r/chemhelp 1d ago

Discussion Start of term check-in

3 Upvotes

Hello all!

School terms are beginning and this is typically when we see an influx of posts asking for general advice, guidance on getting through a class, or seeking assurance that everything will be okay. Let us know what courses you are in this term, your biggest concerns, or whatever may be on your mind!

Best of luck!


r/chemhelp Aug 21 '25

Announcements New Ownership

21 Upvotes

Hello fellow Chemists! I just wanted to introduce myself as the new head mod of this subreddit. A little about myself: I am a PhD Candidate in Chemical Biology. For me, this means that 60% of my work involves organic synthesis and the other 40% is applying my novel compounds to mammalian cells. Specifically, I am interested in early detection of diseases. In addition to my research, I have TA'd for both general and organic chemistry labs and have been tutoring students in organic chemistry for three years. Aside from my academic qualifications, I am also a moderator for another rather large subreddit. I saw that this sub needed a little bit of updating, but it did not seem like the moderators were active any longer. So, I gained ownership through r/redditrequest. I did not realize it would remove all the other moderators, but alas here we are.

Overall, I feel like this sub is fairly self-regulating. I frequently see good discussions and people generally are following the already existing rules. With that said, there are some changes I was considering, and would love input:

  1. New rule prohibiting commenters from solving the problem for the OP. To enforce this, the violating comment can be reported and removed by moderators. I don't see this happen often, but I have seen it occur and put an end to an otherwise good discussion thread.
  2. Mandate students include their work in their submission. Frequently, students post a picture of the question, with no work done and the caption "help please." Then in the comments you end up with people asking the OP to show their work, but from what I have seen they seldom do so. Mandating that students show work would entail removal of low effort posts by moderators. This may not be necessary since generally, commenters request more info from OP anyways, but was curious if people would like to see more enforcement on this end.
  3. What do you want to see? Those are the immediate things I was considering adding, but I would love to know if there is anything else people may want to see. I had other ideas, but I don't want to complicate a sub that I feel is already doing pretty well. Please let me know your ideas, I would love to hear them. Talk to you all soon!

Note: Please do not reach out to me about becoming a moderator. I will looking into recruiting in the near future. For now, I just wanted to get oriented.


r/chemhelp 9h ago

Organic Wrong Question I guess? None of them is heterocyclic

Post image
8 Upvotes

To be hetrocyclic the conditions are:

- A close ring

- An atom other than Carbon Or Hydrogen in the PC

Right?


r/chemhelp 1h ago

General/High School What are your favourite topics that you’d suggest an A level student to learn (outside of the curriculum)?

Upvotes

GCSE student going into A level this year. I was doing summer work and found some cool things to research like liquid ions and crystalline solids vs amorphous solids. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for topics I could research for fun?

A lot of the other ones I’ve found online so far either have a lot of terms I don’t understand yet, or lean more into biology than chemistry. It’ll be great to hear a few ideas!

Thanks!


r/chemhelp 2h ago

General/High School what is hybridization?

1 Upvotes

i'd say i have an average understanding of what it is...like i know it's a hybrid of orbitals like sp3, sp2, etc. but can someone explain it in full detail? my chemistry teacher teaches very fast-paced and i feel like im missing something.

i guess i just dont really understand how the electrons are filled in the hybrid orbitals and also how an sp2 orbital works.

could someone please help? thank you!!


r/chemhelp 11h ago

Organic What will the IUPAC name? Is thr numbering of PC correct?

Post image
4 Upvotes

r/chemhelp 6h ago

General/High School Absorbance and excitation / emission spectra in spectroscopy

1 Upvotes

Can anyone give me an ELI5 (not literally, but I don't understand quantum 😐) on why absorbance spectra are not the same as excitation spectra in e.g. fluorescence spectroscopy? I mean, the excitation (which I assume means promotion of an electron) follows absorption of a photon, right? So you would kind of expect them to be the same. I get that they measure different things, but still if absorption as a function of wavelength has a particular shape then surely you would see the same shape for emission as a function of absorption?


r/chemhelp 9h ago

General/High School I have completed a few exercises in this book: MCE Cambridge IGCSE Chemistry Theory Workbook, but have no answer key. Does anyone have a copy of it?

1 Upvotes

I have done bits and bits from some parts of the book, so I need the whole thing.


r/chemhelp 10h ago

Physical/Quantum How can a radial node exist within the first Bohr Orbit??

