Physical Chemistry ebook

So if you're getting this book, here are somethings you will want to know.

1) Before reading the chapter, look at the end of the chapter, before and after the problem section for "Further Information" and the Math lesson supplement. You need not understand it off the bat, but be familiar with what is there so that when you're going through the chapter, you can refer back to further information to make sense of the details.

2) Don't expect a perfect walk-through for the math. You need to sit there with the paper and figure out the skipped steps. There are a lot of skipped steps. Some easy algebra, other harder differentials.

3) When reading the units, you need to beware that you will see things like T/K. This doesn't mean Temperature/Kelvin or anything other that you want to make T to be, but rather saying it is temperature expressed in Kelvin. Seems like a silly way to do it, but once you get that it makes some problems easier.

4) If you get the answer manual, It is only for odds and A parts of problems. Evens and B's are in the Purple version of the answer key and that is pain in the butt to find. So I recommend looking up the previous edition to this one (i.e 8th edition solution manual) and using that one. The problems will be found under different sections/numbering but after a little searching you'll find it. The editions don't change much. No surprise there though.

5) Beware, there are questions awkwardly phrased. There is one in the first chapter regarding a tire. I solved it with my Gen Chem knowledge and it turned out to be wrong. As a class, we discussed it with our professor and found that in order to accurately answer the question, we need to define what is a tire- Meaning is it an isolated system, or not?

6) Make sure to review your basic calculus. In particular partial differentials, cross derivatives, and the terminology. By terminology I mean, something like: You have an equation U. Express U as a function of T. Know what that means.

This is a decent book, but DO NOT make the mistake of thinking it will hold your hand and walk you through a nice path of flowers. Take your time with it and do as much problems as you can as far as you can. If you can get your hand on both versions of the answer keys, I recommend doing all the problems with one, and then returning the next day and doing the B problems without the assistance of the answer key.

GOOD LUCK!

EDIT: I just remembered a quote I thought you all would enjoy, which I found to be true.

Thermodynamics is a funny subject. The first time you go through it, you don't understand it at all. The second time you go through it, you think you understand it, except for one or two small points. The third time you go through it, you know you don't understand it, but by that time you are so used to it, so it doesn't bother you any more. -Arnold Sommerfeld

As you can see from the pictures, the ebook form of this textbook is horridly formatted, or at least was on my Kindle Fire HD 8. Lots of the pictures morph into blocks of color scale instead of actually displaying anything informative, and nearly all the calculus I saw as I leafed through the book had been broken up and strewn down the whole page. Nightmarishly difficult to read anything like that correctly, especially so when some of the characters used in the equations aren't actually supported by the Kindle, appearing instead as the error blocks you see in the screenshots. I spent a while playing with the font and page settings, trying to get all the text to align properly, but I never fixed it completely. Even if I had, the seemingly glitched images and missing math notation would have made this unreadable. Unacceptable state for a textbook on physical chemistry, even a digital one.

This book is horribly written and full of grammar curiosities. If you doubt my review, please see the attached image of a corner of page 478 in this wretched book.

Writing aside, the layout of the pages is awful. The columns are interrupted with bright color blocks of examples in an incoherent manner. The equations are strewn about the sections carelessly. The variables are not defined after equations are presented, leaving one to go digging through past chapters and sections to find the meaning of some Greek letter. I have wasted weeks of my life on such endeavors.

The math sections come after the chapter, the questions asked are difficult and don't always get thoroughly discussed in the chapter, the main point of a section is almost always poorly defined. I have written to my professors about how horrid this book is. I feel like it was edited by a team of semi-literate chimpanzees (again, see the attached image if you don't believe me).

Bottom line? This book is a piece of garbage. Buy the book by McQuarrie instead - that is a delight!

Same as the last edition, and the next edition, but the chapter orders have been switched. The problems will likely prepare you well for exams (assuming that you already have a decent chemistry foundation), so if you can solve them without looking at the solution guide too much you should do well enough. You will have to search for equations throughout chapters, for they will not all be summarized at he back of chapters. Error rate is acceptable, and less than some of Atkin's &c other texts. If you buy the solutions guide, you will find some errors, so you'll need to work in groups or will hopefully be able to utilize faculty office hours. Check your schools library for solution guide before you buy it.

I ordered the international edition and saved quite a lot. It came quicker than I thought it would. I looked over and was very pleased. It will last the semester, and so far is the same as what others in class have purchased. The seller was courteous and made sure I received the book and was happy. Can't ask for much more...except a good grade for the class, hopefully.

I needed this book for class and at first I was skeptical of buying the international version ( I wasn't sure if the edition would match), I ended up trusting one previous review of the book and bought it.

Although I haven't compared the book word for word with the American edition, I think this book was excellent. The quality was great, and I am 99% sure that the book is exactly the same as the American edition. I actually liked that it was paperback (easier to carry) and this book had all, if not most, of the volumes in it. I paired this book with the American version of the solution manual and I had no problem whatsoever. I used this book for my class (in the US) and encountered no problems. In addition, this book (which has most volumes in it as compared to the American version that sometimes only has one volume) was a lot cheaper.