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Chemistry and Our Universe: How It All Works
Listening Length: 30 hours and 6 minutes
Chemistry and Our Universe: How It All Works is your in-depth introduction to this vital field, taught over 60 visually innovative half-hour lectures that are suitable for the chemist in all of us, no matter what our background. Covering a year’s worth of introductory general chemistry at the college level, plus intriguing topics that are rarely discussed in the classroom, this amazingly comprehensive course requires nothing more advanced than high-school math. Employing simple concepts, logical reasoning, and vivid graphics that illuminate the wonders of chemistry, these lectures make essential concepts crystal clear. Best of all, this highly interactive approach features extensive hands-on, dramatic demonstrations, from which you will gain extraordinary insight into how the universe works.
Your guide is Professor Ron B. Davis, Jr., a research chemist and award-winning teacher at Georgetown University. With passion and humor, Professor Davis guides you through the fascinating world of atoms, molecules, and their ceaseless interactions, showing you how to think, analyze problems, and predict outcomes like a true expert in the field.
Chemistry and Our Universe
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
Professor Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i
Course Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
LECTURE GUIDES
LECTURE 1
Is Chemistry the Science of Everything? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
LECTURE 2
Matter and Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
LECTURE 3
Wave Nature of Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
LECTURE 4
Particle Nature of Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
LECTURE 5
Basic Structure of the Atom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
LECTURE 6
Electronic Structure of the Atom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
LECTURE 7
Periodic Trends: Navigating the Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
LECTURE 8
Compounds and Chemical Formulas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Table of Contents iii
LECTURE 9
Joining Atoms: The Chemical Bond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
LECTURE 10
Mapping Molecules: Lewis Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
LECTURE 11
VSEPR Theory and Molecular Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
LECTURE 12
Hybridization of Orbitals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
LECTURE 13
Molecular Orbital Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
LECTURE 14
Communicating Chemical Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
LECTURE 15
Chemical Accounting: Stoichiometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
LECTURE 16
Enthalpy and Calorimetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
LECTURE 17
Hess’s Law and Heats of Formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
LECTURE 18
Entropy: The Role of Randomness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
LECTURE 19
Influence of Free Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
LECTURE 20
Intermolecular Forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
iv Chemistry and Our Universe
LECTURE 21
Phase Changes in Matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
LECTURE 22
Behavior of Gases: Gas Laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
LECTURE 23
Kinetic Molecular Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
LECTURE 24
Liquids and Their Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
LECTURE 25
Metals and Ionic Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
LECTURE 26
Covalent Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
LECTURE 27
Mixing It Up: Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
LECTURE 28
Solubility and Saturation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
LECTURE 29
Colligative Properties of Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
LECTURE 30
Modeling Reaction Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
LECTURE 31
Temperature and Reaction Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
LECTURE 32
Reaction Mechanisms and Catalysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Table of Contents v
LECTURE 33
The Back and Forth of Equilibrium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .242
LECTURE 34
Manipulating Chemical Equilibrium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .249
LECTURE 35
Acids, Bases, and the pH Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
LECTURE 36
Weak Acids and Bases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
LECTURE 37
Acid‑Base Reactions and Buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
LECTURE 38
Polyprotic Acids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
LECTURE 39
Structural Basis for Acidity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
LECTURE 40
Electron Exchange: Redox Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
LECTURE 41
Electromotive Force and Free Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
LECTURE 42
Storing Electrical Potential: Batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
LECTURE 43
Nuclear Chemistry and Radiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
LECTURE 44
Binding Energy and the Mass Defect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
vi Chemistry and Our Universe
LECTURE 45
Breaking Things Down: Nuclear Fission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
LECTURE 46
Building Things Up: Nuclear Fusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
LECTURE 47
Introduction to Organic Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
LECTURE 48
Heteroatoms and Functional Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358
LECTURE 49
Reactions in Organic Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
LECTURE 50
Synthetic Polymers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
LECTURE 51
Biological Polymers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
LECTURE 52
Medicinal Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
LECTURE 53
Poisons, Toxins, and Venoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
LECTURE 54
Chemical Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
LECTURE 55
Tapping Chemical Energy: Fuels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
LECTURE 56
Unleashing Chemical Energy: Explosives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
Table of Contents vii
LECTURE 57
Chemistry of the Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
LECTURE 58
Chemistry of Our Oceans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
LECTURE 59
Atmospheric Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
LECTURE 60
Chemistry, Life, and the Cosmos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
Image Credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460
Chemistry and Our Universe: How It All Works is your in-depth introduction to this vital field, taught over 60 visually innovative half-hour lectures that are suitable for the chemist in all of us, no matter what our background. Covering a year’s worth of introductory general chemistry at the college level, plus intriguing topics that are rarely discussed in the classroom, this amazingly comprehensive course requires nothing more advanced than high-school math. Employing simple concepts, logical reasoning, and vivid graphics that illuminate the wonders of chemistry, these lectures make essential concepts crystal clear. Best of all, this highly interactive approach features extensive hands-on, dramatic demonstrations, from which you will gain extraordinary insight into how the universe works.
