Chemistry Flashcards

Flashcards covering vocabulary from Chemistry lecture.

Physical Change

A change in substance that only affects its physical properties, such as cutting, coloring, crushing, melting or boiling.

Chemical Change

A change in a substance that affects its chemical properties, resulting in a chemical reaction where a new substance is formed, such as burning, rusting, or decomposing.

Reactants

The substances you start with in a chemical reaction; the ingredients that you put together.

Products

The ending substances of a chemical reaction.

Coefficient

The big number in front of either the element or the compound in a chemical equation; the only thing you can change in balancing equations.

Subscript

The little number in a chemical formula, which indicates the number of atoms of that element in the compound; changing it changes the compound.

Coefficient or Subscript of One

If only one is needed, it's understood and not written.

Law of Conservation of Matter

The mass of the reactants must equal the mass of the products.

Aqueous

A substance dissolved in water.

Precipitate

A solid that suddenly appears after mixing two solutions; it is indicated by a cloudy appearance in the solution.

Temperature Change (as evidence of a chemical reaction)

A temperature change, not just whether something is hot or cold, but a noticeable change from the way it was initially.

Sodium Hydroxide

A clear Na with a one plus, hydroxide with a one minus combination, NaOH.

Sudden Color Change

A chemical reaction which is in bright blue, bright yellow or any other color.

Evidence of gases being given off during a reaction

The giving off of a gas, that produces bubbles, a fizzing or the bubbles are an indication that a gas is being given off.