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Why Do Chemicals React? Kinetics and Thermodynamics

April 10, 2021 By C. Hall 4 Comments

Chemistry is the science of change. But why do chemical reactions take place? Why do chemicals react with each other?

The answer is in thermodynamics and kinetics. These two are arguably the most important concepts to grasp in chemistry.

But sometimes, even after several years of basic chemistry education, it is not easy to form a clear picture on how they govern reactivity!

Tutorial Review: Contents and Introduction

In this tutorial, we will try to introduce and summarize what these two concepts are, and their implications in chemical reactivity. This is obviously an introduction, intended for chemistry students of all levels.

For sure, there are more comprehensive explanations out there, and if you want one, go grab any of the best-known general chemistry books, or a more specific organic chemistry textbook. However, we have found that there are not many short explanations out there available for the general scientific public. This is somehow worrying, since, without a basic understanding of thermodynamics and kinetics, there is no way to understand the basic principles of reactivity. And without understanding reactivity, you are missing out on the most important part of chemistry.

But if you really want to dive on physical chemistry concepts as such, unfortunately you will find that most books can be impenetrable without a basic understanding of maths, physics and chemistry itself.

This is what we want to fix with this short tutorial. To give you a general overview on why chemical compounds react. We want to break the gate-keeping that has always been going on with physical organic chemistry!

As mentioned, this is intended to be brief. We will start off with the basic definitions, and hopefully make you go all the way through to understanding free-energy profiles of catalytic reactions.

Interested yet? Keep reading!

  • A quick disclaimer: Since my background is in organic chemistry, I will base the explanations on simple organic chemical reactions, but most of the general principles apply to any kind of chemical reactivity.
  • For most energy diagrams, the energy values are orientative, made up in order to explain the concepts.
… [Read More]

Filed Under: Education and Concepts, Featured Tagged With: general chemistry

Watch The Best Online Chemistry Lectures From Your Coach

March 19, 2020 By C. Hall 4 Comments

best online chemistry lectures

We live in an amazing time for learning. Nowadays, you can access lectures and explanations for any scientific topic right from your couch at home! And chemistry is not left behind. Not only you can learn chemistry with a wide variety of tutorials form YouTube, but you can also enjoy many online chemistry lectures from… [Read More]

Filed Under: Chemistry Research Highlights, Education and Concepts Tagged With: general chemistry

Types of Chemistry Flasks: A Complete Guide

March 5, 2020 By C. Hall 3 Comments

type chemistry flasks

An important concern within any chemistry laboratory is the handling and storage of chemical substances regardless of the physical state in which they are. We are going to help you identify the most common (or not so common) types of chemistry flasks out there! Through chemistry history, different materials have been employed to build these… [Read More]

Filed Under: Chemistry Lab Tagged With: general chemistry

How to Write the Perfect Chemistry Lab Report: A Definitive Guide

February 11, 2020 By Guest Posts Leave a Comment

chemistry lab reports

Students have to deal with multiple academic tasks, and writing lab reports (lots of them!) is one of them. Its main purpose is to explain what you did in your experiment, what you learned and what the results meant. Performing experiments and reporting them properly is a cornerstone of on your way into learning chemistry…. [Read More]

Filed Under: Chemistry Lab Tagged With: general chemistry

Awesome Chemistry Experiments For Kids To Do At Home

February 7, 2020 By Emily McPeek 1 Comment

chromatography experiments for kids

Chemistry experiments for kids are a great way for parents to spend quality time with their children, have fun, and learn something all at the same time! Remember than running and rationalizing experiments is one of they cornerstones of learning science. Here are a couple of fun chemistry experiments that your kids are sure to… [Read More]

Filed Under: Chemistry Experiments, Education and Concepts Tagged With: general chemistry

How I Got My First Chemistry Job (And How You Can Do It Too)

February 4, 2020 By C. Hall 2 Comments

land your first chemistry job

After spending almost every year of our early lives studying, jumping right into your first chemistry job can seem scary, stressful, or even terrifying for some! This said not all people actually have the luck of being able to study through college without working on a part-time job. This highly depends on the country you… [Read More]

Filed Under: Tools for Chemists Tagged With: general chemistry

How To Learn Chemistry at Any Level

January 31, 2020 By C. Hall 2 Comments

How to Learn Chemistry

Have you ever wanted to learn chemistry, but just didn’t know how to go about doing it? Taking college courses and you don’t know how to find resources? There is so much to this science that it can be hard to even know where to start! That’s why we put together this guide with recommendations… [Read More]

Filed Under: Education and Concepts, Featured Tagged With: general chemistry

The Best Chemistry Set for Kids (and Adults!)