Your guide is Professor Ron B. Davis, Jr., a research chemist and award-winning teacher at Georgetown University. With passion and humor, Professor Davis guides you through the fascinating world of atoms, molecules, and their ceaseless interactions, showing you how to think, analyze problems, and predict outcomes like a true expert in the field.
Chemistry and Our Universe
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
Professor Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i
Course Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
LECTURE GUIDES
LECTURE 1
Is Chemistry the Science of Everything? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
LECTURE 2
Matter and Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
LECTURE 3
Wave Nature of Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
LECTURE 4
Particle Nature of Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
LECTURE 5
Basic Structure of the Atom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
LECTURE 6
Electronic Structure of the Atom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
LECTURE 7
Periodic Trends: Navigating the Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
LECTURE 8
Compounds and Chemical Formulas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Table of Contents iii
LECTURE 9
Joining Atoms: The Chemical Bond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
LECTURE 10
Mapping Molecules: Lewis Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
LECTURE 11
VSEPR Theory and Molecular Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
LECTURE 12
Hybridization of Orbitals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
LECTURE 13
Molecular Orbital Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
LECTURE 14
Communicating Chemical Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
LECTURE 15
Chemical Accounting: Stoichiometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
LECTURE 16
Enthalpy and Calorimetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
LECTURE 17
Hess’s Law and Heats of Formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
LECTURE 18
Entropy: The Role of Randomness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
LECTURE 19
Influence of Free Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
LECTURE 20
Intermolecular Forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
iv Chemistry and Our Universe
LECTURE 21
Phase Changes in Matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
LECTURE 22
Behavior of Gases: Gas Laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
LECTURE 23
Kinetic Molecular Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
LECTURE 24
Liquids and Their Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
LECTURE 25
Metals and Ionic Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
LECTURE 26
Covalent Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
LECTURE 27
Mixing It Up: Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
LECTURE 28
Solubility and Saturation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
LECTURE 29
Colligative Properties of Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
LECTURE 30
Modeling Reaction Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
LECTURE 31
Temperature and Reaction Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
LECTURE 32
Reaction Mechanisms and Catalysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Table of Contents v
LECTURE 33
The Back and Forth of Equilibrium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .242
LECTURE 34
Manipulating Chemical Equilibrium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .249
LECTURE 35
Acids, Bases, and the pH Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
LECTURE 36
Weak Acids and Bases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
LECTURE 37
Acid‑Base Reactions and Buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
LECTURE 38
Polyprotic Acids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
LECTURE 39
Structural Basis for Acidity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
LECTURE 40
Electron Exchange: Redox Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
LECTURE 41
Electromotive Force and Free Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
LECTURE 42
Storing Electrical Potential: Batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
LECTURE 43
Nuclear Chemistry and Radiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
LECTURE 44
Binding Energy and the Mass Defect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
vi Chemistry and Our Universe
LECTURE 45
Breaking Things Down: Nuclear Fission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
LECTURE 46
Building Things Up: Nuclear Fusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
LECTURE 47
Introduction to Organic Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
LECTURE 48
Heteroatoms and Functional Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358
LECTURE 49
Reactions in Organic Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
LECTURE 50
Synthetic Polymers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
LECTURE 51
Biological Polymers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
LECTURE 52
Medicinal Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
LECTURE 53
Poisons, Toxins, and Venoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
LECTURE 54
Chemical Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
LECTURE 55
Tapping Chemical Energy: Fuels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
LECTURE 56
Unleashing Chemical Energy: Explosives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
Table of Contents vii
LECTURE 57
Chemistry of the Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
LECTURE 58
Chemistry of Our Oceans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
LECTURE 59
Atmospheric Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
LECTURE 60
Chemistry, Life, and the Cosmos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
Image Credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460
470 pages, Audible Audio
First published January 1, 2016
50 people are currently reading
188 people want to read
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
July 28, 2020
One of the more frustrating feelings in adulthood, I have found, is the certainty that you are now ignorant of something you knew back in high school. It seems to make a mockery of the idea that, as we age, we increase our store of knowledge of the world around us. Thus, I am thankful to resources such as these lectures, for giving me an easy way to refresh my beleaguered brain.
