Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments: All Lab, No Lecture (Illustrated Guide) | 
| Author: Robert Thompson
Publisher: Make Books
Category: Book
List Price: $29.99
Buy New: $18.41
You Save: $11.58 (39%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 4928
Format: Illustrated
Media: Paperback
Edition: Ill
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 432
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.2
Dimensions (in): 9.6 x 8 x 1.2
ISBN: 0596514921
Dewey Decimal Number: 540
EAN: 9780596514921
ASIN: 0596514921
Publication Date: April 29, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Just arrived! This is a brand new, unopened copy in printer-fresh mint condition. NOT remainder marked, used, or ex-library.
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Product Description
For students, DIY hobbyists, and science buffs, who can no longer get real chemistry sets, this one-of-a-kind guide explains how to set up and use a home chemistry lab, with step-by-step instructions for conducting experiments in basic chemistry -- not just to make pretty colors and stinky smells, but to learn how to do real lab work: - Purify alcohol by distillation
- Produce hydrogen and oxygen gas by electrolysis
- Smelt metallic copper from copper ore you make yourself
- Analyze the makeup of seawater, bone, and other common substances
- Synthesize oil of wintergreen from aspirin and rayon fiber from paper
- Perform forensics tests for fingerprints, blood, drugs, and poisons
- and much more
From the 1930s through the 1970s, chemistry sets were among the most popular Christmas gifts, selling in the millions. But two decades ago, real chemistry sets began to disappear as manufacturers and retailers became concerned about liability. ,em>The Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments steps up to the plate with lessons on how to equip your home chemistry lab, master laboratory skills, and work safely in your lab. The bulk of this book consists of 17 hands-on chapters that include multiple laboratory sessions on the following topics: - Separating Mixtures
- Solubility and Solutions
- Colligative Properties of Solutions
- Introduction to Chemical Reactions & Stoichiometry
- Reduction-Oxidation (Redox) Reactions
- Acid-Base Chemistry
- Chemical Kinetics
- Chemical Equilibrium and Le Chatelier's Principle
- Gas Chemistry
- Thermochemistry and Calorimetry
- Electrochemistry
- Photochemistry
- Colloids and Suspensions
- Qualitative Analysis
- Quantitative Analysis
- Synthesis of Useful Compounds
- Forensic Chemistry
With plenty of full-color illustrations and photos, Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments offers introductory level sessions suitable for a middle school or first-year high school chemistry laboratory course, and more advanced sessions suitable for students who intend to take the College Board Advanced Placement (AP) Chemistry exam. A student who completes all of the laboratories in this book will have done the equivalent of two full years of high school chemistry lab work or a first-year college general chemistry laboratory course.
This hands-on introduction to real chemistry -- using real equipment, real chemicals, and real quantitative experiments -- is ideal for the many thousands of young people and adults who want to experience the magic of chemistry.
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| Customer Reviews:
Chemistry: the basis of everything May 9, 2008
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
Robert Bruce Thompson's Preface to this fine book took me back to a Christmas many years ago:
"My parents had been watching my brother and me ripping through gifts like Tasmanian Devils. Just as I'd decided that I hadn't gotten the one gift that I really, really wanted, mom and dad called me into the kitchen. There it sat, on the kitchen table, exactly what I'd been hoping for. It was already unboxed and spread wide open to show the contents. My father said, 'This is from your mother and me. It is not a toy.'
"It was a Lionel/Porter/Chemcraft chemistry set, and the exact model I'd asked for. The biggest one, with dozens of chemicals and hundreds of experiments. Glassware, an alcohol lamp, a balance, even a centrifuge. Everything I needed to do real chemistry. I instantly forgot about the rest of my presents, even the BB gun. I started reading the manual, jumping from one experiment to another. I carefully examined each of the chemical bottles. The names of the chemicals were magical. Copper sulfate, sodium carbonate, sulfur, cobalt chloride, logwood, potassium ferricyanide, ferrous ammonium sulfate, and dozens more."
My parents gave me a similar (albeit simpler) kit when I was twelve, and it was one of the most educational presents I ever received. My interest in science broadened from chemistry and then from the sciences to other areas of interest, but I still remember some of the wonder, the magic, even, of those chemistry experiments. As soon as I heard about O'Reilly's series on DIY Science, I pre-ordered this first entry as a present to myself.
As a generalist, Thompson has re-introduced me to those magical years so long ago. Of course, modern chemistry kits are little more than toys, "defanged" as Thompson writes because of product liability concerns of the kit makers. And there are real dangers here; "After all, some of the experiments in this book use concentrated acids, flammable liquids, corrosives, and poisons. In one experiment we manufacture napalm, for heaven's sake. Will readers of this book be dropping like flies, blowing themselves up, burning the house down, or growing extra arms? Of course not. Dangers can be dealt with. One of the recurring lessons throughout this book is the importance of assuming personal responsibility for useful but dangerous actions--understanding the specific risks and taking the necessary steps to minimize or eliminate them."
Thompson does an excellent job of teaching responsible teenagers and curious adults to learn about chemistry by doing real laboratory experiments, and doing them well and safely. There are four introductory sections dealing with safety, equipment, chemicals and laboratory skills. The substance of the book lies in seventeen chapters devoted to specific topics: from separating mixtures to synthesis of compounds and forensic chemistry.
I can't imagine a more useful book for a responsible teenager who has the least interest in science or for a general reader who wants to re-learn the principles of chemical changes. (I've already placed an order for glassware and a few other essential bits of equipment.)
Robert C. Ross 2008
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