Say a Guy wanted to learn [Chemistry]

Derrick

Hey all,

Fizban's thread about chemistry led me to wiking out for a while (you how that goes. Black out, lose hours, maybe learn ya somethin'). Anyway, I have an interest in chemistry, but a purely hobbyish one. I already have a degree, job, etc. I took college level chemistry and did really well.

Really what I'm looking for is a book or website that discusses chemistry in a more fun and relevant way than "memorize this table." I like learning about theory and the hows of things. Eventually I'd like to work my way up to thermodynamics, etc, but for now I just want to learn and relearn basic theory aided by something with hopefully some flavor and relevance.

Anything in particular I should look for when I hit the library later?

Also, might as well throw this in there- going to do pretty much the same thing with teaching myself Latin.

Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

Six

http://www.khanacademy.org/

Jimmy King

It has changed ownership a couple times over the years, so I can't vouch for how good it is now, but http://www.howstuffworks.com used to be pretty good for getting at least a layman's understanding of just about anything science or tech related and usually with fairly fun and/or interesting articles.

Niceguy Myeye

My advice is to start by narrowing your search from Chemistry to a particular part of chemistry.

If you're more interested in the particle bits and how protons and electrons affect Chemistry in particular, research Physical Chemistry. It can be rather interesting when you get to the theories of how the electron configuration of components determine things such as heat capacity. If you're interested in Schroedinger or particle physics or thermodynamics, this is the good starting points.

If you're more interested in learning about reactions and mechanisms and how the hybridization of electron orbitals affects these things, I'd advise looking into Organic Chemistry you should use this as a springboard into biochemistry or polymers if that's your end goals.

If you like learning about rocks and metals and crystals, then focus your studies on Inorganic Chemistry. If you plan to learn about advances materials such as ceramics and metallurgy, this is the way to go. Also, good for geology.

Chemistry is pretty fucking huge in scope. I'd say start with one of these branches and pick up fundamentals and then move on to your focus.

Icey

Two enjoyable chemistry books are The Cartoon Guide to Chemistry and Oliver Sacks's memoir Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood. Theodore Gray's Periodic Table website is worth looking at. I've also heard good things about Transforming Matter: A History of Chemistry from Alchemy to the Buckyball, though I haven't read it myself. There are also some general audience chemistry articles at the American Chemical Society website.

ceres

Niceguy Myeye wrote: »

My advice is to start by narrowing your search from Chemistry to a particular part of chemistry.

So hard this. Since you're just doing this out of interest, you have the ability to really focus on one thing if you want to. The fields mentioned in this post are great springboards, and require entirely different ways of thinking and forms of experimentation. Nowadays these subjects can be pretty intense.

Then again, there's something to be said for someone who knows a little of everything, if that's more your bag.

Fuzzy Cumulonimbus Cloud

http://www.amazon.com/Disappearing-Spoon-Madness-Periodic-Elements/dp/0316051640

Read this book if you want to get into Chemistry. It teaches you the basic theories while giving you one of the craziest and most hilarious/terrifying histories of chemistry and science in general.