Fundamentals of General Chemistry

Vocabulary flashcards based on the lecture notes for General Chemistry.

Chemistry

The study of the nature, properties, and transformations of matter.

Matter

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

Chemical Change

A change in the chemical makeup of a substance.

Physical Change

A change that does not affect the chemical makeup of a substance.

Scientific Method

The process of observation, hypothesis, and experimentation used to expand a body of knowledge.

Property

A characteristic useful for identifying a substance or object.

Homogeneous Mixture

A uniform mixture that has the same composition throughout.

Heterogeneous Mixture

A nonuniform mixture that has regions of different compositions.

Pure Substance

A substance that has a uniform chemical composition throughout.

Element

A fundamental substance that cannot be broken down chemically into any simpler substance.

Chemical Compound

A pure substance that can be broken down into simpler substances by chemical reactions.

Chemical Reaction

A process in which the identity and composition of one or more substances are changed.

Reactant

A starting substance that undergoes change during a chemical reaction.

Product

A substance formed as the result of a chemical reaction.

Density

The physical property that relates the mass of an object to its volume; mass per unit volume.

Specific Gravity

The density of a substance divided by the density of water at the same temperature.

Significant Figures

The number of meaningful digits used to express a value.

Scientific Notation

A number expressed as the product of a number between 1 and 10, times 10 raised to a power.

Measurement

The process of obtaining the magnitude of a quantity.

Unit Conversion

The process of converting a quantity from one unit to another.

Calorie

The amount of heat necessary to raise the temperature of 1 g of water by 1 °C.

Joule

The SI unit of energy.

Temperature

The measure of the amount of heat energy in an object.

Kelvin

The SI unit for temperature; 0 K is absolute zero.