Customer Reviews

Chemistry: A Molecular Approach

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a new textbook for general chemistry. Yes, there a quite a number of general chemistry texts and they all cover roughly the same general material. They differ more in how they organize the material, illustrate it, and their method of helping the student develop a solid understanding and command of this basic material. The student not only needs to learn the basic facts of chemistry, she needs to learn how to think about it so when she looks at the world, she can see and understand the issues as they relate to this vital science.

Dr. Tro begins this book by explaining how the text was developed and provides instructions for the student on how to make the most of the book. I liked this a great deal. He starts the book by providing what he thinks is the most important scientific idea in all of human knowledge: "the properties of matter are determined by the properties of molecules and atoms". From there he builds all the principles taught in general chemistry. He also define chemistry as: "the science that seeks to understand the behavior of matter by studying the behavior of atoms and molecules".

Each chapter is organized in a similar fashion and a great deal of emphasis is placed on making the illustrations demonstrate a principle - a process - rather than an isolated picture. Tro also has interesting articles of chemistry in various fields in different chapters and he often introduces ideas with practical issues that will likely matter to the student.

For review, at the end of each chapter he goes over the key concepts taught, the key equations and relationships discussed, and the key skills that the student is expected to have learned. He provides exercises to test one's mastery of the material that the student can answer for himself. The problems are organized by chapter topic. Those listed with blue numbers have answers provided in the back of the book. There are also cumulative problems that build on skills learned previously, challenge problems, and conceptual problems that go a bit further than the minimum requirements of chapter mastery.

Besides Appendix III with selected answers, there are others with key equations, useful data, and a glossary. And there is a good index, as well.

I think it is a handsome and very useful text for teaching and learning general chemistry. A general reader could benefit from studying from it because it is clear and engaging enough that one can work through what is being taught.

This is an excellent book that gives wonderful examples that clarify confusing concepts in chemistry. Granted, this book does have a few things that are less than desirable (exothermic/endothermic reactions are confusing because Tro does not clearly define what the "system" is; wave diffraction is confusing but that is really a physics topic, etc.). However, the way Tro sorts out problems (sort, strategize, solve, solution, check) is amazing. To truly reap the benefits of this incredible book though, the serious student should purchase the instructor's solutions manual (all reveiw questions and every problem at the end of each chapter). The link to buy this solutions manual is:

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Well worth the cost for serious chem students!

As a beginning chemistry student this spring, I loved this book (1st edition) initially. The first 5 chapters were clear, easy to learn from, with excellent questions in the back of the book. I really enjoyed it. But then, the book really fell down. It would have made sense to include balancing in acidic and basic media in the earlier balancing discussion, rather than burying it in chapter 18. The text made little sense, and was rather dull, and then the examples did not enlighten. The problems in the back of the chapter were no help on the exam. From there through chapter 10, our class ended up veering away from the text material, so that now, in orbitals and Lewis dot structure, I'm using the web, rather than the textbook. Thank god for Google books and Wikipedia and all those who've generously posted study material out there. Further, it should be noted that there are wrong answers periodically throughout the books, and scientific notation and rounding is inconsistently applied. I suspect a revision or two, with someone rewriting several chapters entirely will make this an excellent text.

This textbook is FANTASTIC! My favorite feature in this textbook are the examples. Each example is written step by step with instructions on one side, with the problem worked out next to it. After each example is a practice problem which enables the student to reinforce the new techniques using a similar problem. I had a very enthusiastic professor for Chemistry, who had difficulty communicating the subject as English was not her primary language....this being said, this textbook made it easy for me to get an "A" in the course, and also served as a good foundation for my future Chemistry courses. Honestly, a student could easily learn Chemistry from this textbook with little or no assistance from their instructor!!

I have found that this book wastes no time in getting "down and dirty", this book is for the serious beginning chemistry student. The book is well organized, the questions are thorough and follow logically, I have found only one or two typos since I first bought it (in book terms this is excellent), It goes into detail yet is condensed enough that less useful details are omitted, and beyond all that, I must say to the hard work went into this book...it is beautiful, the illustrations are great, and the graphics demonstrate the times. I think this book will work very well for college chemistry courses (perhaps less well for HS chem but still good). Hope this review was helpful.

This is one of the best college text books I have ever used. The examples build upon each other, and the vocabulary is very understandable. AWESOME text. I highly recommend. It would probably be good for any number of AP chem students, or any gen chem students.

This text is written extremely well. It is especially designed with the students in mind. I enjoy practicing the problems in it, and if I ever get stuck, then I can always go back easily and find the answer in the text. Great illustrations and learning tools. A must have.

Great text and an easy read, but not for advanced chem students. I bought it for a bio-chem class at University of Kentucky, and was super-pleased with my purchase. My only reason for 4-stars is the examples provided for in-text reference will never be used on a chem test, simply because they're too easy. Yes, easy probs should be included in order to build foundational skills, but, this book stops there. The text is great though, and superbly easy to pick up on. Also, like most textbooks, only odd answers to chapter reviews are included in the back of the book. C'mon people,it's frigin ridiculous to attempt to solve problems you have no answer for reference. All textbooks need all answers. And don't give me that bull-crap that you can cheat out of the back. Hardly have I ever received homework assignments from chapter summaries. In my experience, it's lecture, study your book, then take a test. All answers would for surely help in that regard.

Exactly as adveritsed. Very pleased!! Definitely recommended by me!! Great job! Not much else to say, but this was good business.

This was an excellent buy. It only cost about 35 dollars and included a very useful solutions manual. The going rate for this text book used at my campus book store was from 44 to 110 dollars and they were written and highlighted in. This was a new book for a much cheaper price and delivered promptly.