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Author
Series
Great Courses volume 55
Language
English
Description
Explore the chemistry of fuels, which are materials that react with an oxidant to produce energy. Start with cellulose, the primary constituent of wood, then survey petroleum distillates, such as kerosene, diesel, and gasoline. Close by learning how plant oils can be used to make biodiesel, which behaves similarly to petroleum-based diesel.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 7
Language
English
Description
Return to the periodic table, introduced in Lecture 1, to practice predicting properties of elements based on their electronic structure. Then, witness what happens when three different alkali metals react with water. Theory forecasts a pronounced difference in the result. Is there?
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 38
Language
English
Description
So far, you have focused on acids that donate a single hydrogen ion in an acid-base reaction. Now turn to polyprotic acids - those that donate more than one proton per molecule. Investigate the complex ionization processes that ensue, and see how they play a role in regulating blood pH.
Author
Series
Understanding the Periodic Table volume 13
Language
English
Description
Among a sea of 118 elements, many of them novel and poorly understood, oxygen and nitrogen stand out because they are familiar to us. But what do we really know about their discovery, behaviors, and subatomic structures? And what can the periodic table reveal about their abundance in Earth's atmosphere? Answer these questions and more.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 21
Language
English
Description
Build on your understanding of aromatics by investigating a very useful class of reactions: electrophilic aromatic substitution. What's the general mechanism by which these reactions occur? What are some of the many modifications chemists can make to benzene? What role did this reaction play in the synthesis of one of the most infamous organic compounds of all time, DDT?
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 50
Language
English
Description
Starting with the mystery of the ancient Mayan rubber ball, trace the story of polymer chemistry from lucky accidents to the advances of chemist Hermann Staudinger, who in the early 20th century showed that polymers are macromolecules. Learn how synthetic polymers are created.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 9
Language
English
Description
In the first of five lectures on chemical bonds, start to unravel the mystery of what joins atoms into molecules. Investigate how molecular bonds reflect the octet rule encountered in Lecture 7 and fall into four classes: ionic, covalent, polar covalent, and metallic bonds.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 28
Language
English
Description
Transition to the other side of the visible spectrum and discover how infrared spectroscopy provides chemists with different information about structures. In doing so, you'll come to see molecular structures in a new light: not as rigid constructs but as dynamic, vibrating frameworks with bonds that can stretch and bend.
Author
Series
Understanding the Periodic Table volume 1
Language
English
Description
Human beings have interacted with elements since prehistoric times. Yet large-scale efforts to organize these elements did not come about until the 19th century. In this lesson, become acquainted with the periodic table. Learn about its basic organizing principles and allow Ron to take you on a quick tour of its evolution through time.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 8
Language
English
Description
Turn now to cyclic alkanes, in which the closing of a loop of carbons forms a whole new class of alkanes with properties all their own. As you learn more about this new class of hydrocarbons, you'll cover the phenomenon of ring strain, the equilibrium between chair conformers, and bicyclic hydrocarbons.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 23
Language
English
Description
Professor Davis introduces you to ribose, the central component of both RNA and DNA. Starting from individual molecules and motifs, you'll progressively work your way up toward a full model for the structure of the sub-units involved in our genetic code. This lecture is proof of organic chemistry's powerful role in establishing who you are.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 25
Language
English
Description
Probe the connections between biology and metals with this lecture on some compounds and reactions in the field of organometallic chemistry. As you'll quickly learn, organometallics have a range of practical applications; one example you'll encounter is Dotarem, an organometallic compound used to help detect tumors in cancer patients.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 6
Language
English
Description
Starting with hydrogen, see how electrons organize themselves within the atom, depending on their energy state. Graduate from Niels Bohr's revolutionary model of the atom to Erwin Schrödinger's even more precise theory. Then, chart different electron configurations in heavier and heavier atoms.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 46
Language
English
Description
Revisit the nuclear energy binding curve, noting that most elements lighter than iron can release energy by fusing together. This is an even more energetic reaction than fission, and it is what powers the sun. Follow the development of fusion weapons and the so-far-unrealized dream of fusion reactors.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 24
Language
English
Description
Proteins make up 20 percent of your body's mass. They mediate almost every chemical reaction in the human body, and they're found in everything from medicine to detergents. Here, make sense of the intricate, beautiful structures and interactions of proteins. Also, take a peek at how they're created in labs for further study.
Author
Series
Understanding the Periodic Table volume 15
Language
English
Description
Between the metal and nonmetal groups, you will find a third and more peculiar group: the metalloids. What specific properties-subatomic and beyond-do they share with metals, and how do they behave like nonmetals? Unearth the history behind the discovery of metalloids and learn why they are so useful when they combine with other elements.
Author
Series
Understanding the Periodic Table volume 7
Language
English
Description
Shifting gears, spend some time on the first and smallest row of the periodic table. Consider some important questions: What do two of the oldest, lightest elements-hydrogen and helium-have in common? How do they differ? And would they make sense somewhere else on the periodic table, given their particular characteristics and behaviors?
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 4
Language
English
Description
Although light has wave-like properties, it also behaves like a particle that comes in discrete units of energy, termed quanta. Learn how physicists Max Planck, Albert Einstein, and others built a revolutionary picture of light that recognizes both its wave- and particle-like nature.
Author
Series
Understanding the Periodic Table volume 17
Language
English
Description
The valley at the middle of the periodic table features one-third of naturally occurring elements-all of which are metals. What do they have in common and what sets them apart? Take an introductory tour of the d-block metals from the poisonous to the ultra-dense before spending the next few lessons exploring three groups of transition metals in detail.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 14
Language
English
Description
Begin your study of chemical reactions by investigating how chemists write reactions using a highly systematized code. Next, Professor Davis introduces the "big four" types of chemical reactions: synthesis, decomposition, single displacement, and double displacement. He also shows how to translate between measurements in moles and grams.
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