State of the Union Address

[Anonymous]

>I guess those high school students aren't the only ones with no clear
>idea of the way the world works.  While salt water does not ordinarily
>explode, in this case salt water is the ultimate product -- but massive
>heat released when acids and bases join and recombine to produce salts
>(in this case table salt) and water.

Interesting thread. While we're on the topic of chemistry and heat:

Does anyone happen to know how to figure the energy requirements or yields
for a reaction? My college chemistry book doesn't say a whole lot about it.
In fact it doesn't say enough to actually be useful at all; it gives
energies for four or five different bonds in a table and then launches into
a really bad explanation of how to calculate this. 

If I have to use a table of bond energies is there one available online? Or
is there a simpler way to just calculate the bloody things?

I really ought to take more chemistry courses before I get my diploma. Or at
the very least audit them.