Welcome to the Chemistry Tutoring Center Home Page

Hello! My name is Liina Ladon. You may find me in Smith Hall, Rm 538 where I tutor chemistry ( most of the time). I also coordinate tutoring for biology and physics at Towson University. My telephone extension is: x4-3054. Sorry, I don't provide a "dial-a-tutor" service! (Please do not ask me to tutor over the phone.)  In addition to biology, chemistry and physics, you may also want to check out out B.S. in Forensic Chemistry program and our new M.S. in Forensic Science program!   Science tutoring is free of charge for Towson University students taking many lower-level science classes. The tutoring center is located in SM538, and is a walk-in service during the times the center is open.
The general hours are Monday thru Thursdays, 8:00am - 6:00pm.

           Here are the tutoring schedules for Spring 2015: 

Biology Tutoring        Chemistry Tutoring        Physics Tutoring

        Here is similar information concerning tutoring in other areas in the College of Science and Mathematics (CSM) at Towson University:

          Spence Mathematics Tutoring Center located in Room 105 of the 7800 York Rd. building.

Computer Science Tutoring

For tutoring services outside of CSM, contact the Academic Achievement Center office. This office is located in CK524, phone: x2291and is directed by Elizabeth Scarbrough.  The Academic Achievement Center holds free workshops each semester on enhancing study skills. Here is their schedule of workshops.
Visit the Academic Achievement Center for more information about tutoring for other courses.  This office is located in CK524, phone x2291 and is directed by Elizabeth Scarbrough.  The Academic Achievement Center hold free workshops each semester on enhancing study skills.  Here is their schedule of workshops

 

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Study Aids for Chemistry

Over the years, I have written a number of chemistry study aids which Towson students have found helpful. Here are the study aids available as of June 3, 2014.

"Unless otherwise noted, all handouts and materials on this website were developed by Liina Ladon of the Chemistry Tutoring Center at Towson University. Permission is granted to use and duplicate these materials for non-profit educational use, under the following conditions: 1) No changes or modifications will be made without written permission from the author. 2) The user will acknowledge the source and copyright interests of the author by attaching the following statement: '© Copyright, 2001, L. Ladon. Used with permission.' and 3) 'Permission is granted to provide hyperlinks to this site, but not to individual handouts. Please notify owner by e-mail: lladon@towson.edu" Thank you for your cooperation. Liina Ladon

I am in the process of revamping the page.  I will be supplying the handouts as the Microsoft Word document  version in addition to the the original html format.  I hope that the new Word version will be crisper, more printable, and I've made just a few wording changes for clarity and corrected some errors.  As I finish each, you will see an additional link for the Word version.  Based on feedback/requests, I will continue to add problem sets associated with each each topic.  

To all the freshmen out there....the transition from high school to college can be challenging!  Here is a excellent comparison of how college is different from high school! Thank you to the learning center at SMU for providing this resource!

At the request and efforts of Bohdan Zograf, the Belorussian translation of this page is available.

General Chemistry

Chemical Equilibria This handout deals with qualitative and quantitative aspects of chemical equilibria.   

Word document format           Problem set on chemical equilibria             Answer key to problem set

      Anders Nielsen has put together a nice site on Chemical Equilibrium. His site includes some practical applications of chemical  equilibria. I highly recommend it as a resource.

Concentration Units: This handout deals with concentration units such as weight percent, molarity, molality, parts per million, and how to interconvert between these units.

Word document format              Problem set on concentration units                Answer key to problem set

Empirical Formula: This handout deals with determining the empirical formula of a compound from the percentage composition and other types of experimental data. 

Word document format              Problem set on empirical formulas                Answer key to problem set

Energy Calculations This handout deals with energy calculations encountered in a freshman general chemistry class.                                                                                                                                      

Word document format    Here are some practice problems for Hess' Law.         Answer key to problem set

Acid/Base Equilibria This handout deals with acid/base equilibrium calculations.                                  

Word document format         Problem set on acids and bases            Answer key to problem set

          Acid/Base “Toolbox”   A compilation of useful equations used in acid/base calculations.          

           Word document format                

Writing the Formula of Inorganic Compounds This handout deals with how to write the formula of an inorganic compound from its name.   

  Word document format

Ideal and Real Gases This handout deals with the various ideal gas laws and the van der Waals real gas law.  

