General Chemistry I: Foundations, Bonding, and Reactions

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering fundamental chemistry topics including measurement principles, atomic structure, periodic properties, bonding models, molecular geometry, stoichiometry, aqueous solutions, and oxidation-reduction reactions.

Qualitative Measurements

Measurements that are descriptive in nature rather than numerical.

Quantitative Measurements

Measurements that consist of numerical values.

Systematic Error

A determinate error that occurs consistently in the same direction, being either higher or lower than the true value.

Random Error

An indeterminate error that has an equal probability of being too high or too low, making it difficult to correct.

Precision

The agreement or closeness among a series of measured values.

Accuracy

The closeness of a measured value to the actual, known value.

Intensive Physical Properties

Properties that are independent of the amount of substance being measured.

Extensive Physical Properties

Properties that depend directly on the amount of matter measured.

Endothermic

A process where heat transfers from the surroundings to the system, causing the energy of the system to increase while the surroundings lose energy.

Exothermic

A process where heat transfers from the system to the surroundings, causing the energy of the system to decrease while the surroundings gain energy.

Pure Substance

Matter that is composed of only one component.

Mixture

A substance composed of two or more components in proportions that can vary.

Element

A substance that cannot be chemically broken down into simpler substances.

Compound

A substance composed of two or more elements in fixed, definite proportions.

Isotopes

Atoms of the same element that have the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons.

Cations

Positively charged ions, typically formed by metal elements.

Anions

Negatively charged ions, typically formed by nonmetal elements.

Mole

A counting unit equal to Avogadro's number ($6.022 \times 10^{23}$ particles).

Molar Mass

The mass in grams of $1\,\text{mol}$ of atoms or molecules of a substance.

Amplitude

The vertical height of a wave; serves as a measure of light intensity.

Wavelength

The distance covered by a wave along its path.

Frequency

The number of waves that pass a fixed point in a given period of time.

Constructive Interference

The interaction of in-phase waves that combine to produce a wave with a larger amplitude.

Destructive Interference

The interaction of out-of-phase waves that cancel each other out.

Principal Quantum Number ($n$)

An integer ($n \ge 1$) that designates the main energy level and overall size of an orbital.

Angular Momentum Quantum Number ($l$)

A quantum number taking integer values from $0$ to $n - 1$ that determines the geometric shape of an orbital.

Magnetic Quantum Number ($m_l$)

An integer specifying the spatial orientation of an orbital, taking values from $-l$ to $+l$, including $0$.

Spin Quantum Number ($m_s$)

A quantum number specifying the orientation of an electron's spin, with values of $+\frac{1}{2}$ or $-\frac{1}{2}$.

Pauli Exclusion Principle

The principle stating that no two electrons in an atom may have the exact same set of four quantum numbers, requiring spins to cancel out within an orbital.

Aufbau Principle

The rule that energy levels and sublevels fill with electrons from lowest energy to highest ($s \rightarrow p \rightarrow d \rightarrow f$).

Hund's Rule

The rule that when filling degenerate orbitals, one electron is placed into each orbital before electrons are paired up.

Core Electrons

Electrons occupying the completely filled lower energy shells of an atom.

Valence Electrons

Electrons residing in the highest principal energy level that participate in chemical bonding.

Paramagnetism

The state of an atom or ion having unpaired electrons, generating a net magnetic field.

Diamagnetism

The state of an atom or ion having all electrons paired, producing no net magnetic field.

Ionization Energy

The minimum energy required to remove an electron from an atom or ion in the gas phase.

Electron Affinity

The energy change associated with adding an electron to the valence shell of a gaseous atom.

Metallic Character

The degree to which an element exhibits the chemical and physical properties typical of a metal.

Ionic Bond

A chemical bond resulting from the electrostatic attraction formed when electrons transfer from a metal to a nonmetal.

Covalent Bond

A chemical bond formed when nonmetal atoms share pairs of electrons.

Empirical Formula

The simplest whole-number ratio of the different atoms present in a chemical compound.

Molecular Formula

A chemical formula that specifies the actual number of atoms of each element in a molecule.

Octet Rule

A bonding guideline where atoms tend to gain, lose, or share electrons to attain eight valence electrons, matching a noble gas configuration.

Lattice Energy

The energy released when separate gaseous ions condense to form an ionic crystalline solid.

Electronegativity

The ability of an atom to attract shared bonding electrons toward itself.

Dipole Moment

A quantitative measure of bond or molecular polarity, directly proportional to the magnitude of partial charges ($q$) and the distance between them ($r$).

Resonance Structures

Two or more valid Lewis structures that have identical atomic arrangements but differ in the distribution of electrons.

Formal Charge

An electron bookkeeping value calculated as: $\text{Valence Electrons} - (\text{Nonbonding Electrons} + \frac{1}{2} \times \text{Bonding Electrons})$.

VSEPR Theory

Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion theory; posits that electron groups around a central atom repel each other and adopt geometry that maximizes their distance apart.

Sigma Bond ($\sigma$)

A covalent bond formed by the end-to-end overlap of atomic orbitals pointing along the internuclear axis.

Pi Bond ($\pi$)

A covalent bond formed by the side-to-side overlap of parallel, unhybridized p orbitals perpendicular to the internuclear axis.

Bond Order

A value equal to one-half the difference between the number of bonding electrons and antibonding electrons.

Limiting Reactant

The reactant that is completely consumed first in a chemical reaction, thereby limiting the amount of product formed.

Theoretical Yield

The maximum amount of product that can be generated in a reaction, calculated from the complete consumption of the limiting reactant.

Molarity ($M$)

A concentration unit defined as the number of moles of solute dissolved per liter of solution.

Electrolytes

Substances that dissolve in water to yield component ions, producing an electrically conductive solution.

Spectator Ions

Ions that remain unchanged on both reactant and product sides of a chemical equation and do not participate in the reaction.

Net Ionic Equation

A chemical equation written after removing spectator ions, displaying only the species directly participating in the chemical change.

Arrhenius Acid

A compound that dissociates in aqueous solution to produce hydrogen ions ($H^+$).

Arrhenius Base

A compound that dissociates in aqueous solution to produce hydroxide ions ($OH^-$).

Neutralization Reaction

A reaction in which an acid reacts with a base to form water and a dissolved ionic salt.

Oxidation

The process involving the loss of electrons, characterized by an increase in oxidation state.

Reduction

The process involving the gain of electrons, characterized by a decrease in oxidation state.

Oxidizing Agent

A reactant that causes the oxidation of another substance by accepting electrons, thereby being reduced itself.

Reducing Agent

A reactant that causes the reduction of another substance by donating electrons, thereby being oxidized itself.