How to tell if a reaction will take place

I took chemistry long time ago in college, but I have forgotten a lot since
then.
I got interested in chemistry again these days and am studying a general
chemistry book.

I have two questions:

- Could you suggest a good college level (senior or masters) chemistry book
to refresh my memory.

- And getting ahead of myself, how can one tell if a reaction will take
place?

Say I have H20 + NaCl vs. H20 + Na. The first one does not produce new
chemical molecules, whereas the second is a violent reaction. How can one
tell that this would be the case without actually doing the experiments?

Thanks
Bora

"Bora" <[Only registered users see links. ]> wrote in message
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Simplistically, for a reaction to occur the final state must be at a lower
energy level than the initial state. A bit like trying to push a rock uphill
rather than letting it roll downhill.

However even for reactions which are energetically favourable there are
energy barriers, which are sometimes overcome with catalysts. Also there are
other barriers; aluminium should react with water, similar to sodium, but
aluminium exposed to air forms a tough, resistant oxide film, which prevents
the reaction.

Hope this helps and isn't too over-simplified.

Barry Hunt

I am doing the same as you, and highly recommend "Chemistry - The Central
Science" (Brown, LeMay, Bursten). A search of Amazon.com should turn up a
cheap copy, and you don't need the very latest edition (although I have
found some mistakes in the various editions I have owned, and the later
editions do keep getting better.) You could also check out abebooks.com
or fetchbook.info. I used to have a link to everybookstore.com but can't
find it now. Think that is the web-address. Use Google for a search on
"used books" if these don't turn anything up.

Chem-The Central Science starts from scratch and builds in logical steps,
explaining every concept in simple terms with multiple easy to follow
examples. Get the solutions manual as well as the textbook, so you can look
up the answers and check yourself. This text is used by many high schools
and colleges as a general chem text, and will not be money wasted if you are
truley interested in the subject.

Dave
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