CHM 113 General Chemistry I - Chapter 1 Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts from Chapter 1: matter, substances, mixtures, states, properties, measurements, and basic units/notation.

Matter

Anything that has mass and occupies space; matter is composed of elements with specific chemical and physical properties.

Element

A pure substance consisting of a single kind of atom; cannot be broken down by ordinary chemical reactions.

Atom

The fundamental unit of an element; the building block of matter.

Molecule

A particle made of two or more atoms bonded together; can be an element molecule (e.g., O2) or a compound molecule (e.g., H2O).

Compound

A substance composed of two or more different kinds of atoms; its smallest unit is a molecule; not all molecules are compounds.

Pure substance

Matter with fixed composition and fixed properties; elements and compounds are pure substances and cannot be separated by physical means.

Mixture

Two or more pure substances physically combined; can be separated by physical means; may be homogeneous or heterogeneous.

Homogeneous mixture

A mixture with uniform composition throughout; single phase.

Heterogeneous mixture

A mixture with non-uniform composition; multiple phases.

States of matter

Forms of matter (solid, liquid, gas) determined by temperature and pressure.

Solid

A state of matter with definite shape and volume; particles are closely packed.

Liquid

A state of matter with definite volume but no definite shape; flows and takes the shape of its container.

Gas

A state of matter with no definite shape or volume; expands to fill its container.

Phase change

Transition between solid, liquid, and gas (melting, freezing, vaporization, condensation, sublimation, deposition).

Physical property

A property observed without changing the substance into a different substance (e.g., boiling point, density, color, mass).

Chemical property

A property observed only when the substance changes into a different substance (e.g., flammability, reactivity, corrosion).

Intensive property

Property that does not depend on the amount of substance (e.g., density, melting point, color).

Extensive property

Property that depends on the amount of substance (e.g., mass, volume).

Density

Mass per unit volume; for solids/liquids typically g/cm3 or g/mL; for gases, g/L; 1 mL of water ≈ 1 g.

Mass

The amount of matter in an object; measured in grams or kilograms.

Volume

The amount of space occupied by a substance; units include L and cm3 (1 cm3 = 1 mL).

Temperature

A measure of the thermal energy of a system; scales include Kelvin (SI) and Celsius.

Kelvin

The SI base unit for temperature; an absolute scale; 0 K is absolute zero; size matches a Celsius degree.

Celsius

A temperature scale where 0°C is the freezing point of water; related to Kelvin by K = °C + 273.15.

SI base units

Seven fundamental units: meter (length), kilogram (mass), second (time), kelvin (temperature), ampere (electric current), mole (amount of substance), candela (luminous intensity).

Derived units

Units derived from base units (e.g., density in g/cm3, volume in m3 or L).

Unit prefixes

Scale factors used with SI units (e.g., kilo 10^3, centi 10^-2, milli 10^-3; common chemist prefixes include micro 10^-6, nano 10^-9).

Scientific notation

A method of writing numbers as a coefficient times a power of 10 (e.g., 6.02 x 10^23).

Significant figures

Digits that carry meaning about precision in a measurement; rules govern how many are kept in calculations.

Dimensional analysis

A problem-solving method using conversion factors to cancel units and convert to desired units.

Law of Constant Composition (Definite Proportions)

A given compound has the same elemental composition regardless of its source.

Separation of mixtures

Methods to separate components of a mixture based on physical properties (filtration, distillation, chromatography, magnetism).

1 cm3 = 1 mL

Equivalence of volume units: one cubic centimeter equals one milliliter.

1 in = 2.54 cm

Conversion between inches and centimeters.

Normal freezing point of water

0°C, 273 K.

Normal boiling point of water

100°C, 373 K.

A kelvin is the same size as a degree Celsius

One kelvin equals one degree Celsius in size.

End of Chapter 1

Marker indicating completion of the chapter’s content (not a concept).