, Germany, India, US, etc.; environmentalists, biochemists, mineralogists, brewers, farmers, etc.).

This book is an excellent one for its clarity, examples, video examples, worked problem examples, organization, and range of topics covered. It is doubly excellent in that it is free online, so it saves students money and because it is online, students are much more apt to read it (they have the internet constantly via their cell phones).