13 replies to this topic

[Max]

Hey!

Throughout the course I've been using the mentioned textbooks to study for tests and exams. However, I have encountered a few errors (I made sure they were by checking with my teacher and websites) and thought that we should compile a list to prevent ourselves from learning something that is incorrect or irrelevant.

IB Chemistry Course Companion by G. Neuss (blue cover)

Structure & Bonding:

- Pages 66-67: Resonance hybrids is misplaced as it is HL only; it should be in the HL part of Bonding and structure

Energetics:

- Page 102: The Born-Haber cycle diagram seems to be missing in some prints. Refer to this: Click me!

Option G

- Page 373, Figure 4: "The nucleophilic addition reaction of cyanide ions with ethanol" should read "The nucleophilic addition reaction of cyanide ions with ethanal"

IB Chemistry Study Guide by G. Neuss (green/blue cover)

Organic Chemistry:

- Page 64: Right box: Mechanism of Chlorination of Methane - In the propagation stage "H₃C-H + Cl^. --> H₃C^. + Cl^." should read "H₃C-H + Cl^. --> H₃C^. + H-Cl"
- Page 66: Top box: Combustion - The general equation for an alcohol combusting completely in oxygen does not work for alcohols with more than two carbons.
- Page 66: Middle box: Oxidation of ethanol - The product of the initial oxidation of ethanol is named "ethanol". It should read "ethanal", as it is an aldehyde

For those who use the IBID Chemistry (3rd edition) textbook by John Green and Sadru Damji, an (official) list of errors can be downloaded here

Last update: April 17th

Feel free to point out any other errors - I'll make sure to add them to this list!

Edited by Max, Apr 17, 2009 - 19:20.

[Sandwich]

In our edition of the blue covered Geoffrey Neuss, on p102 the Born-Haber cycle seems to be missing entirely.

[master135]

In our edition of the blue covered Geoffrey Neuss, on p102 the Born-Haber cycle seems to be missing entirely.

Same with my edition...and many of the topics in the course companionn are word for word the same as found in the study guide (just bigger font)

Edited by master135, Mar 21, 2009 - 02:54.

[Max]

In our edition of the blue covered Geoffrey Neuss, on p102 the Born-Haber cycle seems to be missing entirely.

Mine contains the Born-Haber cycle for the formation of sodium chloride. Is that what you are missing?

[Sandwich]

Yep, that's the one. Weird. Maybe it's a line of misprints or something? All our textbooks have it missing.

[CommeDesEnfants]

Despite these inaccuracies, would you say that the Chem course companion is still helpful nevertheless? I just ordered it last week because I wanted a better, actually IB-related textbook to use for chem, and I was thinking that it was going to be "the bomb," but now I'm not so sure... =/

[Addy]

I'm currently trying to decide which one of these textbooks to order.
You seem to know a lot about both, so can you give me some advice on which one to order?

Thanks

[godofib]

Personally, I use the Chemistry Study Guide by G. Neuss and I find it immensely useful since it summarizes all the concepts concisely as a pose to the course companion which I find rather big. Both books are good for IB but I would personally recommend the study guide since it is better for review before the exam.

[Person]

Talking about errors and Chemistry...After we finish each chapter our teacher usually gives us a huge worksheet that includes questions from past papers to which is attached the mark scheme. Two days ago we were solving a worksheet about bonding and structure and there was a multiple that had a wrong answer in the mark scheme!! I was shocked!!

[Sandwich]

I've come across 4 or 5 of them in past papers. Apparently every year on average they take out one question because it's either got two possible answers, is ambiguous, could be answered differently dependent on the language it's in (French, Spanish or English) orrrr just generally has a problem with it! Not infallible these people

All the teachers queue up to complain about problems with papers, you see. Nothing gets overlooked because teachers can be very, very persistent .gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':P' /> If you ever get access to a questionbank, you'll see there're usually notes for every question and sometimes these include possible problems with them. Who knew!

[Zuza]

Also on page 197 there is a mistake with carboxylic acids . In ethanoic acid and 3-methylpentanoic acid there is lack of OH group, there is only oxygen written

[saunders is god]

Page 208, The substitution reaction of chlorine and methane, in the propagation step, HCl is incorrectly labelled as a free radical instead of CH₃

[Bishup]

in the revision guide on page 66 in the second box (oxidation of ethanol) the ethanol('wine') should have an Hydrogen on the left hand side and not a Carbon.

[Phillip7000]

Hello I am a IB student who failed to aquire a IB diploma on my 2011 march exam..
I have achived all good grades except HL Chemistry.

I am willing to only just pass the Chemistry HL.


I know that lab reports are something like 24% of finall grade and I need at least 3 as passing grade (which is combination of lab reports grade and exam final grades).
Sooo,what if i get (4, or 5 or 6) on my Lab reports, what exams grade I need to get in order to pass? (pls do the math for me)