Chemistry Flashcards

Flashcards covering basic chemistry concepts, states of matter, properties, elements, measurements, and temperature.

Chemistry

The study of the composition of matter, the properties of matter, and the changes matter undergoes.

Matter

The physical material of the universe; anything that has mass and occupies space.

Solid

A state of matter with a definite shape and volume; it is rigid and cannot be appreciably compressed.

Liquid

A state of matter with a distinct volume, independent of its container, but it has no specific shape. It assumes the shape of the container it is in and cannot be appreciably compressed.

Gas/Vapor

A state of matter with no fixed volume or shape; it conforms to the volume and shape of its container and can be compressed or expanded to occupy different volumes.

Physical Property

A characteristic of a substance that can be observed without changing the basic identity of the substance (e.g., color, odor, physical state, melting and boiling points, hardness).

Chemical Property

A characteristic of a substance that describes the way the substance undergoes or resists change to form a new substance (e.g., how a substance reacts with oxygen or hydrogen).

Chemical Change/Reaction

Involves breaking down a substance into other substances.

Reactants

One or more starting materials in a chemical reaction. 'Reacts with' describes the relationship between reactants.

Products

One or more substances formed as a result of a chemical reaction. 'And' describes the relationship between products.

Element

A pure substance that cannot be broken down into simpler substances by ordinary chemical means (e.g., metals like gold and copper).

Compound

A pure substance that can be broken down into two or more simpler substances by chemical means (e.g., carbon dioxide, water).

Chemical Symbol

A one- or two-letter notation used to represent the name of an element. The first letter is capitalized, and the second letter is lowercase.

Metals

Elements such as gold, zinc and copper. Gold is unreactive, zinc is an essential nutrient and makes materials, and copper is used in wiring and pipes.

Nonmetals

Elements that appear on the right side of the periodic table; poor conductors of heat and electricity. Some are gases, some are solids, and bromine is a liquid at room temperature.

Physical Quantity

Physical properties such as height, volume, and temperature that can be measured. Both a number and a unit of defined size are required to describe a physical quantity.

Metric System

A system of measurement based on factors of 10.

Significant Figures

The number of digits in a measurement that are known with certainty plus one final digit that is uncertain.

Scientific Notation

A way of expressing numbers that are too large or too small to be conveniently written in decimal form.

Dimensional Analysis

A method used to convert from one set of units to another set within or between a system of units, using conversion factors.

Density

The ratio of mass to volume of an object (Density = mass/volume).

Temperature

A measure of the intensity of heat of a substance.

Heat

A form of energy.

Kelvin Scale

An absolute temperature scale with no negative numbers, where 0 K is absolute zero.