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Introductory Chemistry, 6th edition

Published by Pearson (January 4, 2017) © 2018

  • Nivaldo J. Tro Santa Barbara City College

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For 1-semester courses in preparatory chemistry.

Build 21st-century skills and prepare students to succeed

Introductory Chemistry shows how chemistry manifests in students' daily lives. As an award-winning instructor, author Nivaldo Tro draws on his classroom experience to engage students, capture their attention with relevant applications and extend chemistry to their world.

The 6th Edition features new questions, data and sections designed to help students build 21st-century skills for success in the course and beyond. New Conceptual Checkpoints emphasize understanding rather than calculation, and Data Interpretation and Analysis questions present real data in real life situations.

Hallmark features of this title

  • Multipart images help students see relationships among the formulas they write down (symbolic), the world the see around them (macroscopic), and atoms and molecules that compose that world (molecular).
  • 2- and 3-column example formats: the 2-column format uses the left column to explain each step, while the right column shows how to execute the step; the 3- column format outlines the problem-solving procedure in the left column, and columns 2 and 3 show how to implement steps.
  • Multipart molecular images in Macroscopic, Microscopic and Symbolic perspectives help students visualize and understand chemistry.
  • The Strategize step in examples prompts students to draw a solution map to learn how to use conversion factors and equations in outlining steps.

New, updated and additional features of this title

  • Abundant molecular-level views reveal the connections between everyday processes visible to the eye and the activities of atoms and molecules.
  • Everyday Chemistry, Chemistry in the Media, Chemistry and Health, and Chemistry in the Environment interest boxes engage students and connect chemistry to students' lives, showing the everyday importance of science.
  • NEW: Data Interpretation and Analysis questions present actual data from real-life situations and ask students to analyze and interpret that data. Students get practice in reading graphs, understanding tables and making data-driven decisions.
  • NEW: Conceptual Checkpoint questions throughout the text reinforce conceptual understanding of the most complex material. They prompt students to think about concepts and solve problems without doing any math. Answers appear at the end of each chapter.
  • UPDATED: The data throughout the book has been updated to reflect the most recent measurements and developments available.
  • Extensive labels and annotations for each illustration direct students to key elements in the art and help them to fully understand the processes depicted.

Highlights of the DIGITAL UPDATE for Mastering Chemistry (available for Fall 2020 classes)

Instructors, contact your sales rep to ensure you have the most recent version of the course.

  • NEW: Missed This? feature directs students to the section, Key Concept Video or Interactive Worked Example that covers the content needed to solve the problem they missed. 
  • UPDATED: Dynamic Study Modules specific to Introductory Chemistry are assignable and pose a series of question sets about a course topic. Questions adapt to each student's performance and offer personalized, targeted feedback. 

Features of Mastering Chemistry for the 6th Edition; published 2017

  • Key Concept Videos combine art from the text with 2D and 3D animations and feature Nivaldo Tro explaining key concepts. 
  • Interactive Worked Examples use Tro's unique Sort, Strategize, Solve, and Check technique. Examples stop midpoint and require students to interact by completing a step.
  • Conceptual Check Points and Self-Assessment Quizzes allow students to practice the types of questions they will encounter on the ACS or other exams. 
  • End-of-chapter questions provide wrong-answer feedback for scaffolded support that includes links to the eText, videos and math remediation. 

Features of Pearson eText for the 6th Edition; published 2017

  • NEW: For Practice problems are now interactive in the Pearson eText and provide wrong-answer feedback with links that direct students to correlating content in the eText or media. Problems are also assignable in Mastering Chemistry.
  • NEW: Missed This? feature directs students to the text section, Key Concept Videos and Interactive Worked Examples that cover the content required to solve the problem they just missed.
  • NEW: Predict This! are now interactive in each chapter of the eText and ask students to predict the outcome of the topic they are about to read. Predict This! confirms whether the student predicted correctly or incorrectly and why.
  • Key Concept Videos combine art from the text with 2D and 3D animations and feature Nivaldo Tro explaining key concepts. Students interact when the video stops and poses a question they must answer before continuing.
  • Interactive Worked Examples use Tro's unique Sort, Strategize, Solve, and Check technique. Examples stop midpoint and require students to interact by completing a step.
  • Conceptual Check Points and Self-Assessment Quizzes are now embedded links in Pearson eText so students can interact with all conceptual connection and self-assessment quizzes to study on their own and test their understanding.

