Welcome to Chem Professor!

We are committed to fostering science literacy by communicating the wonders of chemistry to ordinary people. We will accomplish this by providing interesting, informative articles and study aids that do not require our readers to have any particular background.

How to Use This Site

This website is intended to be a virtual resource for students in Chem Professor’s physical classroom. Many class periods will be devoted to practicing problem solving and exploring connections among complex, seemingly disparate ideas. Class time will seldom be used to reiterate facts that can be found in the textbook. Instead, the facts can be found here (as well as in your book and numerous other online resources). Use this site to help prepare for class and to help stay organized.

This site has a glossary with a search feature. When you search for a term, the glossary will automatically list related terms that you should find helpful. The course notes are brief summaries of topics frequently covered in first year college chemistry course. If you need more information, there are links to tutorials and/or videos that will guide you through the topic.

BEFORE class: use the calendar in your syllabus to identify the topic(s) for a particular class period. Look up that topic in your textbook, the website glossary, and the course notes section of the web site. Skim these and look for common themes.

During class: attend, pay attention, and participate. This includes lab. The experiments have been carefully chosen to reinforce important lecture concepts. They will be on the exam.

After class: write a summary of what you did in class and why you did it. Note any factual information (such as definitions and formulas) that were needed to solve the problems and complete the activities. If you do not already have these facts memorized, write them in your notes and/or make flash cards. Work practice problems and complete any out of class assignments.

Before your exam: periodically review your notes and flash cards. Work all of the required problems and as many of the recommended problems as time allows. Download a copy of the practice test and take it under simulated test conditions. Check your answers then revise and review. Note that the exam you take will be similar but not identical to the practice exam; therefore, it will be counterproductive to memorize answers. Consider how the practice test problems and questions will be edited to create you actual exam. Compose potential exam questions and share them with your study group.