0 Upvotes

I was solving this question and I loved it
(You can try if you want to)

The answer is (2)

The solution is by equation the radial wave function equation to zero, then finding the values of x as 1, 2, 6 and then substituting it in x=2r/a

On solving it we get to know there are 3 possible values of "x" that are 1, 2, 6
which means n-l-1=3
we also know that since at x=0, the value of the equation is not Zero and therefore there is electron probability at the centre, Therefore it's a "s" orbital

so it is obv 4s as it has 3 radial nodes

The minimum distance of the Radial node is a/2 which simply shouldn't be possible right??

Because how can a Radial node or probability of electron be Zero before the "first Bohr orbit" that is 1s

The solution a/2 means there is a radial node before the 1s orbit, But how can a node or 4s exist before 1s? It will face shielding and we all know 4s is an outer orbital and it also has higher energy

I would love if someone could solve this doubt of Quantum Physics


r/chemhelp 7h ago

Organic Guys help I know nothing about organic chemistry and I’m taking it this semester

0 Upvotes

Omg guys I’m major in chem engineering and this semester I’m taking organic chemistry and I don’t get anything. I mean my foundation on chem is actually kinda weak bc I got C+ and D in chem 1 and 2, respectively. And I don’t want to get such grades in organic chemistry I actually want to improve but since the two lectures I took I don’t understand ANYTHING. it feels like a complete gibberish, I paid attention and took notes but it’s just not adding up, it doesn’t make sense to me whatsoever. Soooo any recommendations? Good YouTube videos or methods that could help?
+
I also get told things like “how is u majoring in chem engineering and you don’t know those basic stuff” not just organic chem things basically anything related to my field and I feel sooooo insecure bc of this but I’m trying to learn of course I ain’t gone know everything ☹️😢


r/chemhelp 12h ago

General/High School how do i write perfect deconstruct and evaluation paras for design practical about titration

1 Upvotes
  1. anyone for chem design practical for titration in the deconstruct sectoin do i wanna highlight every justification as subtopics or jst write it as jst paragraphs
  2. plus anyone know how to write perfect evaluation for the report what to mention and write about for good grade

r/chemhelp 19h ago

Organic Stereochemical descriptors for polygodial

Post image
2 Upvotes

I am having trouble figuring out the chirality of this molecule. From my working, I am getting a: R; b: R; c: R; d: E, but that is not an option in the list of possible answers:

  1. a: R; b: R; c: R; d: Z
  2. a: S; b: R; c: R; d: Z
  3. a: S; b: S; c: R; d: Z
  4. a: S; b: R; c: R; d: E
  5. a: R; b: S; c: S; d: E
  6. a: S; b: S; c: S; d: E
  7. a: S; b: S; c: R; d: E
  8. a: R; b: S; c: S; d: Z

Am I wrong or is there a mistake in the quiz?


r/chemhelp 1d ago

Inorganic Clarifying P-R σ* Molecular Orbital for PR₃

4 Upvotes

Hello everyone, I am taking organometallic chemistry and we are currently going over phosphine's properties as a ligand. I understand that a filled d-orbital in the metal will π-backbond to the PR₃ LUMO, I also understand how the orbitals above combine to form the LUMO. What I'm having a bit of a struggle with is how the P-R σ* orbital on the left is forming. What I think is happening is the drawing underneath.

I would like clarification if the orbitals can add in this fashion. Basically treating them as vectors whose components can sum or cancel each other. In the above diagram the two orbitals with the same phase cancel their components that point in opposite direction and sum in the same direction. Inverse for orbitals with opposite phase.

If there is a correct way to visualize how the three P-R σ* orbitals sum to form the overall MO please let me know!

Thank you in advance for any clarification you can provide.

p.s.

Sorry if my drawings are unclear. I wasn't trying to do Newman projections just trying to show the perspective looking down along the C₃ axis.


r/chemhelp 1d ago

Organic Can anybody help me with these ? I’m not sure if I’m getting it right

Post image
4 Upvotes

r/chemhelp 17h ago

Inorganic soluble Plastics

Thumbnail
1 Upvotes

r/chemhelp 1d ago

Organic OChem Students: Help me improve handwriting recognition (and get a free Semester Pass)

6 Upvotes

Hi all,

I'm an organic chemistry instructor/YouTuber and I've been building a project called OChemNinja, a pen-first organic chemistry practice website where students draw structures like the exam and receive instant feedback (see gif for example).

