Welcome

Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.

I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.  

I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time.  As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree. 

Wednesday, August 9, 2023

Study Aid Review: The Chemistry 1 Tutor: Volume 4 - Oxidation and Reduction Reactions

 



This is the fourth volume in Jason's Chemistry 1 series, which is designed to cover the first semester of General Chemistry. If you are taking Introduction to Chemistry (or non-AP high school chemistry) what you get in the 4 volumes will cover pretty much the entire class. If you are taking the General Chemistry class (or AP chemistry in high school) you will get about 70-75 percent of what you will get in the first semester. The main topics that Jason omitted are the ideal gas laws and thermochemistry. Those are topics that may be covered in later releases.

This particular set of DVDs covers redox (oxidation, reduction) reactions. As is Jason's style in all of his DVDs, he only presumes you have the knowledge of the material that proceeds what you are working on. In this case, you need to be very familiar with net ionic equations and Stoichiometry. Aside from that he presumes you are an absolute beginner with redox reactions and walks you through step-by-step, explaining everything he is doing along the way to drill the material into your head. You end up doing so many examples that you have no choice but to learn how to balance the reactions.

The best part of the set in my opinion is how he explains the problems that require you to balance reactions taking place in a basic solution. His method is a workaround to the method that many books teach, which builds on the process of balancing reactions in an acidic solution by tacking on three additional steps at the end. Many books teach an alternate step in the middle of the process that then requires you to do a lot more work to get everything to balance. You will want to get an idea for what method your teacher wants you to use, but most of the time if you get the right answer, they will not care how you got to it, as long as you show your work.

I have used Jason's material as the foundation for my preparation to get me through all levels of calculus and the first year of physics. Even though you have to pay for the DVDs as opposed to finding the material for free online, I believe that the quality of the material and Jason's teaching style is that good. If you are a visual learner and do not need the interaction you would get with a regular tutor, and want something that will get you a jump on the material or clarify what you did not understand in the lecture, then these DVDs are the best investment you can make.

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