Chapter 1: Matter and Measurement Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering fundamental chemistry terminology, classification of matter, states of matter, physical and chemical changes, SI and metric units, significant figures, and measurement concepts.

Chemistry

The study of matter, including its composition, structure, properties, and transformations.

Matter

Anything that has mass and takes up volume.

Naturally Occurring Matter

Matter that is isolated directly from nature, such as cotton, silk, hair, sand, gemstones, and digoxin.

Synthetic Matter

Human-made matter produced through chemical processes, such as nylon, polyester, styrofoam, ibuprofen, and antibiotics.

Atom

The basic building block that makes up all matter.

Chemical

A substance that has the same composition and properties wherever it is found.

Scientific Method

A set of general principles that describes how a scientist thinks and works, consisting of observations, hypotheses, experiments, and conclusions.

Observation

The step in the scientific method that involves observing nature and asking questions about what is observed.

Hypothesis

A proposed explanation of observations that can be tested through experimentation.

Experiment

A procedure or set of testing operations performed to determine whether a hypothesis is valid.

Conclusion

An analysis of experimental results that determines whether a hypothesis is true or false.

Solid

A state of matter that has a definite volume, maintains its shape regardless of its container, and has particles that lie close together in a regular three-dimensional array.

Liquid

A state of matter that has a definite volume, takes the shape of its container, and has particles that are close together but can move past one another.

Gas

A state of matter that has no definite shape or volume, expands to fill its container, and has particles that are very far apart and move randomly.

Physical Change

A change that alters the state or appearance of a material without changing its chemical composition, such as melting ice or boiling liquid water.

Chemical Change

A process or chemical reaction that converts one substance into another, such as paper burning or oxygen and hydrogen combining to form water.

Physical Property

A characteristic of a material that can be observed or measured without changing its composition, such as melting point, boiling point, solubility, color, or odor.

Chemical Property

A property that determines how a substance can be converted into another substance.

Pure Substance

Matter composed of a single component with a constant composition that cannot be broken down into other pure substances by a physical change.

Element

A pure substance that cannot be broken down into simpler substances by a chemical change.

Compound

A pure substance formed by chemically joining two or more elements.

Mixture

Matter composed of more than one component that can have a varying composition and can be separated into its components by a physical change.

Homogeneous Mixture

A mixture in which the composition is uniform throughout and individual components are not visible, such as brass or bronze.

Heterogeneous Mixture

A mixture that is not uniform throughout, where different components are visible and can be physically separated, such as copper in water or salad.

Mass

A measure of the quantity of matter contained within an object, measured in base units such as grams ($\text{g}$) or kilograms ($\text{kg}$).

Weight

The force exerted on matter due to gravity.

Volume

The amount of space occupied by a substance, calculated as $\text{Length} \times \text{Width} \times \text{Height}$.

Exact Number

A number resulting from counting discrete objects or defined by an exact relationship, possessing an infinite number of significant figures.

Inexact Number

A number resulting from a measurement or observation that contains inherent uncertainty.

Significant Figures

All the digits in a measured number, including all certain digits and one final estimated digit.

International System of Units (SI)

The official standard measurement system used worldwide by scientists for length, volume, mass, temperature, and time.

Temperature

A measure of the hotness or coldness of an object, reflecting its average kinetic energy.

Intrinsic Property

A physical property that does not depend on the amount of substance present, such as density, color, boiling point, or melting point.

Extrinsic Property

A physical property that depends directly on the amount of substance present, such as mass, volume, or solubility.

Density

A physical property relating the mass of a substance to its volume, calculated using the formula $\text{Density} = \frac{\text{Mass}}{\text{Volume}}$.

Specific Gravity

A unitless quantity comparing the density of a substance to the density of water at the same temperature, calculated as $\text{Specific Gravity} = \frac{\text{Density of substance}}{\text{Density of water}}$.

Factor-Label Method

A problem-solving method that uses conversion factors to transform a quantity in one unit into an equivalent quantity in a different unit.

Conversion Factor

A fraction derived from an equality relationship that converts a value expressed in one unit into another unit.