Chemical Foundations:

The longest journey starts with a single step!

Here we go... If you are reading this then you were crazy enough to sign up for an AP Chemistry class! At this point I have to say that I am proud of you for taking the road less traveled. Whatever your reason, please realize that the top 1% of the world set themselves apart with what they know and how they apply it. The journey might not be the easiest at times, but as long as you never give up and keep your effort high by the end you too can say that you beat the AP Chemistry beast.

 Welcome to crazy town!


Because some times it is just easier to read the notes!
Notes were provided to me by Renee McCormick 
at the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI).

Atoms, Ions, and Molecules:

Homey say whaaa?

Here in crazy town we have our very own language and if you will survive you must learn to speak it. Welcome to the wonderful world of nomenclature where we will finally begin to understand what all of those crazy words on our ingredient labels actually mean. Yes, you will begin to understand that they use sand in food to add texture, that the oozing goo from rotten fruit is used as a thickening agent in processed food and that there is a reason that the food industry employs so many chemists (to make your food taste like steak when it is really soybeans).


Because some times it is just easier to read the notes!
Notes were provided to me by Renee McCormick 
at the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI)

Stoichiometry:

Uhhhhhh, can you just give me like two seconds?

Don't be scared of the math. You made a sound decision to take AP Chemistry even though you may be seriously having second thoughts right about now. Stoichiometry is a big bad bear that scares most people off because they get caught up in the math and overlook the simple patterns that exist. In Chemistry we need to understand that at an atomic level one atom will react with another. The problem with that is we cannot measure just one atom (at this current time...) so we need to convert back and forth between this conceptual world and the reality that we wake up to every day. Stoichiometry allows us to go back and forth between reality and conceptual obscurity with some level of precision. Block the bad... Harness the good... and above all embrace the simple patterns and do not over think this! Normal people would say good luck to you at this point but I won't, because luck has nothing to do with it. It is all about effort!