Aqueous Solutions, Electrolytes, and Chemical Reactions

Vocabulary flashcards focusing on fundamental chemistry concepts including atom economy, aqueous solutions, electrolyte classification, hydration, and types of ionic equations.

Atom Economy

A measure of chemical process efficiency calculated as the total mass of the atoms in the desired product divided by the total mass of the atoms in all reactants.

Solution

A completely homogeneous mixture that is uniformly mixed throughout, which can exist as a mixture of gases, solids, or liquids.

Aqueous Solution

A homogeneous mixture in which water serves as the solvent.

Solvent

The substance in a solution present in the largest amount that performs the dissolving.

Solute

The substance in a solution present in the lesser amount that gets dissolved.

Electrolyte

A substance that dissolves in water and separates into ions, allowing the movement of charge and electrical conductivity.

Non-electrolyte

A substance that dissolves in water without separating into ions, resulting in no movement of charge or electrical conductivity.

Strong Electrolyte

A solute that completely dissociates into ions in water, such as strong acids like $HCl$, strong bases like $NaOH$, or soluble ionic compounds like $NaCl$.

Weak Electrolyte

A solute that only partially dissociates into ions in water to reach an equilibrium, such as weak acids like acetic acid ($HC_2H_3O_2$) or weak bases like ammonia ($NH_3$).

Hydration

The process in which separated ions of an ionic compound become completely surrounded by water molecules oriented according to their partial charges.

Precipitation Reaction

A reaction occurring when two or more aqueous solutions are mixed together to form an insoluble solid product called a precipitate.

Metathesis

A term used in chemistry textbooks to refer to a double replacement reaction.

Molecular Equation

A balanced chemical equation that represents all reacting species and products as complete neutral compounds.

Ionic Equation

A chemical equation that represents all soluble ionic reactants and products broken down into their individual dissolved ions while keeping insoluble precipitates whole.

Spectator Ions

Ions present in an ionic reaction that remain aqueous and chemically unchanged on both sides of the equation and do not participate in forming the precipitate.

Net Ionic Equation

A chemical equation that includes only the specific ions directly involved in forming the insoluble precipitate, excluding spectator ions.