Digital library
Textbooks, references and open learning resources.
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Non-Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics
Jianshu Cao · Massechusetts Institute of Technology
This course discusses the principles and methods of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. Basic topics covered are stochastic processes, regression and response theory, molecular hydrodynamics, and complex liquids. Selected applications, including fluctuation theorems, condensed phase reaction rate theory, electron transfer dynamics, enzymatic networks, photon counting statistics, single molecule kinetics, reaction-controlled diffusion, may also be discussed.
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CHEM-3010: Spring 2026
Yulia Zaikina · Iowa State University
LibreTexts
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PREP CHEM
Nick DeMello · Stanford Online High School
LibreTexts
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The Necessity of Entropy: The Macroscopic Argument, The Microscopic Response, and Some Practical Consequences
Judith Herzfeld · Brandeis University
Students often find thermodynamics baffling. This should not be surprising because it took many years for some of the best scientific minds to work it out. Nor should that arduous history be surprising because thermodynamics links visible phenomena with molecular phenomena, two realms that are more often considered separately. However, the grand ambition of this linkage has been elegantly established and there is nothing convoluted about it.
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Chem 4399/5399: ChemInformatics
Robert Belford · University of Arkansas at Little Rock
This is an intercollegiate course where students, faculty and non-academic professionals have an chance to interact through the course website, and we thought a good way to learn how to use the course website would be for everyone to introduce themselves in a short comment.
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Chem 1201
LibreTexts
In the contents: Unit 1: Quantum Chemistry
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Inorganic
Divan Fard · Shasta College
This upper-division Inorganic Chemistry text examines the structure, bonding, properties, and reactivity of inorganic compounds. Topics include atomic structure, molecular orbital theory, symmetry and group theory, acid-base chemistry, solid-state chemistry, main-group elements, coordination chemistry, electronic spectra, organometallic chemistry and catalysis, lanthanides and actinides, and bioinorganic chemistry. The text emphasizes relationships among molecular structure, bonding, and chemica
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Thermal Methods of Analysis
Prabha Shetty · Sophia College for Women
The contents of this book include principles, instrumentation and applications of thermal methods viz thermogravimetry, differential thermal analysis and differential scanning calorimetry. The book is designed in a different way from other books in the sense that there are activities after every topic and the reader will be able to assess their understanding of the topic by taking a simple test or performing a self-assessment activity.
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Introduction to Quantum Mechanics
Delmar Larsen · University of California, Davis
This text focuses on introducing students to the postulates and general principles of quantum mechanics. Application to harmonic oscillator, rigid rotor, one-electron and many-electron atoms, and homo- and hetero-nuclear diatomic molecules are discussed including variational method and time-independent perturbation theory approximations.
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Soils Laboratory Manual
Colby Moorberg; David Crouse · New Prairie Press · 2017
The Soils Laboratory Manual, K-State Edition is designed for students in undergraduate, introductory soil science courses, and highlights the many aspects of soil science, including: soil genesis and classification, soil physical properties, soil-water interaction, soil biology, soil chemistry, and soil fertility. The lab manual includes 15 different laboratories, each one starting with an introduction and pre-lab assignment, followed by in-lab activities, and complimented by post-lab assignment. In-lab activities involve field trips, experiments, observation stations, or problem sets. Post-lab assignments include online quizzes, problem sets, or laboratory summary reports.
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Bending the Curve: Climate Change Solutions
Veerabhadran Ramanathan; Roger Aines; Max Auffhammer · eScholarship · 2019
Climate change is an urgent problem. Because it is causing new weather extremes and fatal catastrophes, climate change is better termed climate disruption. Bending the curve to flatten the upward trajectory of pollution emissions responsible for climate disruption is essential in order to protect billions of people from this global threat. Education is a key part of the solution. This textbook book lays out ten solutions that together can bend the curve of climate warming below dangerous levels. These solutions fall into six categories: science, societal transformation, governance, economics, technology, and ecosystem management. Four themes emerge from the book: * There is still time to bend the curve. The time to act was yesterday, but if proper actions are taken now, there is still time to avoid disastrous changes. We have to pull on three levers: The carbon lever to achieve zero net emissions of carbon dioxide before 2050; the short-lived climate pollutants lever to drastically reduce concentrations of other major climate pollutants; and the atmospheric carbon extraction lever to remove massive amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. * Bending the curve will require interdisciplinary solutions. Climate change requires integrating approaches from the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities, so this textbook—unlike most on climate change solutions—does just that, with chapters written by experts in climate science, social justice, economics, environmental policy, political science, energy technologies, ecology, and religion. Bending the curve also requires preservation and restoration of ecological systems. * Bending the curve requires a radical shift in attitude. This shift requires change in behavior, change in our attitudes towards each other, and change in our attitude towards nature. Climate justice has to be an integral part of the solution. * Technology, market mechanism and policy need to be a part of the solution. New market mechanisms an
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Des Bases Physiques Et Chimiques Du Contrôle De La Qualité Des Médicaments
M.A. Khatchatourian; T.V. Pleteneva; E.V. Uspenskaya; M.A. Morozova · РУДН · 2019
Le manuel est un résumé des principales activités du cours de conférences sur la chimie physique et colloïdale (en 2 parties) et constitue la base théorique des méthodes de contrôle de la qualité des médicaments et vise à acquérir les connaissances et les compétences nécessaires pour travailler dans ce domaine. Destiné aux étudiants francophones étrangers.