1. The Chemical World

  • 1.1 Sand and Water
  • 1.2 Chemicals Compose Ordinary Things
  • 1.3 The Scientific Method: How Chemists Think
  • 1.4 Analyzing and Interpreting Data
  • 1.5 A Beginning Chemist: How to Succeed

2. Measurement and Problem Solving

  • 2.1 The Metric Mix-up: A $125 Million Unit Error
  • 2.2 Scientific Notation: Writing Large and Small Numbers
  • 2.3 Significant Figures: Writing Numbers to Reflect Precision
  • 2.4 Significant Figures in Calculations
  • 2.5 The Basic Units of Measurement
  • 2.6 Problem Solving and Unit Conversion
  • 2.7 Solving Multistep Unit Conversion Problems
  • 2.8 Unit Conversion in Both the Numerator and Denominator
  • 2.9 Units Raised to a Power
  • 2.10 Density
  • 2.11 Numerical Problem-Solving Strategies and the Solution Map

3. Matter and Energy

  • 3.1 In Your Room
  • 3.2 What Is Matter?
  • 3.3 Classifying Matter According to Its State: Solid, Liquid, and Gas
  • 3.4 Classifying Matter According to Its Composition: Elements, Compounds, and Mixtures
  • 3.5 Differences in Matter: Physical and Chemical Properties
  • 3.6 Changes in Matter: Physical and Chemical Changes
  • 3.7 Conservation of Mass: There Is No New Matter
  • 3.8 Energy
  • 3.9 Energy and Chemical and Physical Change
  • 3.10 Temperature: Random Motion of Molecules and Atoms
  • 3.11 Temperature Changes: Heat Capacity
  • 3.12 Energy and Heat Capacity Calculations

4. Atoms and Elements

  • 4.1 Experiencing Atoms at Tiburon
  • 4.2 Indivisible: The Atomic Theory
  • 4.3 The Nuclear Atom
  • 4.4 The Properties of Protons, Neutrons, and Electrons
  • 4.5 Elements: Defined by Their Numbers of Protons
  • 4.6 Looking for Patterns: The Periodic Law and the Periodic Table
  • 4.7 Ions: Losing and Gaining Electrons
  • 4.8 Isotopes: When the Number of Neutrons Varies
  • 4.9 Atomic Mass: The Average Mass of an Element's Atoms

5. Molecules and Compounds

  • 5.1 Sugar and Salt
  • 5.2 Compounds Display Constant Composition
  • 5.3 Chemical Formulas: How to Represent Compounds
  • 5.4 A Molecular View of Elements and Compounds
  • 5.5 Writing Formulas for Ionic Compounds
  • 5.6 Nomenclature: Naming Compounds
  • 5.7 Naming Ionic Compounds
  • 5.8 Naming Molecular Compounds
  • 5.9 Naming Acids
  • 5.10 Nomenclature Summary
  • 5.11 Formula Mass: The Mass of a Molecule or Formula Unit

6. Chemical Composition

  • 6.1 How Much Sodium?
  • 6.2 Counting Nails by the Pound
  • 6.3 Counting Atoms by the Gram
  • 6.4 Counting Molecules by the Gram
  • 6.5 Chemical Formulas as Conversion Factors
  • 6.6 Mass Percent Composition of Compounds
  • 6.7 Mass Percent Composition from a Chemical Formula
  • 6.8 Calculating Empirical Formulas for Compounds
  • 6.9 Calculating Molecular Formulas for Compounds

7. Chemical Reactions

  • 7.1 Grade School Volcanoes, Automobiles, and Laundry Detergents
  • 7.2 Evidence of a Chemical Reaction
  • 7.3 The Chemical Equation
  • 7.4 How to Write Balanced Chemical Equations
  • 7.5 Aqueous Solutions and Solubility: Compounds Dissolved in Water
  • 7.6 Precipitation Reactions: Reactions in Aqueous Solution That Form a Solid
  • 7.7 Writing Chemical Equations for Reactions in Solution: Molecular, Complete Ionic, and Net Ionic Equations
  • 7.8 Acid-Base and Gas Evolution Reactions
  • 7.9 Oxidation-Reduction Reactions
  • 7.10 Classifying Chemical Reactions

