
Ask HN: Good beginner resources to learn chemistry - ranc1d
I never did much chemistry in school or college and mainly concentrated on biology and physics. I&#x27;ve started to gain an interest in Chemistry especially Biochemistry but am finding my lack of basics holding me back.<p>Does anyone have any good resources online or books that they could recommend?
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papaf
If you have a physics background you might find General Chemistry from Linus
Pauling interesting and approachable:

[https://www.amazon.com/General-Chemistry-Dover-
Books/dp/0486...](https://www.amazon.com/General-Chemistry-Dover-
Books/dp/0486656225/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=general+chemistry&qid=1593204808&sr=8-2)

~~~
ranc1d
Thanks that looks good will take a look!

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fuzzfactor
One of the most inspiring things about chemistry texts or videos is that they
are tales from laboratories you don't have.

That's also one of the biggest disadvantages.

You'll never have all those labs, if you actually want a lab, you'll be lucky
when you only have a single one. What kind of lab would that be anyway? Your
choices will always be dramatically limited compared to the possibilities, so
you'll have to make the best of what you can get. And it's always been that
way and will never change.

It's good to decide early how suitable hands-on work and/or experimentation
are going to be for your particular situation.

But I don't think you can make a very informed decision without a lab of some
kind to contribute student experiences at a comparable level to the classroom-
type work. Not completely different than high school or university programs.

Go through a high school general chemisrty text with its associated elementary
lab manual, and skim through the entire things in tandem, without slowing down
to go deep or even begin to grasp any difficult concepts, just get through it
fast and complete. Don't do the problems don't do the lab exercises
(_experiments_), just look at what they are and keep in mind how you would
develop the proficiency for these efforts in the future, and that the answers
and results are available.

Think about what kind of progress you would like to make after that. Some
directions will be much more mathematically intense than others, and there is
also an infinite choice of toxicity and unstable reactions in a most natural
science way. Some lab work will be very expensive, and other efforts may often
come within reach at low cost. You should now be getting an idea of what
achievement it takes mathematically and in a hands-on way with chemicals &
apparatus, to go toward an intended goal. These achievements must come in
advance or in parallel to the chemistry books.

With that underway go through another high school textbook/labmanual covering
introductory material from a different educator's point of view. It should be
a lot quicker this time, you might even slow down and think about some
_homework_ problems rather than just reading past them this time. The
difference will be enlightening, you will find details and entire chapter
concepts not in common between both texts.

One key universal item is common ordinary pH. At this level I suggest a simple
lab with litmus & pH sensitive papers, aquarium and swimming-pool or spa
reagents and other basic low-hazard chemicals like vinegar and baking soda.
More potent acids & alkalies are not for the faint at heart, like muriatic
acid or soda lye. You're going to need safety glasses anyway, plus simple
glassware and maybe a buret or weighing scale for measurement, or at least
medicine droppers so you can count drops. Each type of material or apparatus
has its own sometimes extensive documentation available, and this needs to be
studied just as much or more than the textbook concepts, especially the
health, safety, and environmental considerations.

At this point you should be able to structure a way to make major progress
toward mastery of a single concept such as pH at the high school level,
according to both those texts and lab manuals, without exactly following any
one particular curriculum, and with no real fancy lab. With no deadlines or
exams, make as much or as little progress as you would like. The chapters on
pH, which you first quickly skimmed, will now each require more hours of study
than the initial skimming of the entire year's textbook.

You can refer to other sources, or more advanced sources to help get you past
the high school level for pH alone, and you will find that referring to some
of the non-pH chapters will still be helpful even when your focus is
intentionally limited to something like pH for expediency.

You'll be going through the university-level general chemistry books next, so
might as well get the books in advance so they can serve as references
beforehand to help you more quicky get past high school level.

Once you have exceeded the high school level to your satisfaction for pH, then
start all over again skimming the university-level freshman chemistry texts
which cover about the same material but at a university level this time.

Keep or improve your mathematical chops to your desired amount as you go, and
for hands-on experience at least get a second-hand pH meter and electrodes and
develop the supporting apparatus to zero in and get you past freshman pH if
nothing else.

~~~
ranc1d
Wow great post thanks for that!

I actually did a semester on introductory chemistry but was completely over my
head and kind of scraped by and forgot most of it, didn't help that I hadn't
done secondary/high school chemistry. I guess what has really sparked my
interest is that I've gotten into brewing beer and the chemistry/biology side
of things has made me interested again. The impact of different minerals
present in the water to the biochemistry side of brewing so would just like to
understand better the chemistry behind it. pH plays an important role in beer
making so was already planning to get a pH meter anyway but could use it for
other experiments as you've mentioned

