General Chemistry: Principles, Patterns, and Applications

Key Features

• Written at a level suitable for science majors, but with a less formal writing style that appeals to today’s students.
• Formatted to be less visually cluttered than typical general chemistry books in order to promote improved learning.
• Stresses unifying concepts by presenting an integrated overview of the most important chemistry subdisciplines: organic, inorganic, biological, environmental, material, and nuclear.
• Focuses on developing learners’ intuitive and predictive critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
• Supports the development of strong operational skills.
• Covers liquids and solids in two chapters to allow for expanded coverage of topics such as semiconductors, superconductors, polymers, and engineering materials.
• Fundamental concepts are introduced at the start of each chapter and followed by applications at the end of each chapter, enabling flexible assignment based on the audience.
• Topical organization is logical and discretely organized, facilitating easy syllabus preparation and course delivery.
• Plentiful, interdisciplinary, and high-quality worked examples and exercises promote concept mastery. Application problems encourage a grasp of ideas behind the subject matter.
• Three-dimensional molecular representations promote the development of spatial skills.
• Supportive pedagogical structure refines and reinforces learning:
  • “Learning Objectives” lay out the key ideas to be discussed in each main section.
  • “Note the Pattern” boxes use short phrases to emphasize key concepts.  
  • “Summary” boxes at the end of each main section review the section’s main ideas in prose form.
  • “Key Takeaways” at the end of each main section present the section’s key ideas in list format.
  • “Essential Skills” boxes, found throughout the text, ensure students develop the mathematical skills necessary for successful comprehension of concepts.
  • “Conceptual Problems” and “Numerical Problems” alternate at the end of each main section. “Conceptual Problems” emphasize understanding and applying the ideas covered in the preceding main section. “Numerical Problems” facilitate the development of strong operational skills. Answers are provided for many of the problems, and detailed solutions and answers to all main section problems can be found in the instructor’s or solutions manuals.
  • “Application Problems” at the end of every chapter require students to synthesize and apply concepts drawn from the entire chapter in order to provide correct answers. Answers are provided for many of the problems, and detailed solutions and answers to all “Application Problems” can be found in the instructor’s or solutions manuals.