Thinking Like a Chemist

Chemists take a special view of things in order to understand the nature of the chemical changes taking place. Chemists look inside everyday objects to see how the basic components are behaving. To understand this approach, let s consider a lake. When we view the lake from a distance, we get an overall picture of the water and shoreline. Tliis overall view is called the macroscopic picture. 

Much of your life, both personal and professional, will involve problem solving. Most likely, the more creative you are at solving problems, the more effective and successful you will be. Chemists are usually excellent problem solvers because they get a lot of practice. Chemical problems are frequently very complicated—there is usually no neat and tidy solution. Often it is difficult to know where to begin. In response to this dilemma, a chemist makes an educated guess (formulates a hypothesis) and then tests it to see if the proposed solution correctly predicts the observed behavior of the system. This process of trial and error is virtually a way of life for a chemist. Chemists rarely solve a complex problem in a straightforward, elegant manner. More commonly, they poke and prod the problem and make progress only in fits and starts. 

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We need insight to think like a chemist. Chemical insight means that, when we look at an everyday object or a sample of a chemical, we can imagine the atoms that make it up. Not only that, we need to be able to plunge, in our mind s eye, deep into the center of matter and imagine the internal structure of atoms. To visualize this structure and how it relates to the chemical properties of elements, we need to understand the electronic structure of an atom, the description of how its electrons are arranged around the nucleus. 

You can begin to think of processes as chemical reactions even if you do not know the names of all the substances involved. Table 1 can help you begin to think like a chemist. It shows the word equations for chemical reactions you might see around your home. See how many other reactions you can find. Look for the signs you have learned that indicate a reaction might be taking place. Then, try to write them in the form shovm in the table. 

Make simplifying assumptions concerning the relative concentrations of chemical species. At this point you need to think like a chemist so that the math will be simplified. 

Our main goal is to help you learn to become a truly creative problem solver. Our world badly needs people who can "think outside the box." Our focus is to help you learn to think like a chemist. Why would you want to do that Chemists are great problem solvers. They use logic, trial and error, and intuition—along with lots of patience—to work through complex problems. Chemists make mistakes, as we all do in our lives. The important thing that a chemist does is to learn from the mistakes and to try again. This "can do" attitude is useful in all careers. 

We hope you ll have an interesting and successful year learning to think like a chemist ... 

Learning to Think Like a Chemist xv About the Author xxiv... 

Thinking Like a Chemist 2 A Real-World Chemistry Problem 3... 

When we were first developing this approach we were concerned that students would become irritated at not having the answer easily revealed. However, we observed that students actually appreciated doing the problems in a supportive yet demanding environment. The good news is that this approach really helps them learn how to think like a chemist. When we started to use this system, we saw a significant increase in our exam scores. 

In the first chapters we spend considerable time guiding students to an understanding of the importance of learning chemistry. At the same time, we explain that the complexities that can make chemistry frustrating at times can also provide the opportunity to develop the problem-solving skills that are beneficial in any profession. Learning to think like a chemist is useful to everyone. To emphasize this idea, we apply scientific thinking to some real-life problems in Chapter 1. 

The laboratory is the best place to learn how to think like a chemist. One of the greatest tools available to chemists is experimentation. If you perform an experiment in which two solutions are mixed, you can make observations that help you understand what is happening. Consider, for example, the precipitation experiment in Figure 4.4. Although you might use Table 4.1 to predict whether a precipitate will form, it is much more exciting to actually see the precipitate form Careful observation in the laboratory portion of the course will make your lecture material both more meaningful and easier to master. 

We provide a valuable overview of each chapter under the What s Ahead banner. Concept links (cro) continue to provide easy-to-see cross-references to pertinent material covered earlier in the text. The essays titled Strategies in Chemistry, which provide advice to students on problem solving cuid thinking like a chemist, continue to be eui importeuit feature. For example, the new Strategies in Chemistry essay at the end of Chapter 3 introduces the new Design an Experiment feature cuid provides a worked out example as guidance. 

M he major purpose of this book, of course, is to help you learn chemistry. However, this main thrust is closely linked to two other goals to show how important and how interesting the subject is, and to show how to think like a chemist. To solve complicated problems the chemist uses logic, trial and error, intuition, and, above all, patience. A chemist is used to being wrong. The important thing is to learn from a mistake, recheck assumptions, and try again. A chemist thrives on puzzles that seem to defy solutions. 

New Tutorials in MasteringChemistry complement chemistry presented by Karen Timberlake in the text and help students develop problem-solving skills needed to succeed in this course and in their future allied health careers. New tutorials for the Twelfth Edition include Conversion Factors in Medicine, Develop a Problem Solving Strategy, and Think Like a Chemist. 

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