Word document format    NEW!!   Problem set on gas laws            Answer key to problem set
                                                                                                           
Chemical Kinetics This handout deals with determining the rate law and the energy of activation from experimental data.      Word document format    Here are some practice problems for kinetics.

Drawing Lewis Structures This handout provides some helpful tips on drawing Lewis structures.  

  Word document format


Stoichiometry Problems This handout deals with typical stoichiometry problems encountered in general chemistry.    
Word document format   

Limiting Reagent This handout deals specifically with how to do limiting reagent problems.  The new Word document has an expanded, improved version of this handout.  

  Word document format       Problem set on stoichiometry           Answer key to problem set


Net Ionic Equations New and improved!! This handout deals with how to write net ionic equations.

Net Ionic Equations Practice Problems  (html format)     Word document format           
Answer Key to Net Ionic Equations Practice Problems  (html format)     Word document format

Naming Inorganic Compounds This handout deals with how to name inorganic compounds from their formula.   
Word document format

Determining Oxidation States This handout deals with finding oxidation states and determining whether a substance is oxidized or reduced.
  Word document format

Balancing Redox Reactions in Acid Solution This handout deals with how to balance redox reactions in acidic solution using the half reaction method.  
Word document format

Balancing Redox Reactions in Base Solution This handout deals with how to balance redox reactions in basic solution using the half reaction method.   
Word document format     
Redox Practice Problems     Word document format

Shapes of Molecules This handout deals with the hybridization and geometry of molecules.  
Word document format

Significant Figures This handout deals with how to recognize significant figures, and how to carry significant figures through in a calculation.   
  Word document format


Unit Conversions This handout deals with how to carry out unit conversions within the metric system, and between English/metric systems.  
  Word document format           Problem set on unit conversions             Answer key for problem set

Need a conversion factor ? Check out this site! 

Solubility Equilibria This handout deals with different types of problems involving solubility equilibria.
        
Word document format          Problem set on solubility equilibria        Answer key for problem set

Interparticle Forces This handout diagrams the different types of interparticle forces.  
Word document format.

           Electrochemistry   This handout deals with galvanic cells, cell potentials, and electrolysis.

           Word document format

 
(More study aids will be added in the future).

These general chemistry study aids were written by my friend and colleague, Dr. Alan J. Pribula, here at Towson University:

Chemical Reactions This handout deals with different types of chemical reactions, how to recognize them, and how to predict products.  

Word document format

Suggestions for Studying General Chemistry This handout has some very useful study tips for general chemistry.  

Word document format

Also check out How to Study Chemistry from Dr. Michael Perk's Organic Chemistry web page. Dr. Perks is a fellow colleague from UMBC.

Dr. Crystal Yau, another friend and colleague at CCBC Catonsville, has graciously allowed me to include her handouts on this web page:

Rounding Off Numbers This handout deals with how to round off numbers using scientific notation.

When to Use Scientific Notation As the title implies, this handout deals with knowing when to use scientific notation.

Organic Chemistry

Hybridization of Carbon This handout reviews sp3,sp2 and sp hybridization of the carbon atom. 

Word document format

Organic Synthesis Strategies This handout provides insight on planning an organic synthesis. 

Word document format

Drawing Resonance Structures This handout deals with how to draw resonance structures.

Word document format

Determination of R/S Configuration This handout has my unique method for assigning group priorities to determine the R/S configuration of optically active organic compounds.

Word document format

Strategies for the Identification of an Unknown Organic Compound This handout provides strategies for identifying an organic compound from experimental data.

Word document format

Determining Ortho, Meta and Para Substitution This handout provides an easy way to predict ortho, meta or para substitution on monosubstituted benzene rings.

          Word document format

Drawing Mechanisms This handout provides help in learning how to draw mechanisms.

Word document format

Here are some other useful chemistry resources for teachers:

Concept Tests and Challenge Problems developed by our department. Due to differences in browsers, I can't guarantee you won't have to edit each page, but if the Universe is kind, you should be able to print these out for use on overhead projectors or use them with other multimedia formats. I am in the process of converting these files to Adobe Acrobat files which should eliminate most formatting difficulties.

Concept Tests developed outside of our department.

Curious about what we do at Towson University for our introductory courses? Visit our Introductory Chemistry Web site.