In the course of these 60 thirty-minute lectures, Davis goes through the basics of a college-level introductory chemistry class: the periodic table, the structure of the atom, chemical bonds, intermolecular forces, acids and bases, and all the other fundamentals of the discipline. Davis even manages to give a decent introduction to organic chemistry, nuclear chemistry, and atmospheric chemistry. By the end, I felt that I had recaptured at least some of my lost understanding of the chemical world.
Very few people will watch these lectures in rapt enjoyment. But for what they are, and what they set out to do, they are extremely well-made. Davis is a skilled educator—able to clarify concepts without simplifying them. His explanations are universally lucid and easy to follow. Aside from the academic material, these lectures are peppered with historical and biographical tidbits which serve to enliven the information, not to mention several experiments that Davis performs on camera. The videos include quite a bit of animated visuals, too, which is why I would recommend them over the audio version of the course.
For anyone, like me, who is looking for a pleasant and intelligent refresher, I highly recommend these lectures. Chemistry is a fascinating and, in my opinion, an underappreciated discipline—one of the pillars of our modern understanding of the universe. And Davis provides an excellent overview of the science.
In the course of these 60 thirty-minute lectures, Davis goes through the basics of a college-level introductory chemistry class: the periodic table, the structure of the atom, chemical bonds, intermolecular forces, acids and bases, and all the other fundamentals of the discipline. Davis even manages to give a decent introduction to organic chemistry, nuclear chemistry, and atmospheric chemistry. By the end, I felt that I had recaptured at least some of my lost understanding of the chemical world.
Very few people will watch these lectures in rapt enjoyment. But for what they are, and what they set out to do, they are extremely well-made. Davis is a skilled educator—able to clarify concepts without simplifying them. His explanations are universally lucid and easy to follow. Aside from the academic material, these lectures are peppered with historical and biographical tidbits which serve to enliven the information, not to mention several experiments that Davis performs on camera. The videos include quite a bit of animated visuals, too, which is why I would recommend them over the audio version of the course.
For anyone, like me, who is looking for a pleasant and intelligent refresher, I highly recommend these lectures. Chemistry is a fascinating and, in my opinion, an underappreciated discipline—one of the pillars of our modern understanding of the universe. And Davis provides an excellent overview of the science.
November 13, 2020
Courses come in different varieties, and not all are amenable to online teaching and learning.
Let's segregate different types. We can start the first bucket of audio-friendly courses. These courses are narratable. Once well-crafted and with a great orator, the lectures can become a delight to anyone interested.
Some courses require equations and problem-solving. In the least, they require slides and other white-board type paraphernalia that the lecturer would need to present on. Students cannot be faulted for incomprehension if they cannot follow the slow process of mathematical constructs and numerical interplays.
More involved courses require visuals to illustrate what words can never adequately describe, like the simples molecules' spatial structures. Besides, some courses need laboratory sessions for the students to feel and smell, mix, and appreciate.
And, then there are courses that need tutors around to tailor the delivery for every individual. In addition to making students even understand what they have not understood, a tutor in tow becomes a must to help students do some homework to drive home the intricate points at every stage before moving on to the next.
Here is an audio course that requires all of the above. Importance of the content, information packed in, knowledge and oratorical skills of the professor cannot remotely compensate for the inadequacy of the single-dimensional delivery medium.
