General Chemistry Lab CHM1101T Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key laboratory terminology, equipment, physical properties, atomic structure, solution concentration, titrations, equilibrium, and calorimetry.

Fume Hood

Laboratory safety equipment designed to prevent flames and hazardous gases from escaping into the lab environment.

Eye Wash Station

Laboratory equipment used to rinse out chemicals from the eyes by flushing water into the eye for a period of $15\,\text{minutes}$ before seeking medical attention.

Graduated Cylinder

Laboratory glassware used to precisely measure liquid volume by reading the level at the bottom of the meniscus at eye level.

Volumetric Flask

Glassware calibrated to contain a precise volume at a specific temperature, used to prepare exact standard solutions.

Burette

A graduated glass tube with a stopcock at one end, used to deliver measured, variable volumes of liquid, particularly during titrations.

Intermolecular Forces

Forces of attraction or repulsion acting between neighboring particles (atoms, molecules, or ions), also known as Van der Waals forces.

Density

An intensive physical property of matter defined as mass per unit volume ($d = \frac{m}{V}$), indicating how much mass is packed into a given space.

Viscosity

The measure of a fluid's resistance to flow, commonly referred to as its fluid thickness.

Ostwald Viscometer

A U-shaped glass capillary device used to measure the kinematic viscosity of a liquid by timing its flow between two etched calibration marks.

Capillary Action

The phenomenon where a liquid rises inside a narrow tube because adhesive forces between the liquid and tube wall exceed the liquid's weight.

Surface Tension

The net inward force per unit length (expressed in $\text{dyne/cm}$ or $\text{N\,m}^{-1}$) applied parallel to a liquid surface caused by cohesive forces between molecules.

Concave Meniscus

A downward-curving liquid surface that occurs when adhesive forces between the liquid and container walls are stronger than the liquid's internal cohesive forces.

Atomic Number ($Z$)

The unique number of protons in the nucleus of an atom that defines the chemical identity of an element.

Mass Number ($A$)

The total number of protons and neutrons contained within the nucleus of an atom.

Solution

A homogeneous mixture composed of one or more solute substances dissolved uniformly within a solvent.

Solute

The substance that dissolves in a solvent to form a homogeneous mixture.

Solvent

The dissolving medium in a solution, present in the greatest amount.

Molarity ($M$)

A concentration unit defined as the number of moles of solute dissolved per liter of solution ($\text{M} = \frac{\text{moles of solute}}{\text{volume of solution in L}}$).

Dilution

The process of decreasing the concentration of a solute in a solution by mixing it with additional solvent, following $(M_1 \times V_1 = M_2 \times V_2)$.

Strong Acid

An acid that completely ionizes into hydrogen ions ($\text{H}^+$) or hydronium ions ($\text{H}_3\text{O}^+$) and anions in aqueous solution.

Weak Acid

An acid that only partially ionizes or dissociates into its ions in aqueous solution.

pH

A logarithmic measure of hydronium/hydrogen ion concentration in solution, defined as $\text{pH} = -\log[\text{H}^+]$.

Acid-Base Indicator

A natural or synthetic chemical substance that changes color in response to changes in pH or chemical environment.

Titration

The process of adding a standard solution in controlled quantities to a test solution until the chemical reaction is complete.

Standard Solution

A solution whose concentration is precisely known.

Reversible Reaction

A reaction in which both the conversion of reactants to products (forward reaction) and the re-conversion of products to reactants (backward reaction) occur simultaneously.

Chemical Equilibrium

A dynamic state achieved when the rates of the forward and reverse reactions are equal, keeping reactant and product concentrations constant.

Le Châtelier's Principle

The principle stating that if a system at dynamic equilibrium is disturbed by a change in concentration, pressure, or temperature, it will shift its equilibrium position to counteract the effect of the disturbance.

Calorimetry

The experimental procedure of measuring the amount of heat energy involved in a chemical reaction or physical process.

Coffee Cup Calorimeter

A constant-pressure device made from insulated nested cups, used to measure heat energy transferred during chemical reactions in aqueous solutions.

Heat Capacity ($C$)

The ratio of heat added to or removed from an object relative to its resulting temperature change.

Specific Heat Capacity ($C_s$)

The heat capacity per gram of a substance, expressed in $\text{J\,g}^{-1}\,{^\circ\text{C}}^{-1}$ or $\text{J\,g}^{-1}\,\text{K}^{-1}$.