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An Introduction to Nutrition
Independent · 2012
Welcome to Essentials of Nutrition: A Functional Approach! This book is written for students who are not majoring in nutrition, but want to learn about the fundamental aspects of nutrition and how it applies to their own lives. We have written this book with the assumption that you have little or no prior knowledge of college level chemistry, biology, or physiology. But that does not mean it’s not scientific! Nutrition is a science-based discipline, so all the material included is backed up by rigorous scientific research, but it is presented in a clear, easy-to-understand fashion without requiring a background in science.
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Biotechnology Foundations
Jack O'Grady · OpenStax CNX · 2013
Given the broad definition of biotechnology applications and products, it is easy to see how there is enormous overlap within the fields of cellular biology, microbiology, chemistry, and biomedical engineering. It is the goal of this textbook to provide foundational knowledge to begin building your biotechnology toolkit and enter an exciting career of making a difference through biotechnology. This textbook first explores the fundamentals of laboratory science and biotechnology. Unit 1 begins with a dive into the foundation of biology and chemistry by asking what is life and what are the molecules of life? The end of the unit offers a primer into laboratory science; preparing solutions and operating basic lab equipment. Unit 2 brings readers through a vital tool of biomanufacturing, understanding the growth and control of microbes. Many biotechnology products are made by harnessing the work of microbes, and this unit explores this invisible and intriguing world of microorganisms. The final unit, molecular biotechnology, offers a more in-depth look at how biological molecules such as DNA and protein are manipulated into creating useful products.
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Introduction to Soil Science
Amber Anderson; Rivka Fidel · Iowa State University Digital Press · 2025
This textbook introduces readers to introductory soil science topics including the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soils; soil formation, classification, and global distribution; soil health, soils and humanity, and sustainable land management. The second edition brings forward new information about soil water and soil chemistry alongside updates to the core chapters.
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The Essential Guide to Planet Earth
Benjamin Burger · Benjamin Burger · 2020
Every moment of your life will be from the perspective of a single planet—Planet Earth. You were born here and you will die here. This textbook is a guide to your home, to your place in the universe. By taking this course, you will learn about your home planet: how it works and how we know it works this way. This course is a user's manual for planet Earth, with direct recommendations for future generations, such as yourself, to maintain its health and natural wonders. As an astute student, you will be introduced to the theoretical principles of science and of how to defend yourself from the spread of ignorance. You will learn about Earth’s dimensions and motions, as well as how to navigate its surface. You will learn how energy originates from the closest star (the Sun), its Moon, and other sources of energy in the Earth’s active core and how this energy can be used and stored. You will learn basic scientific principles of matter, the makeup of substances that form the field of chemistry. You will examine the planet’s atmosphere, the air that you are breathing as you read this, and how that air is slowly changing. You will explore the vast abundance of Earth’s water, covering the planet in enormous oceans, abundant lakes, and rivers, as well as frozen water locked within snow and ice. You will learn how to predict wind and storms and how climates shift. You will lead your own exploration of the solid interior of the Earth, the composition of mountains, rocks, and dirt. You will learn about life, the most unique feature of the planet. You will explore theories of how life arose and how it has evolved and changed over time, learning that you are of Earth and the story of your own origin on this planet. You will undertake an examination of the great biomes of jungles, forests, and deserts and the life that exists within them. You will survey the important field of biology as you learn about life and its interactions with the planet. In the end, you will come to face th
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Food Product Development Lab Manual
Ken Prusa; Kate Gilbert · Iowa State University · 2021
A practical how-to illustrating the process of developing a new food product from ideation and formulation to processing and lastly commercialization. This book highlights the overall process and gives instructions for each of the steps along the way.
