ANYONE IN HERE KNOW CHEMISTRY? A23?

[Harley Buckshot]

How hard is it for someone who sucks at math (me) to learn chemistry? If you dedicated time to learning, can you realistically be able to educate yourself? its different than politics and business. Im interested in it, but have never taken time to have an appreciation for it

[blazer000]

harley,,,are you talking about general chemistry,,,just enough to pass the basic freshman college class, or are you talking about being an expert?

there are several branches of chemistry, analytical, inorganic, organic, physical, etc.
to be an expert at any one of these, yes you basically have to be a genius. a ph d would be considered an expert in whatever they did their research on to get their degree.
to get to this level, not only would you have to be of near genius level intelligence, but you would also have to spend several years ( more than 6) from where you are now, studying diligently about one specific thing to become that expert

hope this helps

[Harley Buckshot]

Basically went like this: I never really "enjoyed" math in high school, though i did well enough to get by. Typical story yada yada. Anyway, first year of college i started to enjoy math a bit, and took the basic chemistry course (foundation) and realized how uneducated to math I was. I mean i can + - X %, and a bit of basic algebra...  but thats it. Like most everyone else who couldnt divide without a calculator. So i said screw it, but now i have took an interest in how chemistry effects everything. it

[King_Raisin]

I have a master's in polymer chemistry, and I taught classes as a graduate student.  I guess to answer your question, you don't have to be a math genius to master the basics of chemistry, unless you're a chem major and are specifically interested in physical chemistry which is heavily based in calculus.  

However, I'm not sure what your purpose is.  If you just want to learn very basic chemistry (structure of basic compounds, how simple reactions proceed), you can find what you need online simply googling 'chemistry basics' or whatever.  If you want to learn something more in-depth like biochemistry (you're posting on a BB board so I'm thinking maybe biochem would be of interest to you), you'll definetely need to take some courses first, namely inorganic and organic chem, followed up by at least 2 semesters of biochemistry.  

So, there you have it.  Sorry can't give you more specifics but I don't know exactly what or why you want to learn.  If you give more details maybe I can help.

[Tapeworm]

harley,,,are you talking about general chemistry,,,just enough to pass the basic freshman college class, or are you talking about being an expert?

there are several branches of chemistry, analytical, inorganic, organic, physical, etc.
to be an expert at any one of these, yes you basically have to be a genius. a ph d would be considered an expert in whatever they did their research on to get their degree.
to get to this level, not only would you have to be of near genius level intelligence, but you would also have to spend several years ( more than 6) from where you are now, studying diligently about one specific thing to become that expert

hope this helps

Lmao.  My old man has a PhD in organic chemistry.  Trust me, the man is no genius.

[Hereford]

Organic Chemistry kicked my ass in school.

I had a 45%, and that was good for a "B".

[blazer000]

i also have a masters in chemistry ( computational theoretical- basically physical) and all the professors i worked with very very intelligent in their own way. people can be genius in many different ways. nothing is absolute, but i would say 90-95% of chemistry phd are genius level intelligence, the ones i know anyway.

[Ursus]

i sucked at most sciences except physics.

Not bad at biology but was shit at chemistry lol

[dr.chimps]

Lmao.  My old man has a PhD in organic chemistry.  Trust me, the man is no genius.

Ha! My Da was a organic chem prof for 35 years. One of the smartest guys I've ever/still known. 'Course I don't tell him that. 

[Knives]

I'm a junior chem major at college and I'd say good math skills are important.  There isn't too much explicit math, except in P. Chem (like someone else said), but spatial reasoning skills are important when you need to determine a chemical structure, and you need problem-solving skills when you are determining how to synthesize a product with a sequence of reactions like in Organic Chemistry.  I've always had excellent math skills and it has translated into success for me in Chemistry so far.

Take General Chemistry at any 4 year institution and it should give you a good idea how you will fare, of course keeping in mind that it will continue to get much harder.

Ha! My Da was a organic chem prof for 35 years. One of the smartest guys I've ever/still known. 'Course I don't tell him that. 

Why not?

[brent2741]

i've taken gen chem, organic chem, biochem and im no math whiz and did just fine. It wasn't the math that was hard it was a lot of the concepts and memorizing enzymes and pathways in biochem that were a bitch.

[240 is Back]

I was great at math and horrible at chemistry.  Pre-med for a year when I started college in 94.  Kicked ass in science and math, but chemistry and me just never clicked.  So I changed majors.  Never could unlock it.  I can program xml, but still can't tell ya how h20 breaks down.

[Tapeworm]

Ha! My Da was a organic chem prof for 35 years. One of the smartest guys I've ever/still known. 'Course I don't tell him that. 

I always wondered what all those trips to Canada were about.  This explains the Christmas I got that weird Royal Mounted Police Lego Set.  If you got my BB gun I want it back.

 

[tbombz]

Lmao.  My old man has a PhD in organic chemistry.  Trust me, the man is no genius.

You are quite the son ! 


No worries mate, Im not a huge fan of my birth-givers either. Love 'em to death though. 

[calfzilla]

Don't try to make your own steroids.  It is very difficult. 

[tbombz]

Don't try to make your own steroids.  It is very difficult. 

Not really. 

[BFP]

Not really. 

Oh brother.  Another Patrick Arnold is amongst us.  Please tell us how to manufacture testosterone.  Thanks

Jason

[Hereford]

Cant be too dumb.  He did bang your mom before she got fat.

Jason

Nice! 

[tbombz]

Oh brother.  Another Patrick Arnold is amongst us.  Please tell us how to manufacture testosterone.  Thanks

Jason

You can do a quick yahoo search and you will find everything you need to know. Pretty much all you need is some BA, BB, USP grade oil, and your testosterone powder. 

Good luck getting that powder though, thats the tough part. 

[BFP]

You can do a quick yahoo search and you will find everything you need to know. Pretty much all you need is some BA, BB, USP grade oil, and your testosterone powder. 

Good luck getting that powder though, thats the tough part. 

Aha I see what youre saying.  Im well aware techniques to convert powders into usable oils.  I thought you were speaking about actually manufacturing testosterone powders.  My apologies.

Jason

[tbombz]

Aha I see what youre saying.  Im well aware techniques to convert powders into usable oils.  I thought you were speaking about actually manufacturing testosterone powders.  My apologies.

Jason

[Tapeworm]

You are quite the son ! 


No worries mate, Im not a huge fan of my birth-givers either. Love 'em to death though. 

He's pretty clever and better educated than most, but he'd be the first one to burst out laughing if someone accused him of genius.

[Alex23]

How hard is it for someone who sucks at math (me) to learn chemistry? If you dedicated time to learning, can you realistically be able to educate yourself? its different than politics and business. Im interested in it, but have never taken time to have an appreciation for it

Only basic maths are necessary to be successful in chemistry, I wasn't an A+ math student and still double majored in Biochem.

Don't be a dumbass and go toward social sciences just because you suck at math; I see that too often.

[ToxicAvenger]

How hard is it for someone who sucks at math (me) to learn chemistry? If you dedicated time to learning, can you realistically be able to educate yourself? its different than politics and business. Im interested in it, but have never taken time to have an appreciation for it

i suck at chem and hate it but even in high school stuff like volumetric analysis etc took a fair degree of math...

the mole concept is math..

http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/moles/index.shtml