Introduction to Chemistry: Classification of Matter, States, and Scientific Notation

Flashcards covering vocabulary terms related to states of matter, pure substances, mixtures, periodic table divisions, scientific notation, and scientific calculator keys.

Supercritical fluid

A form of matter occurring at high temperature that is neither distinctly a gas nor a liquid, but exhibits intermediate properties between both.

Plasma

A state of matter in which atoms are broken apart into subatomic components, such as electrons, protons, and neutrons, rather than remaining as intact atoms or molecules.

Aqueous ($AQ$)

A chemical state shorthand notation indicating that a chemical species is dissolved in water.

Crystalline solid

A solid in which atoms or molecules are arranged in a highly organized, rigid, and repeating three-dimensional structure.

Amorphous solid

A solid that lacks a long-range orderly structure throughout, consisting instead of small organized regions oriented randomly relative to one another.

Matter

Anything in the universe that occupies space and has mass.

Composition

The specific makeup or combination of chemicals present within a given sample of matter.

Element

One of roughly $100$ fundamental substances (or types of atom) that cannot be broken down into simpler chemical substances by chemical means.

Compound

A substance formed by combining two or more elements together in a specific, fixed ratio, possessing properties distinct from its constituent elements.

Pure substance

A category of matter consisting of only a single element or a single compound.

Mixture

A combination of two or more pure substances that can be separated back into their constituent components using physical changes.

Homogeneous mixture

A mixture that possesses a uniform composition and appearance throughout.

Heterogeneous mixture

A mixture that has a nonuniform or lumpy composition containing visibly or microscopic distinct regions.

Subscript

A small number written below the line to the right of an element symbol in a chemical formula to indicate the number of atoms of that element.

Metals

Elements located to the left of the heavy stair-step boundary line on the periodic table, excluding hydrogen.

Nonmetals

Elements located to the right of the heavy stair-step boundary line on the periodic table, along with hydrogen.

Scientific notation

A system of expressing numbers as a coefficient with one digit before the decimal point multiplied by $10$ raised to an integer exponent ($n$).

Positive exponent ($10^n$)

An exponent in scientific notation indicating multiplication by $10$ a total of $n$ times, which corresponds to moving the decimal point $n$ places to the right.

Negative exponent ($10^{-n}$)

An exponent in scientific notation indicating division by $10$ a total of $n$ times, which corresponds to moving the decimal point $n$ places to the left.

Scientific notation calculator button ($EE$, $EXP$, or $\times 10^x$)

A key on scientific calculators used to directly input powers of $10$ without manually entering separate multiplication or exponentiation operations.