Let's segregate different types. We can start the first bucket of audio-friendly courses. These courses are narratable. Once well-crafted and with a great orator, the lectures can become a delight to anyone interested.
Some courses require equations and problem-solving. In the least, they require slides and other white-board type paraphernalia that the lecturer would need to present on. Students cannot be faulted for incomprehension if they cannot follow the slow process of mathematical constructs and numerical interplays.
More involved courses require visuals to illustrate what words can never adequately describe, like the simples molecules' spatial structures. Besides, some courses need laboratory sessions for the students to feel and smell, mix, and appreciate.
And, then there are courses that need tutors around to tailor the delivery for every individual. In addition to making students even understand what they have not understood, a tutor in tow becomes a must to help students do some homework to drive home the intricate points at every stage before moving on to the next.
Here is an audio course that requires all of the above. Importance of the content, information packed in, knowledge and oratorical skills of the professor cannot remotely compensate for the inadequacy of the single-dimensional delivery medium.
April 16, 2019
This was an amazing course! The professor did a great job of covering some very detailed and complex material in a manner that made it accessible and understandable.
This is a huge course that will give the student a basic understanding of all the major principles of chemistry, as well as overlapping into particle physics. The course covers a broad range of topics; from the particle and wave nature of light, to the periodic table and related trends, to the structure of the atom, entropy and enthalpy, the behaviours of solids, liquids, and gases, as well as an abundance of other chemistry-related material. 60 lectures in total, each ~30 mins.
This course is well-planned by a competent professor who is very skilled at bringing complex information down to an understandable level for the layman. The course makes great use of many animations, graphs and other visual aids. As such, I would *not* recommend taking this course in an audio format. I also really liked that it has a lecture summary at the end of every lecture. I found this helped me to cement some of the more complex material into memory.
I would highly recommend this course to anyone; be they totally new to chemistry, or just want a refresher on what they learned a while ago.
This is a huge course that will give the student a basic understanding of all the major principles of chemistry, as well as overlapping into particle physics. The course covers a broad range of topics; from the particle and wave nature of light, to the periodic table and related trends, to the structure of the atom, entropy and enthalpy, the behaviours of solids, liquids, and gases, as well as an abundance of other chemistry-related material. 60 lectures in total, each ~30 mins.
This course is well-planned by a competent professor who is very skilled at bringing complex information down to an understandable level for the layman. The course makes great use of many animations, graphs and other visual aids. As such, I would *not* recommend taking this course in an audio format. I also really liked that it has a lecture summary at the end of every lecture. I found this helped me to cement some of the more complex material into memory.
I would highly recommend this course to anyone; be they totally new to chemistry, or just want a refresher on what they learned a while ago.
December 10, 2019
Every once in a while a Great Courses Plus author will forget that they are recording for an audio only audience and refer to something the listener cannot see. this instructor does so frequently that listening achieves little. I knew it would be a hard topic to cover without visual aids, but the current content is useless
June 3, 2025
THIS LOW REVIEW IS FOR THE AUDIOBOOK VERSION!!!
Listen, I hate to give this course a low rating but it is only as a WARNING-DO NOT BUY THE AUDIOBOOK, GET THE ACTUAL VIDEO COURSE! I unfortunately ordered this through audible and not the Great Courses website. The professor is knowledgable and has awesome enthusiasm. The problem is the audiobook is not appropriate for the visual heavy instruction of this course. I would say 75% of the lectures require you to see his slides. Yes there is a pdf outline but it has very few and to be honest useless images. Again about 3/4ths of the course is the professor pointing out visual slides and images and he does a whole bunch of cool experiments and you can't see any of it (obviously) with an audiobook. When you order through The Great Courses website they warn you which lectures are visual, audiobook does not. This absolutely should not be an audio only lecture series. There are many that are fine, this is not. Shame on them for making it so. I have taken many Chemistry classes including in college and I was lost many times due to no visuals. Shame really!
