General Chemistry 3e: OER for Inclusive Learning

General chemistry explains the behavior of matter by connecting observation, particle-level models, and quantitative relationships. Across twenty-one chapters, this book builds from measurement and atomic structure to bonding, reactions, equilibrium, and energy, then applies those foundations to different classes of substances and nuclear processes.

Chapter-by-chapter summary

1. Essential Ideas

Chemistry connects observable materials with particle-level explanations and symbolic representations. The chapter establishes classifications of matter, physical and chemical properties, scientific reasoning, and reliable measurement. Units, uncertainty, significant figures, and dimensional analysis provide the groundwork for later calculations, while green chemistry connects those foundations to responsible use of materials.

2. Atoms, Molecules, and Ions

The chapter builds the atomic model through the evidence behind it, then explains how protons, neutrons, and electrons distinguish elements, isotopes, and ions. Readers learn to interpret chemical formulas, navigate the periodic table, and name compounds. These conventions provide a shared language for describing composition and chemical change.

3. Composition of Substances and Solutions

The mole links the number of particles in a sample to its measurable mass. The chapter develops molar mass, percentage composition, and empirical and molecular formulas before applying quantitative reasoning to solutions. Molarity and dilution calculations help students connect a solution’s preparation with the amount of dissolved substance it contains.

4. Stoichiometry of Chemical Reactions

Balanced equations express quantitative relationships between reactants and products. The chapter uses those relationships to calculate required amounts, identify limiting reactants, and compare actual with theoretical yield. Ionic equations and methods such as titration and gravimetric analysis show how reactions can also reveal the composition of an unknown sample.

5. Thermochemistry

Chemical and physical changes involve transfers of energy as heat or work. This chapter distinguishes heat from temperature and introduces calorimetry, enthalpy, and the conservation of energy. Hess’s law and formation enthalpies allow students to calculate energy changes even when a reaction cannot be measured directly in one step.

6. Electronic Structure and Periodic Properties of Elements

Light and atomic spectra motivate models in which electrons occupy quantized states. The chapter moves from the Bohr model to orbitals and quantum numbers, then uses electron configurations to explain periodic behavior. Atomic size, ionization energy, and related trends become consequences of electronic structure rather than facts to memorize separately.

7. Chemical Bonding and Molecular Geometry

Ionic and covalent bonding explain how atoms form compounds. Lewis structures, formal charges, and resonance help represent electron arrangements, while bond energies connect bonding with energy changes. VSEPR reasoning turns those representations into molecular shapes, and the relationship between shape and bond polarity helps explain a molecule’s overall polarity.

8. Advanced Theories of Covalent Bonding

The chapter extends the earlier bonding models through orbital overlap, hybridization, and molecular orbital theory. Sigma and pi bonds help describe different bonding arrangements. Bonding and antibonding orbitals provide another way to understand stability and magnetic behavior, showing why more than one model can be useful for explaining molecules.

9. Gases

Pressure, volume, temperature, and amount of gas are linked through gas laws and the ideal gas equation. The chapter applies these relationships to mixtures and chemical reactions. Kinetic molecular theory explains the macroscopic patterns through particle motion, while diffusion, effusion, and deviations from ideal behavior reveal the model’s uses and limits.

10. Liquids and Solids

Intermolecular attractions help explain viscosity, surface tension, and changes of phase. Phase diagrams organize how temperature and pressure affect a substance’s state. The chapter also distinguishes types of solids and examines structure and defects, connecting particle arrangements with the properties of materials that students encounter at larger scales.

11. Solutions and Colloids

Solution formation depends on interactions between solute and solvent as well as the conditions affecting solubility. The chapter compares concentration measures and distinguishes electrolyte behavior. Colligative properties, including osmotic effects, connect the number of dissolved particles with measurable changes, while colloids introduce mixtures with behavior different from ordinary solutions.

