First Term Chemistry Lecture Notes

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering basic chemistry topics from the Loyola Jesuit College SS I curriculum, including introduction to chemistry, matter, separation techniques, atomic theory, the periodic table, bonding, formulae, and the mole concept.

Chemistry

A branch of physical science that deals with the composition, properties, uses of matter and the changes matter undergo.

Research and Development Chemist

Helps companies research and discover ways to improve products or discover new marketable products, often requiring a PhD.

Quality Control Chemist

Responsible for checking that the quality of a company’s products is up to the desired standard before they are released into the market.

Production Chemist

Translates new products developed by research chemists into manufacturing processes and works with plant engineers on equipment design.

Food Chemist

Uses knowledge of chemistry to create foods with desirable qualities like better taste, longer shelf life, and safety for consumption.

Technical Service Career

Involves helping customers solve problems relating to product workability, troubleshooting, and creating instructional manuals.

Safety Officer

Responsible for handling and disposing of harmful waste, and ensuring all safety guidelines, including EPA, are enforced in a school or lab setting.

Organic Chemistry

The branch of chemistry that studies chemical compounds containing the element carbon, excluding oxides of carbon, trioxocarbonate (IV) salts, hydrogen trioxocarbonate (IV) salts, and carbides.

Inorganic Chemistry

The branch of chemistry that studies the reactions and properties of all chemical compounds that do not have the $C-H$ bonds.

Physical Chemistry

The study of the physical properties of chemical compounds using laws and concepts of physics, such as motion, energy, force, and thermodynamics.

Analytical Chemistry

The branch of chemistry dealing with the separation, identification, and quantification of chemical substances (analytes) in a given sample.

Qualitative Analysis

Processes carried out to identify a chemical substance in a given sample.

Quantitative Analysis

Involves finding out the concentration or the amount of a substance in a sample.

Biochemistry

The study of the structure, composition, and chemical reactions of components of living systems like plants, insects, and mammals.

Element

A substance which cannot be split or broken down into simpler units by ordinary chemical processes, or a substance made up of only one type of atom.

Jacob Berzelius

The scientist who, in 1814, devised the method of using unique chemical symbols to denote atoms of elements.

Metals

Elements that ionize by losing electrons; they are generally good conductors, malleable, ductile, and sonorous.

Non-metals

Elements that ionize by gaining electrons; they are generally poor conductors and have low boiling and melting points.

Mixture

A combination of two or more substances physically combined together that can be separated by physical means.

Homogeneous Mixture

A mixture in which the constituent substances are evenly distributed throughout, such as vinegar.

Heterogeneous Mixture

A mixture in which the constituent substances are not evenly distributed, such as oil and water.

Solution

A special type of homogeneous mixture in which a solute is dissolved in a solvent.

Suspension

A heterogeneous fluid mixture containing solid particles large enough for sedimentation to occur.

Colloids

Heterogeneous mixtures in which one substance is microscopically dispersed evenly throughout another substance, such as milk.

Compound

A pure substance that consists of two or more dissimilar elements chemically combined.

Physical Change

A change that is easily reversed and in which no new substance is formed, such as the melting of ice.

Chemical Change

A type of change in which a new substance is formed and is not easily reversed, such as the rusting of iron.

Sublimation

A physical change where a solid substance changes directly to the gaseous state without passing through the liquid state.

Separating Funnel

An apparatus used to separate components of a mixture between two immiscible liquid phases based on differences in density.

Chromatography

A separation technique introduced by Michael Tswett used to separate components in a liquid mixture based on their travel speeds through stationary and mobile phases.

Centrifugation

The process of separating insoluble materials from a liquid by spinning them rapidly, forced by centrifugal force.

Simple Distillation

A method used for separating two miscible liquids that boil without decomposition and have sufficient difference in their boiling points.

Fractional Distillation

Used for the separation of a mixture of two or more miscible liquids for which the difference in boiling points is small, utilizing a fractionating column.

Crystallization

A technique used to obtain a soluble salt from its solution by heating the solution to saturation and cooling it to form crystals.

Precipitation

A technique used to separate a salt which is soluble in one solvent but becomes insoluble when another miscible liquid (in which the salt is insoluble) is added.

Sieving

Used to separate solid mixtures where there is a large difference in the particle size of the components.

John Dalton

The scientist who reintroduced the concept of atoms in his 1808 book, 'A New System of Chemical Philosophy', proposing matter is composed of small particles.

Proton

A positively charged subatomic particle weighing $1.67 \times 10^{-24}$ grams located in the nucleus.

Neutron

A neutrally charged subatomic particle weighing approximately $1$ atomic mass unit, discovered by James Chadwick.