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Energy and Human Ambitions on a Finite Planet
Thomas Murphy · eScholarship · 2021
Where is humanity going? How realistic is a future of fusion and space colonies? What constraints are imposed by physics, by resource availability, and by human psychology? Are default expectations grounded in reality? This textbook, written for a general-education audience, aims to address these questions without either the hype or the indifference typical of many books. The message throughout is that humanity faces a broad sweep of foundational problems as we inevitably transition away from fossil fuels and confront planetary limits in a host of unprecedented ways—a shift whose scale and probable rapidity offers little historical guidance. Salvaging a decent future requires keen awareness, quantitative assessment, deliberate preventive action, and—above all—recognition that prevailing assumptions about human identity and destiny have been cruelly misshapen by the profoundly unsustainable trajectory of the last 150 years. The goal is to shake off unfounded and unexamined expectations, while elucidating the relevant physics and encouraging greater facility in quantitative reasoning. After addressing limits to growth, population dynamics, uncooperative space environments, and the current fossil underpinnings of modern civilization, various sources of alternative energy are considered in detail— assessing how they stack up against each other, and which show the greatest potential. Following this is an exploration of systemic human impediments to effective and timely responses, capped by guidelines for individual adaptations resulting in reduced energy and material demands on the planet’s groaning capacity. Appendices provide refreshers on math and chemistry, as well as supplementary material of potential interest relating to cosmology, electric transportation, and an evolutionary perspective on humanity’s place in nature.
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Environmental Toxicology
Kees van Gestel · Environmental Toxicology · 2020
This open online textbook on Environmental Toxicology aims at covering the field in its full width, including aspects of environmental chemistry, ecotoxicology, toxicology and risk assessment. With that, it will contribute to improving the quality, continuity and transparency of the education in environmental toxicology. We also want to make sure that fundamental insights on fate and effects of chemicals gained in the past are combined with recent approaches of effect assessment and molecular analysis of mechanisms causing toxicity. The book consists of six chapters, with each chapter being divided into several sub-chapters to enable covering all aspects relevant to the topic. All chapters are designed in a modular way, which each module having clear training goals and being flagged with a number of keywords. Most modules have an average length of 1000-2000 words, a limited number of references, and 3-5 figures and/or tables. A few modules are enlighted with short clips, animations or movies to allow better illustration of the theory. The introduction chapter of the book, for instance, contains a short interview with two key experts reflecting on the development of the field over the past 30 years. The book contains tools for self-study and training, like a (limited) number of questions at the end of each module. For the future we foresee the addition of separate exercises and other tools that may help the student in understanding the theory.
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The Adventure of Physics - Vol. V: Motion Inside Matter - Pleasure, Technology, and Stars
Christoph Schiller · Motion Mountain · 1990
This book is written for anybody who is curious about nature and motion. Curiosity about how bodies, images and empty space move leads to many adventures. This volume presents the best adventures about the motion inside people, inside animals, and inside any other type of matter – from the largest stars to the smallest nuclei. Motion inside bodies – dead or alive – is described by quantum theory. Quantum theory describes all motion with the quantum of action h, the smallest change observed in nature. Building on this basic idea, the text first shows how to describe life, death and pleasure. Then, the text explains the observations of chemistry, materials science, astrophysics and particle physics. In the structure of physics, these topics correspond to the three ‘quantum' points in Figure 1. The story of motion inside living and non-living matter, from the coldest gases to the hottest stars, is told here in a way that is simple, up to date and captivating. In order to be simple, the text focuses on concepts, while keeping mathematics to the necessary minimum. Understanding the concepts of physics is given precedence over using formulae in calculations. The whole text is within the reach of an undergraduate. In order to be up to date, the text is enriched by the many gems – both theoretical and empirical – that are scattered throughout the scientific literature. In order to be captivating, the text tries to startle the reader as much as possible. Read- ing a book on physics should be like going to a magic show. We watch, we are astonished, we do not believe our eyes, we think, and finally we understand the trick. When we look at nature, we often have the same experience. Indeed, every page presents at least one sur- prise that makes the reader think. Also numerous interesting challenges are proposed. The motto of the text, die Menschen stärken, die Sachen klären, a famous statement by Hartmut von Hentig on pedagogy, translates as: ‘To fortify people, to clarify thing