Listen, I hate to give this course a low rating but it is only as a WARNING-DO NOT BUY THE AUDIOBOOK, GET THE ACTUAL VIDEO COURSE! I unfortunately ordered this through audible and not the Great Courses website. The professor is knowledgable and has awesome enthusiasm. The problem is the audiobook is not appropriate for the visual heavy instruction of this course. I would say 75% of the lectures require you to see his slides. Yes there is a pdf outline but it has very few and to be honest useless images. Again about 3/4ths of the course is the professor pointing out visual slides and images and he does a whole bunch of cool experiments and you can't see any of it (obviously) with an audiobook. When you order through The Great Courses website they warn you which lectures are visual, audiobook does not. This absolutely should not be an audio only lecture series. There are many that are fine, this is not. Shame on them for making it so. I have taken many Chemistry classes including in college and I was lost many times due to no visuals. Shame really!
January 27, 2020
Missed illustrations and videos of experiments carried out. Content-wise very interesting, can recommend for beginners. A huge variety of the aspects and branching of chemistry are touched upon.
August 13, 2024
truly awful as an audiobook (it’s difficult to follow the calculations and experiments aurally)
February 1, 2025
Good content, but this is not an audiobook.
April 12, 2020
This entry from the Great Courses series is a little different from others I have taken. It is a sort of Chemistry 101 (okay, maybe 201) course, starting with very basic concepts such as early models of atoms, advancing on to stoichiometry, organic chem, electrical and thermal chem, nuclear chem, and many applications of these principals.
My personal motivation for taking this course was a desire to overcome my own resistances. I had a very unpleasant encounter with Chemistry as a high school junior and have never looked back. This course was an opportunity for me to reexamine a subject that once alienated me.
While I can't say this course made me a chemistry expert, it did help me overcome some of my resistance toward the subject. In short, I learned a lot.
I do have to hold back from a five-star rating, not because of any lack of quality, but because of the format. There is a video version of this lecture, and apparently, it was very, very necessary to have the video. Almost constantly in the lectures, Dr. Davis refers to diagrams and equations before the camera. As an audiobook listener, I was left to my sense of imagination. I wish there was a version made for listening only-- this course was great but was meant to be seen, not just heard.
My personal motivation for taking this course was a desire to overcome my own resistances. I had a very unpleasant encounter with Chemistry as a high school junior and have never looked back. This course was an opportunity for me to reexamine a subject that once alienated me.
While I can't say this course made me a chemistry expert, it did help me overcome some of my resistance toward the subject. In short, I learned a lot.
I do have to hold back from a five-star rating, not because of any lack of quality, but because of the format. There is a video version of this lecture, and apparently, it was very, very necessary to have the video. Almost constantly in the lectures, Dr. Davis refers to diagrams and equations before the camera. As an audiobook listener, I was left to my sense of imagination. I wish there was a version made for listening only-- this course was great but was meant to be seen, not just heard.
January 1, 2026
As a PhD chemist having taught university-level chemistry courses, I found this to be masterful work. While I might have personally preferred to present some topics slightly differently, these were minor matters of personal style and did not detract from the excellent substance. It was also a fun listen as walk down memory lane and a reinforcement of important concepts from my years of teaching. The narration was also excellent and engaging. The only challenge others may have is not being able to see the demonstrations and calculations. This is a natural consequence of a work that includes visuals like these. For me, I am very familiar with them so it wasn’t a problem. If the reader can power through those, this will be a favorite and valuable listen.
October 22, 2022
What is the book about?
Covers the basics (e.g. the periodic table, intermolecular forces), but just as many topics in greater detail (polyprotic acids) as well as those that seem to be more advanced (e.g. VSEPR Theory)
What taught me the author besides some view or concept?
He taught me what I find to be less and more interesting subfields of chemistry. It raised my interest in
- Nuclear Chemistry
- Polymers: synthetic and natural ones (Biopolymers like DNA → Molecular Biology/Molecular Genetics)
- Medicinal Chemistry
Covers the basics (e.g. the periodic table, intermolecular forces), but just as many topics in greater detail (polyprotic acids) as well as those that seem to be more advanced (e.g. VSEPR Theory)
What taught me the author besides some view or concept?
He taught me what I find to be less and more interesting subfields of chemistry. It raised my interest in
- Nuclear Chemistry
- Polymers: synthetic and natural ones (Biopolymers like DNA → Molecular Biology/Molecular Genetics)
- Medicinal Chemistry
October 25, 2024
This is a good, basic introduction to chemistry, similar to the course I took half a century ago in college. I listened to about 10 lectures and then put it aside. It is based on traditional theories of chemical bonding, such as electron orbitals and Lewis structures. I am finding the Yale Freshman Organic Chemistry course, based on Quantum Physics, to be more interesting. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...