January 1, 2020 By Emily McPeek 1 Comment

best chemistry set for kids

There’s no better way to learn about chemistry than with fun, hands-on experiments and science projects. Teachers and parents, read on to learn the best chemistry set for kids of practically any age. Adults are sure to have a blast, too! We have reviewed and updated this guide recently, so it is ready for 2020…. [Read More]

Filed Under: Education and Concepts, Featured Tagged With: general chemistry

How to Use Online Resources for Learnig Chemistry

January 1, 2020 By Guest Posts Leave a Comment

best chemistry set for kids

In the past decades, students were required to physically attend classes in colleges and universities to attain their degrees. This often poses a number of immeasurable challenges, more so for working students, due to complications in schedules.  Even more complicated was the situation for students studying chemistry. This is because chemistry is not only a… [Read More]

Filed Under: Education and Concepts Tagged With: general chemistry

Can We Turn Lead Into Gold? From Alchemy to Nuclear Physics

October 31, 2019 By Emily McPeek 3 Comments

The main mystery that “alchemists” historically wanted to solve is whether it is possible or not to turn lead into gold. While not all historians agree, many consider alchemy to be the proto-science of chemistry, its forerunner. The transition from alchemy to chemistry is, in any case, a fuzzy one, and the decline in alchemy’s… [Read More]

Filed Under: Education and Concepts Tagged With: general chemistry

The 21 Most Dangerous Chemicals in the World (Steer Away!)

October 22, 2019 By C. Hall 3 Comments

most dangerous chemicals

Chemistry is fascinating, I’m sure we all agree on that. Not only that: thanks to chemistry we know of many compounds that are extremely harmful if not handled properly. Today we will share with you a comprehensive list of the most dangerous chemicals known to man. Chemicals are not bad (even not-organic ones). The thing… [Read More]

Filed Under: Everyday Life Chemistry Tagged With: general chemistry

How to Inspire Children to Learn Science

October 9, 2019 By Guest Posts Leave a Comment

Not only chemistry, but science in general, is one of those subjects that is effortless to some children, but hard to get their head around for others. Learning how to inspire children to learn science can be a life-changing educational move. We have also covered the great advantages of playing around at home with a… [Read More]

Filed Under: Education and Concepts Tagged With: general chemistry

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why do chemicals react

Why Do Chemicals React? Kinetics and Thermodynamics

April 10, 2021 By C. Hall 4 Comments

Chemistry is the science of change. But why do chemical reactions take place? Why do chemicals react with each other? The answer is in thermodynamics and kinetics. These … [Read More...]

How to Learn Chemistry

How To Learn Chemistry at Any Level

January 31, 2020 By C. Hall 2 Comments

Have you ever wanted to learn chemistry, but just didn’t know how to go about doing it? Taking college courses and you don't know how to find resources? There is so much to … [Read More...]

tlc guide

Thin Layer Chromatography: A Complete Guide to TLC

January 2, 2020 By C. Hall 31 Comments

If there is one technique or experiment that every chemist, or student learning chemistry should know, it is Thin Layer Chromatography (or TLC for short). If you want to … [Read More...]

best chemistry set for kids

The Best Chemistry Set for Kids (and Adults!)

January 1, 2020 By Emily McPeek 1 Comment

There’s no better way to learn about chemistry than with fun, hands-on experiments and science projects. Teachers and parents, read on to learn the best chemistry set for kids … [Read More...]

best chemistry textbook

The Best General Chemistry Textbook

August 23, 2019 By C. Hall 1 Comment

The new academic year has already begun in many parts of the world, but it’s never too early to start planning for next year. Time to get your hands into the best general … [Read More...]

best inorganic chemistry textbook

The Best Inorganic Chemistry Textbooks

August 5, 2019 By C. Hall 14 Comments

Inorganic chemistry is one of the cornerstones of the central science. For many is the most fun, but it covers an extremely wide range of topics. For this reason, you need to … [Read More...]

top 100 chemistry facts

100 Fun Chemistry Facts (With Awesome Explanations!)

July 18, 2019 By C. Hall 9 Comments

You probably agree with me on the first fact: chemistry is fascinating. There are plenty of unanswered mysteries within this science, but there are also many interesting and … [Read More...]

Cracking the AP Chemistry Exam

The Best AP Chemistry Review Book

July 5, 2019 By C. Hall 2 Comments

Summer vacation is a time to relax and unwind, but students enrolled in advanced placement (or AP for short) classes for the coming school year are already planning for the … [Read More...]

Clayden Organic Chemistry Textbook

The Best Organic Chemistry Textbook [A Definitive Guide]

June 27, 2019 By C. Hall 28 Comments

Let's face it, organic chemistry can seem difficult to learn. Especially from a beginner's point of view. For exactly that reason we have put together the definitive guide for … [Read More...]

Home Chemistry Lab Experiments

Chemistry Experiments at Home: Setting Up a Home Lab

June 22, 2019 By C. Hall Leave a Comment

Not everybody has access to a professional chemistry lab, so setting up a home chemistry lab is your best bet if you want to do chemistry experiments at home. Chemistry is … [Read More...]

Can we see atoms and molecules?

Can We See Real Atoms and Molecules? Electron Microscopy at a Glance

June 17, 2019 By C. Hall 2 Comments

A universal challenge that has been keeping chemists busy ever since the modern concepts of “atom” and “molecules” were conceived, is how to actually characterize molecular … [Read More...]

TLC Lab Hacks

Lab Hacks – How to Increase your Productivity in the Lab

November 19, 2016 By C. Hall 4 Comments

I have been working in a chemistry laboratory for some years and still every once in a while I learn new amazing tricks or lab hacks that leave me open-mouthed. Also, it has … [Read More...]

LSD

LSD Synthesis and Discovery: What You May Not Know About It

December 14, 2014 By C. Hall 28 Comments

Disclaimer: This article is purely informative, and it does not contain information about how to actually carry out experimental procedures for the synthesis of LSD or any … [Read More...]

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