One feature I'm actively improving is pen-drawn handwriting recognition. The Honeycomb Vision works by comparing what students draw against the intended organic structure. More "real student" handwriting samples would help improve recognition across different writing styles and devices.

I'm looking for volunteers willing to:

  1. Use a pen/tablet device (the site works with mouse/trackpad, but that doesn't need handwriting recognition).
  2. Create a free account.
  3. Complete the tutorial with the handwriting capture exercises.

As a thank you, I'll grant a free Semester Pass to the practice website for the first 50 users who complete the process using a pen/tablet (if that's ok with the mods. Otherwise, I can rely on the goodwill of fellow redditors).

The tutorial should only take a few minutes and the captured drawings are used to improve recognition performance for future students.

Site: https://ochemninja.com, follow the link to sign up, then open the tutorial.

If you complete it, send me a message (or email support at ochemninja dot com with the account email you used) and I'll activate the pass.

I'm also happy to answer questions about the project or the recognition system.

Thanks!


r/chemhelp 22h ago

Biochemisty Biochem DNA analysis help

1 Upvotes

If someone can help me with the answers I chose for questions 1-4) for the vector map of pET-24a(+)

1) Kan(3936-4748)

2) ori (3227)

3)

All the restriction enzymes here

4)

Maybe Xba I(276) >


r/chemhelp 23h ago

Organic I need help in finding a review paper from Science Direct

Thumbnail
1 Upvotes

Please help it'll mean a lot 👉🏼👈🏼


r/chemhelp 1d ago

Organic Chimica di base

0 Upvotes

Sono M38 con un diploma alberghiero e con gli anni ho sviluppato l interesse nel agricoltura ma vedo che ci sono delle nozioni basilari che nn possiedo, spesso le mie curiosità non sono soddisfatte da questo meraviglioso mondo che é internet. Mi mancano proprio le basi della chimica per poter utilizzare al meglio i fertilizzanti per capire come interagisco con le piante e con il suolo.

Avreste dei testi da consigliarmi?


r/chemhelp 1d ago

Other Can anyone recommend me any channels/tips on these following topics?

Post image
1 Upvotes

Heya! For context, i am joining an division chemistry olympiad (the one that leads to the IcHo) , i am struggling to find videos related to these (mostly on right, but also the electronic structure of atoms and especially about the acid-base equilibria and salt equilibria, electrochemistry, & equilibrium), the contest is like in 4th of September and kind of find it hard to study these since these are advanced topics. I am familiar with the ones on the left but struggle on the right topics (starting at thermochemistry) and advanced topics as stated below. Can anyone give me channels/worksheets/recommendations or tips based on these topics? (Tried asking the other subreddit but just redirected to me here)


r/chemhelp 2d ago

Organic Substitution of alcohols. I dont know what the difference is between HCl and HCl + ZnCl2. Are they the same?

Post image
15 Upvotes

Thank you very much for your help


r/chemhelp 1d ago

General/High School Naming molecular, ionic compounds, polyatomic ions, acids, and writing chemical formulas.

2 Upvotes

Hi! I was wondering if there is a simplier way to remember all of the rules for these topics/is there a group of rules that I have to remember for naming these compounds, ions, or acids and writing chemical formulas.


r/chemhelp 2d ago

Organic Enantiomer vs diastereomer vs structural isomer vs identical?

3 Upvotes

hi guys, could someone explain whether these are enantiomers, diastereomers, identical, or structural isomers and how/why? It's really hard for me to assign R and S on a Newman projection. Thanks!


r/chemhelp 2d ago

Inorganic What exactly is an acid?

14 Upvotes

Firstly, does it have 3 definitions because it's like a thing we observe but can't really explain just like how nobody can define a chair without over or under counting?

Then what does OH- have to do with it? H+ is a proton so works, but OH- is such a random ion, why does it get the main role in of the definitions? So also tell why is water nuetral and H2S is slightly acidic or why is water nuetral in general?


r/chemhelp 2d ago

General/High School Tutoring available?

Thumbnail
gallery
4 Upvotes

Hello everyone! Would anyone be willing to tutor me? Just started ‘introduction to chemistry’ and it’s a little complicated.