12. Kinetics

Kinetics asks how quickly reactions occur and which factors change their rates. Experimentally determined rate laws, integrated equations, and half-lives describe that behavior quantitatively. Collision theory, activation energy, and proposed mechanisms provide particle-level explanations; catalysts alter the reaction pathway and rate rather than being consumed as ordinary reactants.

13. Fundamental Equilibrium Concepts

At dynamic equilibrium, forward and reverse reactions continue at equal rates. The chapter uses equilibrium constants and reaction quotients to describe a system and predict its direction of change. Le Chatelier’s principle and equilibrium calculations help students reason about disturbances, while distinguishing a change in rate from a change in equilibrium composition.

14. Acid Base Equilibria

Acids and bases are developed through proton transfer, conjugate pairs, and the behavior of water. Equilibrium constants connect acid and base strength with pH calculations. The chapter extends these ideas to salts, polyprotic acids, buffers, and titrations, showing how several linked equilibria can determine the behavior of a solution.

15. Equilibria of Other Reaction Classes

Solubility products describe the dissolution and precipitation of slightly soluble ionic solids. Comparing the reaction quotient with the equilibrium constant helps predict whether a precipitate forms. Lewis acid–base interactions and complex-ion formation then show how coupled equilibria can alter solubility, including through changes in acidity or the availability of ligands.

16. Thermodynamics

Thermodynamics distinguishes a process’s tendency to occur from the speed at which it happens. Entropy and the second and third laws establish the framework for predicting direction. Gibbs free energy brings enthalpy, entropy, and temperature together, and its relationship with the reaction quotient and equilibrium constant connects energy reasoning with chemical equilibrium.

17. Electrochemistry

Electron transfer links redox reactions with electrical work. The chapter develops half-reaction balancing, galvanic cells, electrode potentials, and the relationships among potential, free energy, and equilibrium. Batteries, fuel cells, corrosion, and electrolysis demonstrate applications of these ideas, while the Nernst equation accounts for how composition affects a cell’s potential.

18. Representative Metals, Metalloids, and Nonmetals

The chapter applies periodic reasoning to the properties and reactions of representative elements. It compares metals, metalloids, and nonmetals, then examines selected elements and compound families. Their occurrence, preparation, oxidation states, and reactions show how broad periodic patterns coexist with the distinctive chemistry of particular substances.

19. Transition Metals and Coordination Chemistry

Variable oxidation states and interactions with ligands give transition metals a broad range of chemical behavior. The chapter introduces coordination compounds, their geometries, and forms of isomerism. Crystal field theory connects the splitting of metal orbital energies with color and magnetism, helping explain properties that simpler bonding descriptions do not fully capture.

20. Organic Chemistry

Carbon’s ability to form chains, branches, and rings supports a wide variety of compounds. The chapter distinguishes hydrocarbon families and introduces functional groups, including alcohols, ethers, carbonyl compounds, amines, and amides. Recognizing these structural features helps students organize organic molecules and relate their structures to characteristic chemical properties.

21. Nuclear Chemistry

Nuclear structure and binding energy explain why some nuclides are stable while others decay. The chapter introduces balanced nuclear equations, decay modes, half-lives, transmutation, fission, and fusion. Applications of radioisotopes and the measurement of radiation connect nuclear processes with practical uses and their effects on living systems.

What students can learn

• Translate between observations, chemical formulas, and particle-level explanations.
• Use units, balanced equations, and concentration measures in quantitative problems.
• Distinguish reaction rate, equilibrium, and thermodynamic direction.
• Connect bonding and structure with the behavior of gases, solutions, and other materials.

How to study this book

Follow the chapter sequence when building a first foundation in chemistry. Before calculating, identify the chemical model, write the relevant relationship, and keep units visible. Work practice problems before checking answers, and use the online feedback to revisit gaps. Review bonding, stoichiometry, and equilibrium whenever later applications depend on them.

Sources and coverage

Based on the third edition’s chapter-end summary text for all twenty-one chapters, with the edition and organization checked against the official book and catalogue. This overview does not represent a full reading of every explanatory section, worked example, exercise, equation, or interactive activity. Source: official book source.