Chemistry: Molecular Nature of Matter and Change, 6th Edition (Silberberg)

What's New?

REFINING THE STANDARD: AN EVOLVING LEARNING SYSTEM

Just as the field of chemistry is addressing major changes in the world, the student learning experience is changing as well—different math and reading preparation, less time for traditional studying, electronic media as part of daily lectures and homework, new challenges and options in career choices, and so on. To address these dynamic times, a modern general chemistry text supported by a suite of robust electronic tools for professor and student must continue to evolve, as this text has through all previous editions. From first to second edition, a major emphasis was placed on creating more molecular art to help students visualize chemistry at that level. The third edition incorporated many revised sample problems and a plethora of new end-of-chapter problems. The fourth edition gave birth to molecular-scene sample problems to help students understand concepts through simple molecular depictions. Molecular scenes became so popular that the fifth edition tripled the number of sample problems and doubled the number of end-of-chapter problems using them. During these revisions, major content improvements took place in limiting-reactant stoichiometry, green chemistry, biomolecular structure, kinetics and equilibrium, entropy and free energy, and nuclear chemistry, among many other areas.

With each edition, students and instructors alike have been involved in refining the text. Especially in preparation for the sixth edition, the author, together with key members of the editorial, sales, and marketing teams, consulted extensively with student and faculty users. From chapter reviews, focus groups, symposia, class tests, and one-on-one interviews with instructors, we were gratified to learn that everyone loved the pioneering, and still the most accurate, molecular art; the stepwise problem-solving approach, time-honored and consistent with decades of education research; the abundant mix of qualitative, basic quantitative, and applied end-of-chapter problems; and the thorough, student-friendly coverage of mainstream topics.

Based on this feedback, our revision for this edition focuses on “refining the standard” set earlier: distilling the writing to be concise and direct, opening up the overall appearance of pages, and improving illustrations by shortening legends and adding explanations into the art. We are delighted to introduce the sixth edition of Chemistry: The Molecular Nature of Matter and Change, which moves further toward perfecting content and approach in these ways:

Chapter openings, simplified. A familiar application and photo engage the student, followed by a bulleted list of main topics covered in the chapter.

Writing style and content presentation. Every line of every discussion has been revised to optimize clarity, readability, and a more direct presentation of ideas. The use of additional subheads, numbered (and titled) paragraphs, and bulleted (and titled) lists has eliminated long unbroken paragraphs. Main ideas are delineated and highlighted, making for more efficient study and lectures. As a result, the text is over 70 pages shorter, yet no key topics have been removed.

Problem-solving format. The much admired and duplicated four-part (plan, solution, check, practice) Sample Problems are displayed cleanly. Both data-based and molecular-scene problems occur throughout, and, to deepen understanding, most Follow-Up Problems have worked-out solutions at the back of each chapter, with a road map when appropriate, effectively doubling the number of worked problems. This edition has 15 more sample problems—many in the earlier chapters, where students need the most practice and confidence.

Art and figure legends. The innovative art that raised the bar in chemistry textbooks is still present, with many figures made more realistic and modern. Moreover, figure legends have been greatly shortened and their explanations added to neighboring text and the figures themselves for greater comprehension and less redundancy.

Page design and layout. A more open look invites the reader with cleaner margins and more white space, yet with the same attention to keeping text, figures, and tables near each other for easier viewing and studying.

Incorporating relevance. Applications make chemistry meaningful, so many exciting ideas from the margin notes and galleries of the fifth edition have been incorporated directly into the text, where they are more likely to be read. The boxed essays—Chemical Connections and Tools of the Laboratory—are more concise and are now accompanied by several homework problems to make them more useful for student and teacher.

Section Summaries. This universally approved feature is even easier to use in its new bulleted format.

Chapter review. Our unique Chapter Review Guide aids study by presenting concepts to understand and skills to master, key terms, key equations, and the multistep Brief Solutions to Follow-Up Problems (rather than simple numerical answers).

End-of-chapter problem sets. With an enhanced design to improve readability and traditional and molecularscene problems updated and revised, these problem sets, more extensive than in most other texts, provide students and teachers with abundant choices in a wide range of difficulty and set in real-life scenarios.

Content Changes to Individual Chapters
• Chapter 2 presents a new figure and table on molecular modeling.
• Discussion of empirical formulas has been moved from Chapter 2 to Chapter 3 so it appears just before molecular formulas.
• Within Chapter 3, some sample problems have been segmented and seven new sample problems introduced to better focus problem-solving on distinct concepts.
• Chapter 3 contains more extensive use of stoichiometry reaction tables in limiting-reactant problems.
• Chapter 4 presents a new molecular-scene sample problem on depicting an ionic compound in aqueous solution.
• Chapter 5 includes a new subsection on how gas laws apply to breathing.
• Chapter 5 also contains new short discussions on the relevance of gas density.
• Also in Chapter 5, coverage of reaction stoichiometry has been more logically grouped with other rearrangements of the ideal gas law.
• Chapter 5 contains new illustrations of diffusion and origin of pressure.
• In Chapter 5, Chemical Connections to Atmospheric Science uses the gas laws to explain why the troposphere has a uniform composition.
• Chapter 7 includes a new sample problem on using the Rydberg equation.
• Chapter 8 contains a new subsection covering electron configuration, chemical reactivity, and redox behavior.
• In Chapter 9, Tools of the Laboratory: Infrared Spectroscopy contains a new discussion of carbon dioxide in global warming.
• Chapter 11 includes a new discussion of limitations to d-orbital hybridization.
• Chapter 12 presents new short discussions of everyday applications of surface tension, capillarity, and viscosity.
• Chapter 13 presents everyday applications of freezing point depression and osmotic pressure.
• The fifth edition’s Interchapter has been deleted, but key figures have been placed in relevant locations within other chapters.
• Chapter 14 provides a thorough, focused survey of maingroup descriptive chemistry.
• Chapter 15 contains new art for the molecular biology of protein synthesis and DNA replication.
• Chapter 16 incorporates two of the fifth edition’s boxed features—on measuring reaction rates and on enzymes—into the chapter text.
• Chapter 17 makes consistent use of benchmarks for determining when an assumption is valid.
• Chapter 17 incorporates the fifth edition’s boxed feature on ammonia production into the chapter text.
• Chapter 19 incorporates the fifth edition’s boxed feature on cave formation into the chapter text.
Glencoe Online Learning CenterScience HomeProduct InfoSite MapContact Us

The McGraw-Hill CompaniesGlencoe