Here are the syllabi for courses I have taught:

CHEM103: Foundations of Chemistry Fall 2013 

CHEM132 General Chemistry II Fall 2013

CHEM131 General Chemistry I  Summer 2013

CHEM132 General Chemistry II Summer 2013

CHEM110/111 General Chemistry I and II for Ner Israel Spring/Summer 2012

CHEM332: Organic Chemistry II

Here are the prelabs and postlabs for your convenience:
Prelab for Experiment 1: Preparation of Vanillyl Alcohol
Prelab for Experiment 2: Preparation of Adipic Acid
Prelab for Experiment 3: Preparation of Benzoic Acid
Prelab for Experiment 4A: Preparation of alpha-chloro-2,6-dimethylacetanilide
Prelab for Experiment 4B: Preparation of Lidocaine
Prelab for Experiment 5: Preparation of Isobutyl Propionate
Postlab for Experiment 1: Preparation of Vanillyl Alcohol
Postlab for Experiment 2: Preparation of Adipic Acid
Postlab for Experiment 3: Preparation of Benzoic Acid
Postlab for Experiment 4A: Preparation of alpha-chloro-2,6-dimethylacetanilide
Postlab for Experiment 4B: Preparation of Lidocaine
Postlab for Experiment 5: Preparation of Isobutyl Propionate


Here are some other useful links:

On September 28, 2003, our department suffered a great loss with the untimely death of Dr. Linda Sweeting. Among her many accomplishments is her excellent homepage. I consider this page part of her legacy to students everywhere and will continue to administer the page on her behalf and in her memory. Dr. Sweeting's Home Page Organic Chemistry Web Site has nice pictures, organic reaction summaries and a great drill program to practice doing organic reactions!

Need more practice problems for organic chemistry?  Go to Dr. Jill Discordia's website and you'll find hundreds of them! 

          Professor William Reusch at Michigan State University has a nice organic chemistry site with drill problems    for you to practice various organic concepts.

E.A. Nelson has a extensive website, ChemReveiw.NET with over 600 pages of help with chemistry calculations. It is also good source of practice problems with answers!

Mister Guch's website has some pretty standard links to chemistry tutorial sites.
The folks at Southwestern Illinois College have put together a nice site with many links to references, study skills help, and tutorial sites for many different subject areas.

The American Elements company has a nice interactive periodic table from which you can find properties, applications, safety data, and research on elements of the periodic table. Thank you to Laura Lovekin for recommending this site.

A very comprehensive site on everything you could possibly want to know about mathematics will be found at Mathematics HQ . Everything Mathematics, from A Math Dictionary For Kids to World Of Mathematics.
A very nice comprehensive list of useful links can be found at this site in Liverpool . Thanks to Michael H. Barker for suggesting this site!

Want to get some practice taking the MCAT and other exams such as the GRE? Go to Testpreview.com . My thanks to Joshua L. Stewart for recommending this site.

For those of you looking for scholarships to colleges and universities, visit ScholarshipHelp.org. Thanks to Kate McDiarmind for recommending this site.

If you are looking for a good, easy to use graphing program (shareware!), try CurveExpert. We use it extensively with our students.

If you want to see what our students are up to, visit the Towson University chapter of the Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society, SAACS home page! They have some interesting projects you might be interested in, such as their green chemistry project.  Also, visit the American Chemical Society website designed for undergraduates.

Check out the website for the American Chemical Society. If you want to see the diverse types of jobs chemists can hold, check out the "Enthusiasts" folder at this site!

If you are looking for tutoring in just about any subject -- "accounting to zoology", go to Tutorgig.com and you probably will find a useful site!

Hot vs. Not is a search directory you can use to surf the web. Check it out!

Another site where you can find numerous resources on multiple topics is QW learning. There are numerous links to chemistry resources at the chemistry tutorials link on the sidebar.


If you are looking for a really neat site to visit when you don't feel like doing chemistry, visit Africam. The site has cameras set up at various waterholes, and if you are patient, you will see who comes to drink. The best times to visit are at sunrise or sunset (their time). To see my "critter gallery" of images click here. This site is also very educational -- the Djuma Game Preserve site has a nice section which gives information about the animals and their habits.

This home page was originally constructed using the HotDogPro web editor. Currently, I am using Sharepoint Designer as my web editor. The structures found in the handouts were generated using ISISDraw software and formated for the web using ChemWeb software. The Introductory Chem Web Page was constructed using Microsoft Front Page and Adobe Acrobat 5.0. is a nice site for icons, banners, images. Last revision: June 3, 2014

Your feedback is welcome. My e-mail address is:  lladon@towson.edu.