INORGANIC CHEMISTRY BY JAMES E. HOUSE
PREFACE
When painting a wall, better coverage is assured when the roller passes over the same area several times from different directions. It is the opinion of the author that this technique works well in teaching chemistry. Therefore, a second objective has been to stress fundamental principles in the discussion of several topics. For example, the hard-soft interaction principle is employed in discussion of acid-base chemistry, stability of complexes, solubility, and predicting reaction products. Third, the presentation of topics is made with an effort to be clear and concise so that the book is portable and user friendly.
This book is meant to present in convenient form a readable account of the essentials of inorganic chemistry that can serve as both as a textbook for a one semester course upper level course and as a guide for self study. It is a textbook not a review of the literature or a research monograph. There are few references to the original literature, but many of the advanced books and monographs are cited. Although the material contained in this book is arranged in a progressive way, there is fl exibility in the order of presentation. For students who have a good grasp of the basic principles of quantum mechanics and atomic structure, Chapters 1 and 2 can be given a cursory reading but not included in the required course material. The chapters are included to provide a resource for review and self study. Chapter 4 presents an overview structural chemistry early so the reader can become familiar with many types of inorganic structures before taking up the study of symmetry or chemistry of specifi c elements. Structures of inorganic solids are discussed in Chapter 7, but that material could easily be studied before Chapters 5 or 6. Chapter 6 contains material dealing with intermolecular forces and polarity of molecules because of the importance of these topics when interpreting properties of substances and their chemical behavior. In view of the importance of the topic, especially in industrial chemistry, this book includes material on rate processes involving inorganic compounds in the solid state (Chapter 8) .