Chemistry 2e by OpenStax

Book Preface

About OpenStax
OpenStax is a nonprofit based at Rice University, and it’s our mission to improve student access to education. Our first openly licensed college textbook was published in 2012, and our library has since scaled to over 25 books for college and AP® courses used by hundreds of thousands of students. OpenStax Tutor, our low-cost personalized learning tool, is being used in college courses throughout the country. Through our partnerships with philanthropic foundations and our alliance with other educational resource organizations, OpenStax is breaking down the most common barriers to learning and empowering students and instructors to succeed.

About OpenStax resources
Customization
Chemistry 2e is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY) license, which means that you can distribute, remix, and build upon the content, as long as you provide attribution to OpenStax and its content contributors.
Because our books are openly licensed, you are free to use the entire book or pick and choose the sections that are most relevant to the needs of your course. Feel free to remix the content by assigning your students certain chapters and sections in your syllabus, in the order that you prefer. You can even provide a direct link in your syllabus to the sections in the web view of your book.
Instructors also have the option of creating a customized version of their OpenStax book. The custom version can be made available to students in low-cost print or digital form through their campus bookstore. Visit the Instructor Resources section of your book page on OpenStax.org for more information.

Errata

All OpenStax textbooks undergo a rigorous review process. However, like any professional-grade textbook, errors sometimes occur. Since our books are web based, we can make updates periodically when deemed pedagogically necessary. If you have a correction to suggest, submit it through the link on your book page on OpenStax.org. Subject matter experts review all errata suggestions. OpenStax is committed to remaining transparent about all updates, so you will also find a list of past errata changes on your book page on OpenStax.org.

Format
You can access this textbook for free in web view or PDF through OpenStax.org, and for a low cost in print.

About Chemistry 2e

Chemistry 2e is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of the two-semester general chemistry course. The textbook provides an important opportunity for students to learn the core concepts of chemistry and understand how those concepts apply to their lives and the world around them. The book also includes a number of innovative features, including interactive exercises and real-world applications, designed to enhance student learning. The second edition has been revised to incorporate clearer, more current, and more dynamic explanations, while maintaining the same organization as the first edition. Substantial improvements have been made in the figures, illustrations, and example exercises that support the text narrative.

Coverage and scope

Our Chemistry 2e textbook adheres to the scope and sequence of most general chemistry courses nationwide. We strive to make chemistry, as a discipline, interesting and accessible to students. With this objective in mind, the content of this textbook has been developed and arranged to provide a logical progression from fundamental to more advanced concepts of chemical science. Topics are introduced within the context of familiar experiences whenever possible, treated with an appropriate rigor to satisfy the intellect of the learner, and reinforced in subsequent discussions of related content. The organization and pedagogical features were developed and vetted with feedback from chemistry educators dedicated to the project.

Changes to the second edition

OpenStax only undertakes second editions when significant modifications to the text are necessary. In the case of Chemistry 2e, user feedback indicated that we needed to focus on a few key areas, which we have done in the following ways:

Content revisions for clarity and accuracy. The revision plan varied by chapter based on need. About five chapters were extensively rewritten and another twelve chapters were substantially revised to improve the readability and clarity of the narrative.

Example and end-of-chapter exercises. The example and end-of-chapter exercises in several chapters were subjected to a rigorous accuracy check and revised to correct any errors, and additional exercises were added to several chapters to more fully support chapter content.

Art and illustrations. Under the guidance of the authors and expert scientific illustrators, especially those well-versed in creating accessible art, the OpenStax team made changes to much of the art in the first edition of Chemistry. The revisions included correcting errors, redesigning illustrations to improve understanding, and recoloring for overall consistency.

Accessibility improvements. As with all OpenStax books, the first edition of Chemistry was created with a focus on accessibility. We have emphasized and improved that approach in the second edition. To accommodate users of specific assistive technologies, all alternative text was reviewed and revised for comprehensiveness and clarity. Many illustrations were revised to improve the color contrast, which is important for some visually impaired students. Overall, the OpenStax platform has been continually upgraded to improve accessibility.

Pedagogical foundation and features
Throughout Chemistry 2e, you will find features that draw the students into scientific inquiry by taking selected topics a step further. Students and educators alike will appreciate discussions in these feature boxes.

Chemistry in Everyday Life ties chemistry concepts to everyday issues and real-world applications of science that students encounter in their lives. Topics include cell phones, solar thermal energy power plants, plastics recycling, and measuring blood pressure.
How Sciences Interconnect feature boxes discuss chemistry in context of its interconnectedness with other scientific disciplines. Topics include neurotransmitters, greenhouse gases and climate change, and proteins and enzymes.
Portrait of a Chemist presents a short bio and an introduction to the work of prominent figures from history and present day so that students can see the “faces” of contributors in this field as well as science in action.

Comprehensive art program
Our art program is designed to enhance students’ understanding of concepts through clear, effective illustrations, diagrams, and photographs.