This is the third chapter in an 18 chapter interactive text for introductory chemistry at the college or Honors/AP high school level. The book contains video demonstrations, animations, photo galleries, checkpoints, audio introductions to each chapter, as well as methodology, visualization, and sample problems all done by sequential, progressive disclosure of the answer. The book has a continuing emphasis on ways to learn chemistry, with hints, additional help in scrolling sidebars or “pop-ups,” as well as video clips of student preceptors’ views on how they successfully mastered chemistry. The organization of the text allows the student to learn the basic concepts related to the bonding and structure of matter in the first eight chapters and then tackle the concepts necessary for an understanding of the reactions of matter—stoichiometry, thermodynamics and kinetics, and the four types of reactions with an emphasis on acids and bases. The text integrates organic and inorganic examples and nomenclature.
In this chapter the nature of the electrons and their effect on the properties of an atom are explored. Both the Bohr and the wave model of electrons are examined. Orbitals are given a central role in the discussion, which culminated in electron configurations and their relationship to the periodic chart. This material is key to an understanding of the bonding of atoms.