General Chemistry and Basic Laboratory Practice Review

Vocabulary flashcards generated from General Chemistry Practice Tests 1 through 10 covering fundamental principles, properties of matter, atomic structure, bonding, stoichiometry, solutions, and standard laboratory practice techniques.

Matter

Anything that has mass and occupies space.

Intensive Properties

Physical properties of matter that are independent of the amount of substance present, such as density, temperature, color, boiling point, hardness, and malleability.

Extensive Properties

Physical properties of matter that depend directly on the total amount of substance present, such as mass, volume, and length.

Plasma

A high-temperature state of matter that exists in the form of free ions and electrons.

Sublimation

The phase transition in which a solid converts directly into a gas without passing through the liquid phase.

Cathode Ray Tube Experiment

The historical laboratory experiment that led to the discovery of the electron.

Bohr's Atomic Model

An atomic model that improved upon Rutherford's nuclear model by explaining the quantization of electron energy levels and the overall stability of atoms.

Isotopes

Atoms of the same element that share the same atomic number (number of protons) but possess different atomic masses due to differing numbers of neutrons.

Alpha Decay

A type of nuclear decay reaction in which an unstable nucleus emits an alpha particle ($^4_2\text{He}$), such as the conversion of $^{238}\text{U}$ into $^{234}\text{Th}$.

Aufbau Principle

The principle stating that atomic orbitals are filled in order of increasing energy, meaning lower energy orbitals (like $3p$) are filled before higher energy ones (like $4s$).

Pauli Exclusion Principle

The quantum mechanical principle stating that an atomic orbital can hold a maximum of two electrons, and those two electrons must have opposite spins.

Electronegativity

A chemical property that measures the ability of an atom within a covalent bond to draw electron density toward itself.

Lanthanides

The series of inner transition elements in which the $4f$ subshell is progressively filled with electrons.

Allotropy

The property of some chemical elements to exist in two or more different structural forms in the same physical state.

Metallic Bonding

A chemical bonding force consisting of a rigid lattice of positive metal ions held together by a sea of delocalized valence electrons, allowing metals to be malleable.

Nonpolar Covalent Bond

A covalent bond formed between two atoms with identical or nearly identical electronegativities, leading to equal sharing of electrons and zero net dipole moment.

Hydrogen Bonding

A strong dipole-dipole intermolecular force occurring when a hydrogen atom is covalently bonded directly to highly electronegative elements such as nitrogen ($\text{N}$), oxygen ($\text{O}$), or fluorine ($\text{F}$).

Empirical Formula

A chemical formula that shows the simplest whole-number ratio of the atoms of each element present in a compound.

Brønsted-Lowry Acid

Any chemical species capable of donating a proton ($\text{H}^+$) to another species.

Buffer Solution

An aqueous solution consisting of a weak acid and its conjugate base (or a weak base and its conjugate acid) that resists drastic changes in pH when small amounts of acid or base are added.

Desiccator

A sealed laboratory enclosure containing a drying agent used to preserve moisture-sensitive or hygroscopic samples while cooling.

Sieving

A particle separation technique that passes a solid mixture through a metal or plastic mesh screen of uniform cross-sectional size.

Aqua Regia

A highly corrosive liquid mixture composed of concentrated hydrochloric acid ($\text{HCl}$) and nitric acid ($\text{HNO}_3$) in a $3:1$ volumetric ratio, used to dissolve noble metals.

Recrystallization

A purification process for crystalline solids in which the solute is dissolved in hot solvent and cooled slowly to produce pure, highly ordered crystals.

Boiling Point

The temperature at which the vapor pressure exerted by a liquid equals the external atmospheric pressure surrounding it.

Azeotrope

A liquid mixture of two or more substances that boils at a constant temperature and produces a vapor of the exact same composition, preventing separation via simple distillation.