Just based on the title, you know Ian Guch, AKA Mister Guch, includes more than a little humor in this awesome free online chemistry textbook. As I was reading through the introduction and first chapter, I became entranced in what has to be the most well-written science book I’ve ever read. It’s written so well that you will find yourself learning without realizing it. Even this Organic Chemistry refugee and corporate trainer found herself admiring how so many basic concepts in science are explained in simple, plain English.
The section that explains lab safety includes such gems as “Toxic gases belong in the fume hood. God only knows where they go after they get blown out of the room, but that’s not really our problem.” He introduces the Heisenberg uncertainty principle and mentions, “Both models have equations that go along with them, but we’re not going to worry about them because they’re not really important until you get to higher level classes.”
Guch is a high school science teacher. He found many of the high school textbooks for the sciences include lots of pictures that are often irrelevant and use many words that do little more than simply fill pages. He is endeavoring to make the science of chemistry approachable, understandable and fun. His book is a work in progress and he hopes to continue expanding the text. He also is working on Physical Science: A Smorgasbord of Knowledge, a free text for middle-schoolers.
Table of Contents for Chemistry: The Awesomest Science
- About This Book: Read First
- Chapter 1: Introduction to Chemistry
- Chapter 2: Takin’ Data (units, conversions, sig figs, precision/accuracy)
- Chapter 3: Elements and Properties and Stuff
- Chapter 4: Old Models of the Atom (Greek, Dalton, Thomson, Rutherford)
- Chapter 5: Light, Bohr, and the Quantum Model
- Chapter 6: The Periodic Table and Periodic Trends
- Chapter 7: The Groups and Regions of the Periodic Table
- Chapter 8: Ionic Compounds and Metals
- Chapter 9: Covalent Compounds
- Chapter 10: Blowing Stuff Up: The Story of Chemical Reactions
- Chapter 11: The Mole – Not Just a Defective Rat Anymore
- Chapter 12: Stoichiometry – Fun to Say, Fun to Do
- Chapter 13: Solids, Liquids, and Gases
- Chapter 14: Let Loose the Gases!
- Chapter 15: The Solutions to All of Your Problems
- Chapter 16: Thermodynamics for the Truly Lazy
- Chapter 17: Kinetics
- Chapter 18: Don’t Drop the Acid!
- Appendix
If you would rather have a bound book, Ian Guch has written The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Chemistry available from Amazon.
View this Free Online Material at the source:
Chemistry: The Awesomest Science