8. Quantities in Chemical Reactions

  • 8.1 Climate Change: Too Much Carbon Dioxide
  • 8.2 Making Pancakes: Relationships between Ingredients
  • 8.3 Making Molecules: Mole-to-Mole Conversions
  • 8.4 Making Molecules: Mass-to-Mass Conversions
  • 8.5 More Pancakes: Limiting Reactant, Theoretical Yield, and Percent Yield
  • 8.6 Limiting Reactant, Theoretical Yield, and Percent Yield from Initial Masses of Reactants
  • 8.7 Enthalpy: A Measure of the Heat Evolved or Absorbed in a Reaction

9. Electrons in Atoms and the Periodic Table

  • 9.1 Blimps, Balloons, and Models of the Atom
  • 9.2 Light: Electromagnetic Radiation
  • 9.3 The Electromagnetic Spectrum
  • 9.4 The Bohr Model: Atoms with Orbits
  • 9.5 The Quantum-Mechanical Model: Atoms with Orbitals
  • 9.6 Quantum-Mechanical Orbitals and Electron Configurations
  • 9.7 Electron Configurations and the Periodic Table
  • 9.8 The Explanatory Power of the Quantum-Mechanical Model
  • 9.9 Periodic Trends: Atomic Size, Ionization Energy, and Metallic Character

10. Chemical Bonding

  • 10.1 Bonding Models and AIDS Drugs
  • 10.2 Representing Valence Electrons with Dots
  • 10.3 Lewis Structures of Ionic Compounds: Electrons Transferred
  • 10.4 Covalent Lewis Structures: Electrons Shared
  • 10.5 Writing Lewis Structures for Covalent Compounds
  • 10.6 Resonance: Equivalent Lewis Structures for the Same Molecule
  • 10.7 Predicting the Shapes of Molecules
  • 10.8 Electronegativity and Polarity: Why Oil and Water Don't Mix

11. Gases

  • 11.1 Extra-Long Straws
  • 11.2 Kinetic Molecular Theory: A Model for Gases
  • 11.3 Pressure: The Result of Constant Molecular Collisions
  • 11.4 Boyle's Law: Pressure and Volume
  • 11.5 Charles's Law: Volume and Temperature
  • 11.6 The Combined Gas Law: Pressure, Volume, and Temperature
  • 11.7 Avogadro's Law: Volume and Moles
  • 11.8 The Ideal Gas Law: Pressure, Volume, Temperature, and Moles
  • 11.9 Mixtures of Gases
  • 11.10 Gases in Chemical Reactions

12. Liquids, Solids, and Intermolecular Forces

  • 12.1 Spherical Water
  • 12.2 Properties of Liquids and Solids
  • 12.3 Intermolecular Forces in Action: Surface Tension and Viscosity
  • 12.4 Evaporation and Condensation
  • 12.5 Melting, Freezing, and Sublimation
  • 12.6 Types of Intermolecular Forces: Dispersion, Dipole-Dipole, Hydrogen Bonding, and Ion-Dipole
  • 12.7 Types of Crystalline Solids: Molecular, Ionic, and Atomic
  • 12.8 Water: A Remarkable Molecule

13. Solutions

  • 13.1 Tragedy in Cameroon
  • 13.2 Solutions: Homogeneous Mixtures
  • 13.3 Solutions of Solids Dissolved in Water: How to Make Rock Candy
  • 13.4 Solutions of Gases in Water: How Soda Pop Gets Its Fizz
  • 13.5 Specifying Solution Concentration: Mass Percent
  • 13.6 Specifying Solution Concentration: Molarity
  • 13.7 Solution Dilution
  • 13.8 Solution Stoichiometry
  • 13.9 Freezing Point Depression and Boiling Point Elevation: Making Water Freeze Colder and Boil Hotter
  • 13.10 Osmosis: Why Drinking Saltwater Causes Dehydration

14. Acids and Bases

  • 14.1 Sour Patch Kids and International Spy Movies
  • 14.2 Acids: Properties and Examples
  • 14.3 Bases: Properties and Examples
  • 14.4 Molecular Definitions of Acids and Bases
  • 14.5 Reactions of Acids and Bases
  • 14.6 Acid-Base Titration: A Way to Quantify the Amount of Acid or Base in a Solution
  • 14.7 Strong and Weak Acids and Bases
  • 14.8 Water: Acid and Base in One
  • 14.9 The pH and pOH Scales: Ways to Express Acidity and Basicity
  • 14.10 Buffers: Solutions That Resist pH Change

