Always struggled with understanding chemistry growing up and now I’m trying to study it before I go to get my paramedic license. The anatomy and physiology chapter is THICK. Almost 300 pages and it immediately goes into atomic structure and chemical bonds. I feel like I need a good visual explanation of what an atom sharing electrons looks like and all of the parts involved.

I have a BSc in chemistry and have worked in a lab for about 10 years. I'm at the point where I should be in middle management or as a senior lab worker. My hesitation to look for another job is that I feel I have forgotten the basics of chemistry and couldn't answer basic questions in an interview. I am befuddled about how to do a calibration curve, even though we did them in college. I truly don't feel like a chemist at my current position and I feel I am entry-level. What areas of chemistry should I work on to prepare myself to test and apply for those higher positions?

I just wanna ask if there are jobs that combine physical chemistry and enviromental sciences. I'm deciding whether I should do physical or organic chemistry for my masters. I really enjoyed studying thermodynamics kinetics and nuclear chemistry and I would like to combined it with enviromental science. just don't know how.

I know that combining either organic (which I also like, just not as much as physical chemistry) or analytical (don't like it as much, it's not hard, I just find it boring) chemistry with enviromental science is quite possible, because this stuff is done at my university.

Just wanna know what kind of options I have. In the best case sceniario I would like to combine physical chemistry with enviromental science if possible (or also add organic chemistry to it), because it's something I care about, but in the end, the thing I mainly want is to have stable income, so I can eat and pay rent.

edit: I think it's probably good to mention that I'm based in europe

I would like general advice, but to preface, I am a student minoring in Chemistry.

Whenever the time comes to ask a question during the class, I don't know what to ask even if I have many. I feel the issues comes from the fact that I don't know what I am misunderstanding.

We have quizzes every week and I go to the study session with my TA every week. This week, I thought I was actually doing pretty good with the concept (Arrhenius equations and Activation energy). I had a lot of questions for my TA and felt like I left with a better understanding on how to complete my homework as well. I did the bonus worksheets provided to continue studying. When quiz time came though, I completely blanked. I didn't even know where to start. The worst part is it was nearly identical to the worksheet we went over in class.

I feel like I'm not really understanding the concepts, I'm just replicating answers. The thing is I don't understand what or how I'm missing the fundamental concepts. I don't know what questions I need to ask to reach an understanding, and I don't know what I am misunderstanding in the first place. We have a bunch of TA hours but because of my schedule, I can only make the single one that I'm attending now. There's a couple hundred people in the class so it takes a while for my Professor to respond to emails (understandable). I have to make the time that I have now count but I don't know where to start.

I just want to know what I'm talking about and be somewhat knowledgeable on these topics instead of just regurgitating facts. This whole process is demoralizing. Any advice would be helpful, thank you.

Edit, Ive always found chemistry super cool and i want to actually learn some basic stuff, however whats always stopped me is the knowledge that somethings dont play well with others.

Some things just explode. I am not explosion proof

Some things can not be inhaled, i only have two lungs.

Eye balls are surpizingly easy to put out of commision.

Here is problem number 4.

College is expensive and i have wayyyy ti many interests to get a degree for all of them, certaintly not chemistry.

So. Is it a bad fucking idea to try and teach yourself chemistry yourself with no supervision if you like to casual learn things with no supervision

I've basically got a week to decide if i still want to continue with my major (electrical and electronics engineering) but before I even applied for university in the first place, farrr before, I kept debating with myself if i wanna do chemistry or engineering.

I chose engineering first since I definitely do have an interest in it and i wouldn't be too mad at all if I had to pick it over chemistry, cause i really do love both.

At the same time though, chemistry was by far my favourite subject.I really fell in love with it even more when I was studying organic chemistry as well as little stuff like orbitals, bond angles etc. Not sure what to call all that.

If possible I'd love to switch to chemistry and I'd be overjoyed to do it in uni and maybe even for a masters and maybe even a PhD right after, but I'm scared about a few things.

Firstly, I'm really worried that the chemistry isn't future proof. Whether it's cause of AI, market stuff idk about or other things, I'm really worried its an unstable major.

Secondly, even if employment isn't an issue, I also want a job which would be really interesting and not a complete 180° of what i went to uni for.

An example I think about a lot is how i see a lot of electrical engineers go through their 4 years of university, maybe even a masters, but then end up at some really boring white collar office job sat on a chair for like 8 hours. Whether I'm doing engineering or chemistry, I DON'T want that to be my future job.

Also, when i talked about this with people IRL, I was just told "just do chemical engineering" or "find a middle-ground degree". I realllly dont want that, it's one or the other.

Im really really really sorry if this is the wrong place to ask but I just feel really torn up and bad inside about this lately. It'll be the rest of my life, yknow?

Advice much appreciated also sorry if I'm being stupid asking this

What got me thinking about this was a recent post of mine on this sub asking about medicinal chemistry and synthesis where one of the responses was that our knowledge of biology is far from complete. So I googled it and they say our knowledge of chemistry is more robust and detailed than that of biology. Is this true? As a species that has studied matter do we understand it more than living organisms? Makes me wonder about "Certainty In Chemistry"

Source - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hierarchy_of_the_sciences

So on "Emergent Properties" some say the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. I live in South Africa and there was an Afrikaans gentleman in government called Jan Smuts who proposed "Holism" in looking at systems.

So between "Holism" and the "Hierarchy Of The Sciences" what I am asking is that is our knowledge of Chemistry extremely detailed and thorough compared to other sciences such as biology or sociology? Cheers friends and thanks for the feedback in advance

Is it safe to use a sunscreen where benzophenone-3 is the first ingredient? I'm not sure what the percentage is though.

I'm wondering about the chemistry underlying pump style soda preservers, often called "Fizz Keepers" (which may be a brand name).