Electron

A negatively charged subatomic particle weighing $9.11 \times 10^{-28}$ grams, located in orbitals outside the nucleus.

Atomic Number ($Z$)

The number of protons in an atom.

Mass Number ($A$)

The sum of the numbers of protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom, also called the Nucleon number.

Isotopy

A phenomenon whereby two or more atoms of the same element have the same atomic number but different mass numbers due to differences in the number of neutrons.

J.J. Thomson

The scientist who discovered the electron using a discharge tube and determined its charge-to-mass ratio ($e/m$).

Ernest Rutherford

The scientist who discovered the proton (canal rays) in 1919 and suggested the existence of the neutron.

Relative Atomic Mass ($A_r$)

The number of times an average mass of an atom of an element is heavier than $1/12$th of the mass of one atom of carbon-12 isotope.

Molar Mass

The mass of one mole of a substance, expressed in $g/mol$.

Aufbau Principle

The rule stating that in filling a set of energy levels, the lowest energy level is always filled first before moving to the next.

Hund’s Rule

Also called the principle of maximum multiplicity, it states that when filling a subshell, each orbital is filled singly before pairing occurs.

Electronic Configuration

The distribution of electrons in the shells and subshells of atoms of elements.

Periodicity

The occurrence of similar properties among elements at regular intervals when arranged by increasing atomic weight or atomic number.

Periodic Law

The law stating that the properties of elements are periodic functions of their atomic numbers.

Ionization Energy

The energy required to remove an electron from the outermost shell of a free gaseous atom to form a free gaseous ion.

Atomic Radius

The size of an atom, deduced by dividing the distance between the nuclei of two atoms in covalency by $2$.

Electron Affinity

The energy given off when an electron is added to the outermost shell of an atom.

Electronegativity

The attraction that an atom in a covalent bond has for bond pair electrons.

Electropositivity

The tendency for atoms to lose electrons and become positive ions (cations).

Ionic Bonding

Also known as electrovalent bonding, it involves the transfer of electrons from a metal to a non-metal to form ions held by electrostatic force.

Covalent Bonding

A type of bonding involving the sharing of electron pairs contributed equally by participating atoms.

Coordinate (Dative) Bonding

A type of covalent bonding where host molecules or radicals provide both electrons in the shared pair.

Metallic Bonding

A union where valence electrons are delocalized and move at random through a crystal lattice of positively charged metal ions.

Van der Waals Forces

Weak intermolecular forces caused by the balance of attraction and repulsion between the nuclei and electron clouds of neighboring molecules.

Hydrogen Bonding

A strong intermolecular force occurring when hydrogen is covalently bonded to highly electronegative elements like $F, O,$ or $N$.

Valency

A measure of an element's ability to combine with other elements, determined by the number of electrons in the outer shell.

Empirical Formula

The simplest ratio of atoms in a mole of a compound.

Molecular Formula

A formula that gives the actual number of atoms of different elements in a mole of a compound.

Mole

The amount of substance which contains as many elementary particles as there are carbon atoms in $12.000$ grams of carbon-12 isotope.

Avogadro’s Constant ($N_A$)

The value $6.02 \times 10^{23}$, representing the number of elementary particles present in $1$ mole of a substance.

Gaseous Molar Volume

The volume occupied by one mole of a gas at standard temperature and pressure ($s.t.p.$), which is $22.4$ $dm^3$.

Molarity ($M$)

The concentration of a solution expressed in moles of solute per volume of solution in $dm^3$.

Synthesis Reaction

A chemical reaction that 'puts things together,' always yielding exactly one product from two or more reactants ($A + B \rightarrow AB$).

Decomposition Reaction

A chemical reaction where one reactant splits into two or more simpler substances ($AB \rightarrow A + B$).

Single Displacement Reaction

A reaction in which one element is substituted for another element in a compound ($AB + C \rightarrow AC + B$).

Double Displacement Reaction

Also called double decomposition, a reaction where two compounds swap components to form two new compounds ($AB + CD \rightarrow AD + CB$).

Acid-Base Neutralization

The reaction between an acid and a base to form salt and water.

Combustion

The combination of a substance with oxygen, releasing heat and light; often called burning.

Redox Reaction

A reaction involving both reduction (gain of electrons or removal of oxygen) and oxidation (loss of electrons or addition of oxygen).

Law of Conservation of Mass

The law stating that matter is neither created nor destroyed in the course of a chemical reaction.

Law of Definite Proportions

Also known as the law of constant composition, it states that all pure samples of the same chemical compound contain the same elements combined in the same proportions by mass.

Law of Multiple Proportions

The law stating that if two elements combine to form more than one compound, the several masses of one element combining with a fixed mass of the other are in a simple ratio.