Author: William McPherson
Publisher: Forgotten Books
Published: 2015-06-04
Total Pages: 591
ISBN-13: 9781330263310
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Excerpt from A Course in General Chemistry In preparing this textbook in general chemistry the authors have been guided by a few simple principles. They have endeavored to write a book scientific in spirit and at the same time thoroughly teachable. It may be said at once that the text presents few novelties, either in arrangement or in method. While individual teachers can succeed better by adopting unusual and original modes of presentation, we appear to have reached a more or less standard method, which is, on the whole, best adapted to the greatest number. The most noticeable departure from this arrangement in the present text is the postponement of the halogen elements to a relatively late chapter. Several considerations of pedagogy have prompted this change: (1) The student needs some training in experimental manipulation before attempting laboratory exercises with these active elements. (2) The action of these elements upon the alkalies, and the conduct of their oxygen acids, involve many difficulties, and the attempt to meet these by presenting the chemistry of these elements in several widely separated chapters is bewildering to the student. (3) It is unsatisfactory to develop the conception of an acid by means of the example of the halogen hydrides, since they are far from being typical acids. In the experience of the authors the order followed in this text is much to be preferred. In the main the elements have been grouped in description in accordance with their positions in the periodic classification, but the authors have not hesitated to abandon this order when a more natural one suggested itself. Thus, with the metals the arrangement chosen presents the strongly electropositive elements of unchanging valence first. These are followed by those which present the complications of changeable valence, sulfide metallurgy, and amphoteric characteristics. Every teacher desires to impress his students with the truth that science rests fundamentally upon experiment and is therefore subject to the uncertainties of experimental error. The authors believe that this end is best attained by the free introduction of historical matter. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
