raistlin - 6-7-2002 at 13:59
I am pretty much a newbie to the world of chemistry.. If anyone could take and give me a few lessons on the basics, I would greatly appreciate it...
Thanks
Raistlin
Polverone - 8-7-2002 at 11:37
If you get stuck, you can always come here for help. But first you should try to pick up the basics on your own. One of your posts under "whimsy"
indicated that you are bored with the slow pace of school, in which case you should have plenty of time during school (and other times) to study
chemistry.
Visit a used book store or thrift store and pick up a university-level general chemistry textbook. University texts aren't much harder to understand
than high school ones, and they have more information. You should be well on your way to membership in the amateur chemists' club once you have gone
through such a text. After that, the world is wide open. You can start reading organic chemistry books (again, look at the thrift or used book store),
which is what most do next, or if you're good with math/physics, look at physical chemistry. Or maybe more inorganic chemistry. Or maybe you just want
to experiment a bunch once you have that first dose of knowledge from the general chem book.
My web page (bcis.pacificu.edu/~polverone/) has a link to a complete scanned copy of a chemical encyclopedia from the 1860s (link currently broken,
but will be fixed soon). This text offers considerable inspiration for the amateur experimenter because the available materials were generally crude
yet they accomplished so much. But the chemistry is wrong in many places (from a modern perspective) so read that general chem text first.
If you are near a university or even community college, see if you can get a library card there. Academic libraries are usually much better at
stocking chemistry information than public libraries are, although even a public library could get you started.
Finally, try searching for chemistry tutorials on the Web and go through them. They're certainly better than nothing, though not as convenient as a
book.
vulture - 8-7-2002 at 12:37
I'm happy to open the world of chemistry for you, because I'm pretty much obsessed with it...
mail me
vultureacs@hotmail.com
thanks
raistlin - 13-7-2002 at 16:28
Ok thanks, I will remeber to ask you, Vulture, if anything comes up.
Raistlin
PHILOU Zrealone - 30-7-2002 at 17:07
To teach you basics would take a year of 24/7!
Neither you, neither us have that amount of time available!So better learn from yourself and ask questions (even if stupid ones- we are
comprehensive(at least most of us)).Chemistry basics are teached at secundary school during 3 years (depending on the level you choose, it is 2
hours/week to 7 hours/week).
Don't read chem books from A to Z; but read them through the chapters that attracts you the most, the more interesting, surprisings... you will learn
much faster that way(don't be alarmed if you don't understand something, go further or watch something else and later come back on it).
Also we will give you various answers all are right and part of the truth; the only difference is that some might be more evolved, some more
synthetic, some more generalising, some crazy, ...
PH Z
raistlin - 31-7-2002 at 05:52
Lol, I know theres a lot to learn. Ive been racking my brain for the last month going through the one chem book I have. Its amazing though to think
about how much Ive learned in such a small period of time.
Raistlin
Hermes_Trismegistus - 7-2-2005 at 10:21
Online Virtual Organic Chemistry Textbook For Beginners with lots of 3-D pics!
[Edited on 7-2-2005 by Hermes_Trismegistus]
mick - 11-2-2005 at 13:43
A bit of a ramble.
If you know the basics of chemistry you can apply them to just about anything. If you ever find someone that is trying to con you, if you know enough
chemistry you can ask questions. Chemistry seems to get a bad press these days. If you call it medicinal chemistry or biomedicinal chemistry it sounds
OK but the people in those fields are not competant and qualified chemists. They buy the stuff in and mix A with B and it is supposed to work because
the supplier said so. I have just checked some supplier stuff with sodium and benzophenone and it was not as dry as they stated (recently bought
bottle, opened fresh and used). It needed drying. I always think that chemistry is and still the most accessible nanotechnology. How to get thing to
do what you want at the molecular level. If you had called it nanotechnology in the 1800s people might be doing chemistry today.
mick