Perhaps I'll try the later lectures covering applications such as polymers, poisons and atmospheric chemistry.
Perhaps I'll try the later lectures covering applications such as polymers, poisons and atmospheric chemistry.
August 21, 2020
30 hours of listening and they only give this 30 pages it is a little insulting however I understand it is more of a course than a book. The great courses are awesome and I learn so much from them. There were a few lectures that I did not grasp fully perhaps because some thing are better to see and this did not come with the video accompaniment. But I love science and chemistry even now long after I am done with school.
May 1, 2021
This was pretty dry, but I should have known that from the title. I do have a background in chemistry, so even though I'm not a good auditory learner I could still follow the first half of the course pretty well, the part that corresponds to gen chem. After that it went into O chem, weapons chemistry, and the chemistry of the earth and the universe... so the last third of the course was probably most interesting.
January 23, 2023
I love chemistry (I majored in it, worked as a chemist, and now teach it) and found this challenging to get through. The metaphors and history were great, but it felt like too much in one course. I was most fascinated with the last few chapters and would have enjoyed more focus on this content and less focus on the mathematics of chemistry which was a heavy focus in the early parts of the course. The last few chapters is more of what I had hoped for.
November 11, 2025
A great refresher in Chemistry from the basics up to entry-level organic chemistry. The only drawback is that it is audio from a video course, so at times it may be hard to follow, as you can't see what he is talking about. The video version is 10 times the Audible cost, though, so you might still prefer the audio-only option.
March 23, 2024
This book showed me how to transmute matter and see things around me; now i can touch the smalles parts of our universe, accelerate matter for it to be multiplied.
Im a full metal alchemist now thanks to this book; now in my next step, i will try to break the only rule possible in alchemy which is making a human being come back to life!
Im a full metal alchemist now thanks to this book; now in my next step, i will try to break the only rule possible in alchemy which is making a human being come back to life!
December 24, 2019
Quite in depth. I remember why I avoided Chemistry when I was in school. To bit things, a lot has changed since my formal education days and I learned a lot.
August 18, 2020
A great listen for basic to advanced chemistry!
August 31, 2020
Audible Audiobook
May 21, 2021
Would recommend this in print instead of audio, hard to follow the math or experiments just listening.
August 2, 2022
It was OK, but just didn't do well as an Audible.
May 14, 2025
Revisiting my A-level Chemistry days
December 8, 2021
Prof Davis does a great job of giving you a great overview of chemistry. A good teacher makes all the difference. Electromagnetic spectrum, atomic structure, Periodic table, Lewis chemical structures, chemical reactions, Hess’s heat law, entropy, gases, pH and Carbon based Organic Chemistry.
January 3, 2020
This 30-hour audiobook comes with a PDF which, sadly, does not contain illustrations. This makes some of the equation-solving steps a bit more difficult to follow, but following along closely is good mental exercise.
It's been a long while since I took several grad school level chemistry courses, and this was a nice overview of the basics of that science. Honestly, I read it just to see how much elementary chemistry I remembered, having studied it so long but not having used it much in my profession, except for the nuclear chemistry aspect. That happens when one chooses a clinical route in a clinical over a research route.
Anyway, if one wants to understand the complexities of a scientific discipline, it's always good to revisit the fundamentals now and again. I found the book easy to follow and thoroughly enjoyable.
This was a great book to listen to during a long Thanksgiving drive from and back to home.
It's been a long while since I took several grad school level chemistry courses, and this was a nice overview of the basics of that science. Honestly, I read it just to see how much elementary chemistry I remembered, having studied it so long but not having used it much in my profession, except for the nuclear chemistry aspect. That happens when one chooses a clinical route in a clinical over a research route.
Anyway, if one wants to understand the complexities of a scientific discipline, it's always good to revisit the fundamentals now and again. I found the book easy to follow and thoroughly enjoyable.
This was a great book to listen to during a long Thanksgiving drive from and back to home.
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