> Hey mike, you mentioned online chemistry tutorials. Could you > point me to any specific programs? Learning about CS has > re-kindled my interests!
> Thanks for your help, P. I post this since others may be interested. There are zillions of excellent online chemistry tutorials. Far too many to list here. The trick is to search google and click on something that looks interesting. Save the url so you can go back later. If the discussion seems a bit advanced and over your head, go on to the next one. But keep the url in case you want to view it again. You will quickly reach the point where the easy ones no longer have anything to teach and you need something stronger to work with. Don't get bogged down in the advanced stuff unless you are really interested and plan on changing careers. But if you are an electronics technician now, and you would like to expand your career opportunities, there is very little you could do better than to learn basic chemistry. The biomedical fields are expanding like crazy, and it is difficult to find anyone who understands electronics and know even a bit about chemistry. You could have leprosy and ten thumbs on each hand, but if you can understand a simple chemistry equation and know how to keep from knocking over Bunsen burners, they will welcome you with open arms. The things you want to focus on at the start are how to read an equation, then how to balance them. When you find yourself hitting a rough spot and nothing seems to make sense, find another tutorial that discusses the same topic and try it. Often just a slight change in the wording can suddenly unlock the secret and it all becomes clear. You will find yourself advancing very rapidly. The basic stuff is just learning the symbols for the common elements, like Hydrogen, Oxygen, Silver, Sulfur, and so on. Then learn the normal oxidation states, such as +1 for Sodium, Silver, etc, +2 for Copper, etc, -1 for Chlorine, etc, then the weird ones like Oxygen, Sulfur, and the others that can have several states. But just learn what you need to know at the moment. The rest will come later. The more you learn, the easier it is to learn more. This is a very enjoyable positive feedback loop. You will quickly find yourself working with stuff that was incomprehensible just a short time before. So rather than give you a huge list of sites, just start anywhere and go up or down in difficulty as you feel the need. Again, don't get bogged down wasting time on incomprehensible topics or sites that don't explain things clearly. Bypass them and find another one that is better suited to your liking. Keep moving, and you will soon hit paydirt. Here is a typical one to get you started: http://chemistry.about.com/cs/stoichiometry/a/aa042903a.htm Thanks, Mike Monett -- The Silver List is a moderated forum for discussing Colloidal Silver. Rules and Instructions: http://www.silverlist.org Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe> Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html Off-Topic discussions: <mailto:[email protected]> List Owner: Mike Devour <mailto:[email protected]>