15. Chemical Equilibrium

  • 15.1 Life: Controlled Disequilibrium
  • 15.2 The Rate of a Chemical Reaction
  • 15.3 The Idea of Dynamic Chemical Equilibrium
  • 15.4 The Equilibrium Constant: A Measure of How Far a Reaction Goes
  • 15.5 Heterogeneous Equilibria: The Equilibrium Expression for Reactions Involving a Solid or a Liquid
  • 15.6 Calculating and Using Equilibrium Constants
  • 15.7 Disturbing a Reaction at Equilibrium: Le Châtelier's Principle
  • 15.8 The Effect of a Concentration Change on Equilibrium
  • 15.9 The Effect of a Volume Change on Equilibrium
  • 15.10 The Effect of a Temperature Change on Equilibrium
  • 15.11 The Solubility-Product Constant
  • 15.12 The Path of a Reaction and the Effect of a Catalyst

16. Oxidation and Reduction

  • 16.1 The End of the Internal Combustion Engine?
  • 16.2 Oxidation and Reduction: Some Definitions
  • 16.3 Oxidation States: Electron Bookkeeping
  • 16.4 Balancing Redox Equations
  • 16.5 The Activity Series: Predicting Spontaneous Redox Reactions
  • 16.6 Batteries: Using Chemistry to Generate Electricity
  • 16.7 Electrolysis: Using Electricity to Do Chemistry
  • 16.8 Corrosion: Undesirable Redox Reactions

17. Radioactivity and Nuclear Chemistry

  • 17.1 Diagnosing Appendicitis
  • 17.2 The Discovery of Radioactivity
  • 17.3 Types of Radioactivity: Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Decay
  • 17.4 Detecting Radioactivity
  • 17.5 Natural Radioactivity and Half-Life
  • 17.6 Radiocarbon Dating: Using Radioactivity to Measure the Age of Fossils and Other Artifacts
  • 17.7 The Discovery of Fission and the Atomic Bomb
  • 17.8 Nuclear Power: Using Fission to Generate Electricity
  • 17.9 Nuclear Fusion: The Power of the Sun
  • 17.10 The Effects of Radiation on Life
  • 17.11 Radioactivity in Medicine

18. Organic Chemistry

  • 18.1 What Do I Smell?
  • 18.2 Vitalism: The Difference between Organic and Inorganic
  • 18.3 Carbon: A Versatile Atom
  • 18.4 Hydrocarbons: Compounds Containing Only Carbon and Hydrogen
  • 18.5 Alkanes: Saturated Hydrocarbons
  • 18.6 Isomers: Same Formula, Different Structure
  • 18.7 Naming Alkanes
  • 18.8 Alkenes and Alkynes
  • 18.9 Hydrocarbon Reactions
  • 18.10 Aromatic Hydrocarbons
  • 18.11 Functional Groups
  • 18.12 Alcohols
  • 18.13 Ethers
  • 18.14 Aldehydes and Ketones
  • 18.15 Carboxylic Acids and Esters
  • 18.16 Amines
  • 18.17 Polymers

19. Biochemistry

  • 19.1 The Human Genome Project
  • 19.2 The Cell and Its Main Chemical Components
  • 19.3 Carbohydrates: Sugar, Starch, and Fiber
  • 19.4 Lipids
  • 19.5 Proteins
  • 19.6 Protein Structure
  • 19.7 Nucleic Acids: Molecular Blueprints
  • 19.8 DNA Structure, DNA Replication, and Protein Synthesis

About our author

Nivaldo Tro has been teaching college Chemistry since 1990 and is currently teaching at Santa Barbara Community College. He received his Ph.D. in chemistry from Stanford University for work on developing and using optical techniques to study the adsorption and desorption of molecules to and from surfaces in ultrahigh vacuum. He then went on to the University of California at Berkeley, where he did postdoctoral research on ultrafast reaction dynamics in solution. Professor Tro has been awarded grants from the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund, the Research Corporation, and the National Science Foundation to study the dynamics of various processes occurring in thin adlayer films adsorbed on dielectric surfaces. Professor Tro lives in Santa Barbara with his wife, Ann, and their four children, Michael, Ali, Kyle, and Kaden. In his leisure time, Professor Tro enjoys mountain biking, surfing, and being outdoors with his family.

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