[...]... Atkins, 20th century Chemistry is at once practical and wondrous, humble and majestic And, for someone studying it for the first time, chemistry can be tricky That’s why we wrote this book Chemistry is wondrous Workbooks are practical This is a chemistry workbook About This Book When you’re fixed in the thickets of stoichiometry or bogged down by buffered solutions, you’ve got little use for rapturous poetry... xiv Chemistry Workbook For Dummies You Must Memorize Polyatomic Ions 330 Liquid Water Is Denser than Ice 331 No Gas Is Truly Ideal .331 Common Names for Organic Compounds Hearken Back to the Old Days .332 Index 333 Introduction “T he first essential in chemistry is that you should perform practical work and conduct experiments, for he who performs not practical... summarize nuclear chemistry, the special branch of chemistry that includes transformations of particles within the nucleus, the positively charged heart of an atom Part V: Going Organic Because most practicing chemists are alive, it should come as no surprise that many of them are interested in the chemistry of life The chemistry performed by living things is largely organic chemistry, or the chemistry of... basic primer, such as Chemistry For Dummies (written by John T Moore, EdD, and published by Wiley) We present enough theory in this workbook for you to tackle the problems, but you’ll benefit from a broader description of basic chemical concepts That way, you’ll more clearly understand how the various pieces of chemistry operate within a larger whole — you’ll see the compound for the elements, so to... never wasted 3 4 Chemistry Workbook For Dummies Icons Used in This Book You’ll find a selection of helpful icons nicely nestled along the margins of this workbook Think of them as landmarks, familiar signposts to guide you as you cruise the highways of chemistry Within already pithy summaries of chemical concepts, passages marked by this icon represent the pithiest, must-know bits of information You’ll... is found in there Finally, rest assured that chemistry isn’t alchemy Mysterious as it may sometimes seem, chemistry is a practical, understandable pursuit Chemistry is neither above you nor beyond you It awaits your mastery “Science is, I believe, nothing but trained and organized common sense.” —Thomas H Huxley, 19th century 5 6 Chemistry Workbook For Dummies Part I Getting Cozy with Numbers, Atoms,... 199 Chapter 15: Warming Up to Thermochemistry 201 Working with the Basics of Thermodynamics .201 Holding Heat: Heat Capacity and Calorimetry 203 Absorbing and Releasing Heat: Endothermic and Exothermic Reactions .206 Summing Heats with Hess’s Law 208 Answers to Questions on Thermochemistry .211 xi xii Chemistry Workbook For Dummies Part IV: Swapping Charges ... solutions and explanations are provided for every problem Conventions Used in This Book We provide the following conventions to guide you through this book: ߜ Italics highlight definitions, emphasize certain words, and point out variables in formulas ߜ Boldfaced text points out key words in bulleted lists and actions to take in numbered lists 2 Chemistry Workbook For Dummies Foolish Assumptions We assume... currently enrolled in a chemistry course, you may want to scan the Table of Contents to determine what material you’ve already covered in class Do you recall any concepts that confused you? Try a few practice problems from these sections to assess your readiness for more advanced material ߜ If you’re brushing up on forgotten chemistry, it may be helpful to scan the chapters for example problems As... the Periodic Table of the Elements .49 Reading Periods and Groups in the Periodic Table 49 Predicting Properties from Periodic and Group Trends .52 x Chemistry Workbook For Dummies Seeking Stability with Valence Electrons by Forming Ions 54 Putting Electrons in Their Places: Electron Configurations .56 Measuring the Amount of Energy (Or Light) an Excited Electron Emits 59 Answers . Beach, California, serving more than 2,000 students per year. She is the author of ACT For Dummies, Pre-Calculus For Dummies, AP Biology For Dummies, AP Chemistry For Dummies, GRE For Dummies, . ii Chemistry Workbook FOR DUMmIES ‰ by Peter J. Mikulecky,PhD, Katherine Brutlag, Michelle Rose Gilman, and Brian Peterson 01_251522-ffirs.qxp 6/26/08 8:37 AM Page i Chemistry Workbook For Dummies ® Published. alt="" Chemistry Workbook FOR DUMmIES ‰ by Peter J. Mikulecky,PhD,Katherine Brutlag, Michelle Rose Gilman, and Brian Peterson 01_251522-ffirs.qxp 6/26/08 8:37 AM Page i Chemistry Workbook For Dummies ® Published