Recommended Supplements for Physical Chemistry

[Damerae]

Hello all,

I usually follow the Computer and Diablo 3 threads. However, I am making a post in the off-topic thread in search of some advice.

I am a biochemistry major at my university. I've done very well in my Biology, General, Organic, and Quantitative Analysis chemistry classes. I only had 2 semesters of Calculus, but I still did very well in both of them. Next semester I start taking physical chemistry and I am concerned. Physics has never been one of my strong subjects.

The book we are using next semester is "Physical Chemistry" 9th edition by Atkins.

I am wondering if there are any other supplements you all could recommend to help aid me in my next 2 semesters of Physical Chemistry. Any advice would be nice as well.

Anything is appreciated!

Thank you

[Pope]

The Atkins is normally enough to help you through PC.

That said, I hate it.

[Damerae]

The Atkins is normally enough to help you through PC.

That said, I hate it.

Thank you for the response.

Other peers of mine have given me the same advice as you have, which is nice since I will not have to spend more money than I already have to.

Haha! They all have said they have hated it as well! I'm not looking forward to it.

[Pope]

At my university, we have 3 Classes of Physical Chemistry, the first one is an Introduction, the second one is Thermodynamics and Electrochemistry, and the third one is cinetics and spectroscopy (I hope I got that right).

So that's the big topics you'll probably have to deal with. Did you have classes about Quantum Mechanics? It really helps on spectroscopy.

Other then that, what really helped me were the so called "Praktikum" we had. I can't really translate it with internship, because we just did some experiments at the university, made a protocol, etc. But that really helped understanding the subject.

[Damerae]

It sounds like you were on a quarter system rather than semester system. For the semester system, your 3 classes of P. Chem are covered in my 2 classes of P. Chem.

You are right about the topics.

I've had no Quantum Mechanics. My O. Chem professor taught a lot of Molecular Orbital theory, which I have heard helps tremendously come Inorganic and Physical Chemistry. M.O. theory is all of the quantum mechanics I've had though.

Ya, I don't have a "praktikum" sounds interesting though! I only have lecture, nothing else.

[Jeleh]

Atkins is just about the best physical chemistry book there is for most people, speak with whoevers in charge of the course and get a list of reccomended texts, whilst the information in atkins is everything you could need, the format may not be to your liking. I would suggest getting some reccomendations from the library and trying a chapter in each to see which style you like the most.

I had atkins for all 3 years of my Bsc chemistry here in the uk.

[Pope]

I'm actually in a semester-system. I had physical chemistry in second, third and fifth semester.

Anyway, I can look up the list of recommended books for tomorrow, but now I gotta sleep.

5 o'clock in the morning here....

[Damerae]

I'm actually in a semester-system. I had physical chemistry in second, third and fifth semester.

Anyway, I can look up the list of recommended books for tomorrow, but now I gotta sleep.

5 o'clock in the morning here....

Most definitely!

Thank you very much Pope!

I appreciate it.

[Badpaladin]

Pope probably has the best advice. I haven't taken the class(es), but from what I understand (if you have a good teacher) you'll be doing a lot of wave mechanics. It may be taught completely differently where you're going, but according to past professors and students I know the sequence where I go has a solid chunk of that.

[Gerrin]

Brush up on differential equations and matrices. That will handle much of what you need for quantum mechanics which is honestly the only tricky part of physical chemistry. Its been 17 years since I took it in college but it wasn't too much different from the grad courses I had 7 years ago. Not sure if they will cover computer aided computational chemistry in the undergrad course but if you have a basic knowledge of programming that wouldn't hurt either.

[MAGAmobile]

Differential equations helps immensely in P chem if you have taken it. If you haven't, I would suggest you do so before you go into it unless you want to try to learn both that and the portion that involves it in a 3 week span.

[Pope]

Chemists assemble
I forgot to mention, I'm studying regular chemistry, not biochemistry. So our schedules will probably differ.

And since my professor said "the atkins still is full of mistakes", they recommended us the "Engel-Reid", so you might give that a try, too.
The rest of our recommended books are from german authors, so I don't know if they're available in your language.

In terms of mathematics: most of the time you'll need differential and integral calculus, with some differential equations. It really doesn't get harder then that.

[Romeo83x]

Go into medical human biochemistry, as in nutrition and how food affects humans and diseases etc.

As a med student I can tell you for a fact that all doctors are batshit crazy in love over biochemists who dabble in medicine. No homo though.

[oplawlz]

I'm gonna go kinda philosophical on you since the supplemental materials I would have recommended are already covered here. The best way to make sure you do well in any course with differential equations is to psych yourself into wanting to learn the subject.

Check to see if your school library gets publications from chemical societies and find a few articles that seem like cool concepts but won't make sense without studying the theories behind them. For me at least it seemed to turn up the dial on my interest levels and help me really soak in what was being taught. This can make the difference between an average student and a great one. It'll also give you something to chat up your professor about, which is always a plus.