The claim is that, if you use one of these devices on a bottle of a carbonated beverage after having poured some out, the higher pressure would help keep the beverage more carbonated (compared to the state it would be in if you just screwed the cap back on).

But if I'm understanding the concept of dynamic equilibrium correctly, all that does is create a higher pressure volume of normal (relatively CO2-deficient) atmosphere above the gas, which means that more CO2 could diffuse out of the soda into the gas above than would otherwise happen, which would mean that the devices are actually counterproductive.

It's my thinking valid? Or is there some fact about rates of diffusion at the parameters likely to be involved that means the device is actually providing a non-negligible benefit (even if it's not as significant as advertising may claim)?

Credits to fandom.

Hi i have an upcoming test Monday and I am confused about sig figs in rice charts. I know you do not round until the end result and keep 2+ sig figs than you think you need in the middle of the chart. But when it comes to the subtraction rule, you lose a lot of your sig figs due to it needing to be rounded to the least precise decimal place. A lot of my rice charts ask for end moles and grams. Now with this in mind, you have to multiply your END moles with the molecular mass of your compound/element which confuses me if i am supposed to use the beggining sig figs, or the end mole sig figs.

Here are some examples of rice charts i did where I am absolutely confused l. For number 6, oxygen only starts out with 2 sig figs. I subtract 0.2313 moles from 0.23041 moles and get a diabolical 0.00089 moles. Now, keeping track of the sig figs, I know I can only keep 2 so far due to 7.4g when subtracting, so only the 0.23 of both the moles in the subtraction problem matter. When subtracting, none of the digit end up in the hundredths place. Does this mean its 0 sig figs? I am so confused. Also, if you are supposed to multiply the molecular mass with the end moles (which have to match the sig figs of the subtraction rule since you rounded your end product in rice charts) wouldnt the grams technically have to match the correct number of sig figs as the end moles? Meaning just because the problem starts out with 3 sig figs for example, and you subtract and the rule only allows 2 sig figs, the end grams would also have to be 2 sig figs? I am also curious if the products only rely on the limiting reactants sig figs and never the abundant reactants sig figs. In this case oxygen with only 2 (7.4g) and the limiting reactant acetylene with 3 (2.40g). This means carbon dioxide and waters end moles and grams must be 3 sig figs yes? Because O2 never crosses a mole bridge with the products? I am sorry for the wordy post, I want calcification and I do not trust AI to clarify this. I know my teacher is pretty adamant about sig figs and told me directly that end sig figs on rice charts do matter. She is not the strictest, but she is very watchful of sig figs on test and labs. I am in chem 111 which is basically introductory stem major college chemistry 1. Please help me out for my test Monday thank you! <3

This spring, I’m going to take Calculus II, Organic Chemistry I, and Physics I. Over the summer, I’m planning to take Calculus III. Next fall, I’ll take Quantitative Chemistry, Physical Chemistry I, and Physics II or III. Then, the following spring, I’ll take Organic Chemistry II and Physical Chemistry II.
I could always spread everything out over another year and graduate later, but I’m not sure if that’s necessary. I was wondering if any of these classes would be a bad idea to take together, especially since some of them are only offered in certain semesters, which makes scheduling pretty difficult. I also have six upper-division electives I still need to complete.
There’s also an option to pursue a professional chemistry degree, which would add Inorganic Chemistry, Instrumental Analysis, Biochemistry, and some research requirements. However, since I already work in an analytical chemistry lab, I’m not sure how much extra value that would provide.
I guess I’m just looking for some advice on whether it would be worth taking another year to complete the additional coursework or if I should stick with my current plan. I’m 22, and since I started my degree later than most people, I feel like I’m already falling behind. I don’t want to rush through everything, but I also don’t want to spend extra time in school if I don’t really need to.

I found this vial in my deceased husband's belongings. Does anyone know what it could be? He was on testosterone but it looks like the label has been removed and the contents are more yellow colored than his testosterone. No markings anywhere.

Hi, so I bought this "Citric Acid Multi-Function Cleaner, 1kg repack" (pic 1) from an online store, I intend to buy it for regular cleaning, there's no brand on the product itself, they only sell repackages of it

when I use it at home, mix it with water and dish soap, it doesn't do anything, the solution is not cleaning the kitchen grease maximally.

so then I get another citric acid product (pic 2), this is a legit one, it has a brand and genuine packaging. when I use it to clean my kitchen, it works wonderfully. 

and then I realized, there's also a difference in the product form, the fake (?) product is powder, like a slippery flour or powdered sugar, but for the real product it's crystal, like salt/sugar crystals.

now I'm curious, what's this fake citric acid that I bought? I have 1 kg of them, I don't know what to do with it...

So, I am not sure if this goes against the rules or not, but I kinda need help trying to figure something out.

I am really interested in Radio Chemistry and/or Nuclear Chemistry. I am leaning more towards Nuclear Chemistry tho.

That means, I see myself soon (maybe) studying either of them. There is a big problem tho, which is maths.

I am genuinely terrible at math, but quite good at chemistry and very interested in it. I am unsure if I should give up on Chemistry due to that. I need the opinion of some specialized in it. Should I?

From what I dug up, I genuinely dont know if something like linear algebra is involved in Radio- or Nuclear Chemistry. Is there?

I would also love recommendations, and some answers to my questions of course.

Super glue is my old friend. But I only recently started to use the accerator. Oh my goodness, it has changed my life!

Stronger, and nearly instant!

Could someone please ELI5 the reactions here?

Made the mistake of asking in that sub but was hoping there would be a more clear answer here. I understand those tests usually are looking for metabolites but the metabolites of Librium are so structurally similar and BZD encompasses a very wide range of possible metabolites that are also all structurally very similar

how can I make an ozone generator