Chemistry: Starting to be too much!

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SolidSnake15

SolidSnake15

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I'm currently taking Chemistry I in High school right now. I went in to it expecting there too be a good deal of stuff to cover. Not a bg deal, I like challenges! But now that I'm nearly 3/4 of the way into it, my mind is getting a little cluttered. I'm maintaining a C average in the class. (normal for me) Although I have learned a good deal of things. I'll share sme of the stuff I've learned with you guys.

I have noticed that a great deal of it deals with electrons. The configuration, and how they are vital to creating a bond.

First I learned all about the Principal Energy Levels. And how sub-levels are labeled s, p, d, and f. I also know that each sub-level has a certain level of orbitals, areas where the electrons reside in. Each orbital can hold no more than 2 electrons which are spinning in opposite directions. I also know the amount of orbitals in each sub-level.
S-1 orbitals-2 electrons max
P-3 orbitals-6 electrons max
D-5 orbitals-10 electrons max
F-7 orbitals-14 electrons max

I learned that atoms try to get the electron configuration of a noble gas. That is, 8 valence electrons. (or 2 for the configuration of helium) They do this by either losing/gaining electrons, or sharing electrons with another atom. The charing is called a covalent bond. An ionic bond is formed when one atom loses electrons, and another gains those electrons.

(More later on, my brain hurts.)
 
Um, okay…?

Everything that you learn in high school chem comprises about the first two weeks of freshman chem at university. ;)
 
Im not really sure what the question here is but post one if you need it to be answered and I'm sure alot of people can help. I just passed grade 11 chemistry from semester 1 with an 87 so I am decent at high-school type stuff, nothing too advanced though.
 
I figured if something is too confusing, I have a detailed thread to refer to to ask for help. That keeps many of the questions of what I DO understand out of the way.
 
Chemistry is less-painful in the same sense that being shot is better than being stabbed. I generally don't like science at all, but I'd rather do chemistry than geology or biology. I took an introductory chemistry course (with a lab) and managed a B. By the grace of God, I have no idea how I did it...

Best science class I ever took?

Chemistry in the Community (or Chem Comm) my Junior year of high school. At least I got to learn how a nuclear weapon works!
 
Sage
Um, okay…?

Everything that you learn in high school chem comprises about the first two weeks of freshman chem at university. ;)
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I was about to say...

If you think that your lessons are a lot... Just you wait! I actually dropped out after a good deal of post-secondary chemistry. Show me a real picture of a real atom and I'll go back. Until then, I'll draw stuff.
 
exigeracer
Show me a real picture of a real atom and I'll go back. Until then, I'll draw stuff.
Click to expand...
figure4652.gif

Xenon atoms on a nickel plate.
 
I hate chemistry as well. I was put into honors chemistry to top it all off. I'm not even supposed to be in honors, i'm only in there because last year in biology we had a substitute teacher the entire year, and all we did is mess around. I ended up with 106 in that class with the most valuable piece of information out of it being how to complete the rubik's cube.
 
Bah I'm doing AS level chemistry at the moment and we cover spdf at the start of the year. That bit wasn't so difficult, have you started doing organic yet?

And titrations, how I hate titrations.
 
I took AP Chemistry in high school. It wasn't that hard, but I didn't like the labs much. We only used the bunsen burner once or twice.

I don't think I will be taking any chemistry in college.
 
I took chem last year as a sophomore and it was tough but you'll make it through. Just focus on the formulas and you will do just fine.
 
I'm taking Chemistry at uni (I'm a freshman :D) - uni only started last week (I've had four Chem lectures), but there doesn't appear to be *much* stuff above and beyond what you should learn in your final year at high school.

In my final year at high school (last year), we weren't really taught much stuff that wasn't covered the year before (thermochemistry, elec. orbitals, structure and bonding... that sort of stuff) ;)

You shouldn't be required to know about f-orbitals in high school (let alone your first year of uni) ;)

(also, Chemistry (Raymond Chang, 9th Ed.) is an excellent textbook for any chemistry course)
 
I've always thought chemistry was fairly easy, but I liked every science class I took.
 
Our next topics in Science to be covered is Chemistry. Got an exam Wednesday for Biology and Physics, then Chemistry till end of June.
 
College chemistry is in another league. AP Chem looks remedial in retrospect. Physical chemistry is where it all starts to make sense ;):



I'd still rather take chemistry than post-calculus math courses :sick:.
 
I had to retake Chemistry in College for Nursing School.
I was fine till we got to Organic Chem.
Of course we had a really good text book.
If you find a ten or twelve year old Chem book by Karen Timberlake, and it isn't too expensive, buy it.
Made all that balancing equation stuff, and bunches of other crap I no longer really use, easy to understand.
 
Ahh, I liked Titrations. :)
SPDF stuff is.. simple, we did that in 10th Grade.
Organic chem isn't so bad once you wrap your head around the principles of it all, and our class always did heaps of practical experiments, so all in all Chem was a good subject to take. :)
 
don't you know about a mickey mouse molecule? it's H2O the hydrogen rapes the oxygen for it's electrons.
 
speaking of chemistry I have a bit of a problem. My book doesn't explain the process well enough so I'm a tad stuck on two problems.

What is the wavelength of a light that has a frequency of 3x10^-4 Hz in a vacuum?

What is the energy of a photon that has a frequency of 5.0x10^14 Hz?
 
Euuugggh! Scary chemistry! I'll take the calculus route thanks. This makes Math B look like counting beans.
 
exigeracer
I think you're misreading something in your book, because if it doesn't have that info you have a really really bad textbook.
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I guess I did just miss it :lol:. Too much text around what i'm really looking for.

Thanks for the simple explanation

I'd much rather take calculus then any science, I cant wait for it next year :D
 
Diablo'
What is the wavelength of a light that has a frequency of 3x10^-4 Hz in a vacuum?

What is the energy of a photon that has a frequency of 5.0x10^14 Hz?
Click to expand...

exigeracer
because if it doesn't have that info you have a really really bad textbook.
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First thought that popped into my head when I read Diablo's post: try a physics textbook?

I learnt about light/photons/energy of light etc in physics, not chemistry :s
 
Physics and chemistry are very closely linked. Junior year, I took a physical chemistry course that was almost identical to the quantum mechanics course my friend took at the same time. Later that year, we took similar courses in statistical mechanics: I through the chemistry department and he through the physics department.

Albert Einstein is renowned as a physicist, yet he made some of the most important contributions to chemistry (through his work in physics, but still...;)).
 
exigeracer
I was about to say...

If you think that your lessons are a lot... Just you wait! I actually dropped out after a good deal of post-secondary chemistry. Show me a real picture of a real atom and I'll go back. Until then, I'll draw stuff.
Click to expand...

would a real video of an electron suffice?
 
Kylehnat
Physics and chemistry are very closely linked. Junior year, I took a physical chemistry course that was almost identical to the quantum mechanics course my friend took at the same time. Later that year, we took similar courses in statistical mechanics: I through the chemistry department and he through the physics department.

Albert Einstein is renowned as a physicist, yet he made some of the most important contributions to chemistry (through his work in physics, but still...;)).
Click to expand...

Yup, related much. Most people prefer one or the other... I do rather poorly in Chemistry courses but excel in Physics courses. Of course, that could have to do with the fact that our chemistry department insists we graph stuff by hand instead of using Datastudio to log and plot data points... why this is, I do not know. My guess is the WSU chemistry department is a tad bit on the r-tard side of things. :sly:

But basic high school chem is absolutely remedial in comparison to college level work.
 

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