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  • Better Models

    Book Chapter |

    At the end of the first chapter, you realized, hopefully, that the model of an atom that we have so far (Rutherford’s model of a concentrated positive nucleus with negative charges around it) doesn’t go very far in…

  • Periodicity

    Book Chapter |

    In thinking about a title for this chapter, the word periodicity came to mind. I was sure this had some kind of pop culture reference. After discussing this with my wife, we figured I was thinking of synchronicity,…

  • Let’s Get Together … Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

    Book Chapter |

    Ah yes, the theme song from one of the strangest movies of all time—Parent Trap. The original, that is, with Hayley Mills. I was in love with her back then. So naturally, I would choose that phrase to title a chapter on…

  • Balancing Act

    Book Chapter |

    We now know enough about atoms and how they combine to investigate a number of different chemical reactions. We’ll even be able to represent those reactions with symbols that tell us how many of each kind of atom we…

  • Organic, Dude

    Book Chapter |

    The word organic has lots of meanings in everyday life. Organic vegetables are ones grown without pesticides and organic beef comes from cattle that haven’t been given antibiotics. When it comes to chemistry, organic…

  • Electro-Luminescence

    Book Chapter |

    The title of this chapter is a compact way of saying that it covers two separate branches of chemistry. The first is electrochemistry and the second is the interaction of light with matter. An entire chapter could be…

  • Dèjà Review

    Book Chapter |

    This is the second chemistry book in the Stop Faking It! series—the first one is Chemistry Basics. This book introduces new concepts and expands on many of the concepts presented in the first book, hence the author…

  • Dynamic Atoms

    Book Chapter |

    This chapter is about states of matter and a section of chemistry called thermodynamics which is the inspiration (or lack thereof) for the chapter title. The chapter might seem just a bit disconnected from the content…

  • The Name's Bond ... Pi Bond

    Book Chapter |

    To begin this chapter, you need to picture electrons in atoms as residing in orbitals—those fuzzy things that can be spherical, dumbbell-shaped, or even ring-shaped. The author addresses orbitals and why they’re fuzzy…

  • Special Reactions

    Book Chapter |

    The basics of chemical reactions were covered in the first chemistry book, including how to write and balance chemical equations that represent those reactions. There is also a quick review of chemical reactions in…

  • Half a Life is Better Than None

    Book Chapter |

    Most of chemistry deals with chemical reactions and, hence, with how electrons in atoms behave either in single atoms or when those atoms get together with other atoms. There is a branch, though, that deals with the…

  • A Little Organic

    Book Chapter |

    It would be impossible to investigate even a fraction of organic chemistry in this book, so in this chapter the author goes over a few things that will complement the limited organic chemistry in the first book. This is…

  • Force and Motion Ideas

    Book Chapter |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to comprehensively elicit students' ideas about the relationship between force and motion. The list of possible answers includes several distracters that are based on learning…

  • Connecting Electricity and Magnetism

    Book Chapter |

    As discussed at the beginning of the book, there is an intimate connection between electricity and magnetism, which will be further addressed in this chapter as well. We'll end up with a scientific model for what…

  • In Which We Describe Motion and Then Change It

    Book Chapter |

    As far as inanimate objects are concerned, if you know what the object is doing and know all the things that will affect that object, you can predict what the object will be doing at a later time. That's useful for…

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