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New and Updated Case Studies
Chapter 4, "Mind Games": A man uses thallium to poison his next-door neighbors
Chapter 5, "No Motive, No Opportunity": A possible wrongful conviction and imprisonment in the "insulin murder" of Nic McCarthy
Chapter 12, "Elimination by Irradiation": The internationally publicized and allegedly politically motivated assassination of Alexander Litvinenko with a dose of polonium
Other case studies have been updated where new information is available.
Stronger Connections between Forensic Science and Chemical Concepts
Each case study ends with a number of questions connecting the facts of the case to the concepts in the chapter. Answering these questions helps students big ideas of chemistry to the case study and other applications.
Forensic Simulations
These interactive scenarios (available in the new ChemPortal) put students in the role of investigators, solving a realistic criminal case. As the case unfolds, students can make choices on how to proceed, with their ultimate success dependent on understanding the investigative process and the basic chemical concepts at play in the case.
Greater Emphasis on Bonding
In response to reviewers, the new edition offers earlier, stronger emphasis on ionic and covalent bonding:
Chapter 4, Chemical Evidence, gives an introduction to ionic and covalent bonding, as well as to the basics of reactions and to the concept of the mole.
Chapter 5, Chemistry of Bonding: Structure and Function of Drug Molecules, provides more detail about such important concepts as covalent bonding, Lewis structures, and VSEPR theory.
Chapter 6 focuses on aqueous solutions—the kind most often familiar to students.
Chapter 7 examines the details of solutions chemistry, especially intermolecular properties as evidenced by the freezing point and boiling point of solutions
