By tackling the most central ideas in chemistry Why Chemical Reactions Happen provides the reader with all the tools & concepts needed to think like a chemist The text takes a unified approach to the subject aiming to help the reader develop a real overview of chemical processes by avoiding the traditional divisions of physical inorganic & organic chemistry To understand how chemical reactions happen we need to know about the bonding in molecules how molecules interact what determines whether an interaction is favourable or not & what the outcome will be Answering these questions requires an understanding of topics from quantum mechanics through thermodynamics to curly arrows In this book all of these topics are presented in a coherent & coordinated fashion showing how each leads to a deeper understanding of chemical reactions