Chemistry: The Study of Matter and Its Changes

by James E. Brady, John R. Holum, Frederick A. Senese

Book Overview

Offers accurate, lucid and interesting explanations of basic concepts and facts of chemistry while helping students develop skills in analytical thinking and problem solving. Students are taught, in a variety of ways, to think of skills as tools that can be used to solve complex problems. Several aids are included to help focus and inspire student interest--frequent reference to common chemicals in commercial products, numerous photographs of reactions,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471530085
• ISBN13: 9780471530084
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: Wiley
• Length: 1024 Pages
• Weight: 5.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.7" x 8.4" x 10.4"

Customer Reviews

A Cut Above

I have not finished the book but have concentrated on chapters with information that I have had trouble with in the past with chemistry. So far it has not disappointed and has cleared up some of the issues that have often kept me awake at night. I hope it will continue to do that. The book is complete in it's presentation of the subjects of general chemistry with extras. It is superbly illustrated and clear in it's explanations and the example sections are superb as well. You can get it cheaper than it's pricey ($160) retail cost but if you have to pay more I think you will find it worth it.

Great!

The price of the book was excellent and its condition was just as it described. Like New. I will definitely buy from this seller again when it comes time to buy my other college books. :)

excellent text

This textbook is an excellent way to learn chemistry. It provides very nice graphics to explain the text. This text makes learning chemistry very enjoyable and interesting. Senese and Brady did a wonderful job with this book. I highly recommend it.

this text does stand out from the pack...

...in a number of ways. The chapter on stoichiometry is the first one I flip to when I'm evaluating a new text. This book does a better job of providing a conceptual foundation for the mole concept than any other book I've seen. It shows the rationale behind the concept by working a few simple problems with and without moles. The problem setups emphasize strategic thinking by asking students to identify the 'critical link' that connects given information with the problem's goal. The "Is the answer reasonable" checks given with each problem are more detailed and more helpful than in other texts; they help students develop a sense for what is and isn't reasonable in the answer, using alternative back-of-the-envelope solutions that often provide additional insight into the nature of the problem.The chapter on atomic structure is the only one I've seen that uses the central idea of quantum mechanics (wave-particle duality) as its central theme. It elegantly uses the de Broglie relation to tie wave and particle behaviors together, in the process naturally explaining where quantum numbers come from and why changes in electron confinement in a reaction can lead to color changes.The thermodynamics chapter is also quite innovative, discarding the idea of entropy as a measure of disorder and instead stressing its connection with the number of ways a state can be realized. A simple model of heat flow from a hot object to a cold object makes the connection between probability and process spontaneity clear. The approach for explaining and predicting molecular shapes is much better than that used in other texts, where students end up memorizing a large table of molecular shapes. This text starts by showing how electron domains arrange themselves the central atom, and then visualizes how the molecular geometry changes as bonding domains are replaced with nonbonding domains, one at a time. Students see the underlying idea without getting lost in a mass of detail and special cases.I also like the "Thinking it through" problems at the end of each chapter, that emphasize critical and strategic thinking rather than simply getting a numerical answer. Ebbing and Chang don't have this feature. The "Test of facts and concepts" are cumulative tests that students can use to synthesize material from several chapters; I haven't seen another text with this feature, either.

Best in itself

I have read older editon of this textbook. Older 3rd edition (1988). But it still stands tall among couple of other chemistry books on my shelf. No other book can match the style and elegance of Brady's book IMHO. There are a lot of books out there maybe more detailed. But Brady's is the one that explain why certain concept is important, how they were discovered and by whom they were developed. Instead of starting explaining each key concenpts in Chemistry, Brady's always start with how previous researchers reached the theory at that time period. And how we can relate them in terms of our current understanding of this wonderful of chemistry.If Brady didn't lose any his touch, I am 100 % sure and can gaurantee this newer edition will follow its earlier edition's tradition. Even if your course doesn't require this book as a text, go grap one. If you can't afford newer one, go buy old edition. They are still a classic and in fact I am still using 1988 edition.