(depending on the edition—5th or 6th) typically falls within the chapter on Molecular Symmetry and Group Theory . This is the chapter where chemistry stops looking like beakers and starts looking like abstract geometry.
Because on that page, inorganic chemistry stops being a subject and becomes a puzzle. And puzzles, no matter how hard, are always worth solving. Have you survived Page 120? Share your war story in the comments—just don’t share the illegal PDF. inorganic chemistry miessler tarr pdf 120
By page 120, the textbook has gently introduced concepts like symmetry elements, proper rotations, and reflection planes. Then, the problems at the end of the chapter ask you to assign point groups to molecules like ( \text{B}_2\text{H}_6 ) (diborane) or ( \text{XeF}_4 ). (depending on the edition—5th or 6th) typically falls
So, next time you hear a chemist mutter about “reducible representations” or “( C_{2} ) axes,” ask them if they remember page 120. They will groan. And then they will smile. And puzzles, no matter how hard, are always worth solving
But why page 120 ? And why does this particular textbook—officially titled Inorganic Chemistry by Gary L. Miessler, Paul J. Fischer, and Donald A. Tarr—inspire such a cult following?