General Chemistry 1: Principles in Particulate Nature and Properties of Matter

Flashcards covering the particulate nature of matter, physical and chemical properties, methods of separating mixtures, fundamental laws of matter, atomic theory, subatomic particles, and the mole concept.

Solid

A state of matter where particles are tightly packed and arranged, exhibiting vibratory motion and strong intermolecular forces with low kinetic energy.

Liquid

A state of matter where particles are closely packed but not arranged, allowing them to slide past one another with moderate intermolecular forces and moderate kinetic energy.

Gas

A state of matter where particles are far apart from one another, moving in fast motion with weak intermolecular forces and high kinetic energy.

Plasma

A state of matter that shares properties with gas but consists of ionized atoms containing electrons and protons.

Physical Properties of Matter

Characteristics of a substance that can be observed or measured without changing the identity of the substance, such as melting point and conductivity.

Chemical Properties of Matter

Characteristics observed during a reaction in which the chemical composition or identity of the substance is changed, such as flammability and reactivity.

Melting Point

The temperature at which a solid matter changes to liquid.

Solubility

The ability of a solute to dissolve in a given solvent.

Malleability

The ability of a material to be flattened into thin sheets, such as gold.

Ductility

The ability of a material to be easily drawn into wires, such as copper.

Biodegradability

The capacity of a material to decompose through the actions of microorganisms.

Intensive Properties of Matter

Properties that are independent of the amount of substance present and do not change when the amount is increased or decreased, such as density and boiling point.

Extensive Properties of Matter

Properties that are dependent on the amount of substance present and change when the amount is increased or decreased, such as mass and volume.

Pure Substances

Matter that has a fixed or definite composition and can only be separated chemically, such as elements and compounds.

Mixtures

Combinations of two or more substances that are physically combined and do not have definite proportions.

Metals

Elements that may be solid at room temperature, malleable, ductile, magnetic, or conductors of heat and electricity.

Metalloids (Semimetals)

Elements known as semiconductors that share properties of both metals and non-metals, such as silicon and germanium.

Organic Compounds

Compounds that contain the elements carbon and hydrogen, which can be produced by living things or artificially made in laboratories.

Inorganic Compounds

Compounds that do not have carbon-hydrogen bonds, such as carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) and table salt ($NaCl$).

Colloids

Heterogeneous mixtures with particles bigger than those of a solution but smaller than those of a suspension which do not settle and can exhibit the Tyndall Effect.

Suspensions

Heterogeneous mixtures with particles large enough to be seen by the naked eye and affected by gravity so that they settle at the bottom.

Tyndall Effect

A phenomenon where light is scattered by colloidal particles.

Miscible

A term describing two liquid substances that mix well, such as water and alcohol.

Alloys

Metals combined with other metals or nonmetals to be more durable, such as steel (iron and carbon) and brass (copper and zinc).

Recrystallization

A separation technique used for purification based on the difference in solubilities of substances in a solvent at an elevated temperature.

Distillation

A separation technique for homogeneous liquid-liquid mixtures that utilizes differences in boiling points.

Chromatography

A separation technique that relies on the differential partition of components between a mobile phase and a stationary phase.

Mobile Phase

The solvent in chromatography that carries components throughout the stationary phase.

Stationary Phase

The adsorbent material in chromatography that holds solutes still when interactions are favored.

Sieving

A separation method that takes advantage of the difference in particle size of solids using a layer of holes.

Filtration

The process of separating solids from liquids by passing the mixture through a filtering material.

Sedimentation

The process in which suspended solids separate from liquids by gravity and settle at the bottom.

Decantation

The removal of a liquid component from solid sediment by pouring the liquid out gently.

Centrifugation

A process that separates components of suspensions or colloids by rotating them at very high speeds using a centrifuge.

Law of Conservation of Mass

States that matter can be neither created nor destroyed, and the total mass of reactants equals the total mass of products.

Law of Definite Proportions

States that a pure compound always contains the same proportions of its constituent elements by mass regardless of the source.

Law of Multiple Proportions

States that when two elements form a series of compounds, the masses of one element that combine with a fixed mass of the other are in a ratio of small integers.

Atoms

Extremely small particles that compose elements; defined by Democritus as indestructible and indivisible.

Protons

Positive subatomic particles located in the nucleus, discovered by Ernest Rutherford through the gold foil experiment.

Neutrons

Neutral subatomic particles with no charge located in the nucleus, discovered by James Chadwick.

Electrons

Negative subatomic particles located outside the nucleus, discovered by J.J. Thomson through the cathode-ray tube experiment.

Isotope

Two or more atoms of the same element that have the same number of protons but differ in mass number.

Ion

An atom or molecule with a net electrical charge because it has an unequal number of protons and electrons.

Mole

The amount of substance that contains as many elementary entities as there are atoms in exactly $12.00\,g$ of carbon-12.

Avogadro’s Number

The number of entities in one mole of a substance, equal to $6.022 \times 10^{23}$.

Molar Mass

The total mass of one mole of a substance, measured in $g\,mol^{-1}$.