Chapter 1: Essential Ideas - Vocabulary Review

Vocabulary flashcards covering core concepts, classifications of matter, measurement properties, units, and conversion principles from Chapter 1.

Chemistry

The study of matter and the changes that matter undergoes.

Matter

Anything that has mass and occupies space.

States of Matter

The three physical forms commonly found on Earth: solid, liquid, and gas, which can convert from one form to another without changing the identity of the substance.

Atom

The smallest indivisible unit for an element.

Molecule

A unit that consists of two or more atoms joined by chemical bonds.

Law of Conservation of Mass

A law stating that there is no detectable change in mass during an ordinary chemical reaction.

Law of Definite Proportions

A law stating that a chemical compound always contains the same elements in the same proportions by mass.

Pure Substance

A form of matter that has a definite composition and distinct properties.

Mixture

A physical combination of two or more substances that can be separated by physical means into its components without changing their identities.

Homogeneous Mixture

A mixture that is uniform throughout, also referred to as a solution.

Heterogeneous Mixture

A mixture that is not uniform throughout.

Element

A pure substance that cannot be broken down into simpler substances by chemical changes.

Compound

A pure substance comprised of two or more elements united in fixed ratios that may be broken down by chemical changes.

Quantitative Property

A property of matter that is measured and expressed with a numerical value and unit.

Qualitative Property

A property of matter that does not require measurement and is usually based on observation.

Physical Property

A property that can be observed and measured without changing the identity of the substance.

Physical Change

A process in which the state of matter changes, but the identity of the matter does not change.

Chemical Property

A property that a substance exhibits as it interacts with another substance.

Chemical Change

A process that results in a change of composition in which the original substances no longer exist.

Extensive Property

A property of matter that depends on the amount of matter present.

Intensive Property

A property of matter that does not depend on the amount of matter present.

International System of Units (SI Units)

A revised metric system designed for universal use by scientists, featuring standard base units like the meter ($\text{m}$), kilogram ($\text{kg}$), second ($\text{s}$), ampere ($\text{A}$), kelvin ($\text{K}$), mole ($\text{mol}$), and candela ($\text{cd}$).

Mass

A measure of the amount of matter in an object or sample.

Weight

The measure of force exerted on an object due to gravity, which varies depending on location.

Celsius Scale

A temperature scale where the freezing point of pure water is $0^\text{o}\text{C}$ and the boiling point is $100^\text{o}\text{C}$.

Kelvin Scale

The absolute temperature scale in chemistry where the lowest possible temperature is $0\,\text{K}$, calculated as $K = ^\text{o}\text{C} + 273.15$.

Atomic Mass Unit (amu)

A unit used to express the masses of atoms and similar sized objects, where $1\,\text{amu} = 1.6605378 \times 10^{-24}\,g$.

Density

The ratio of mass to volume for a substance, represented as $d = \frac{m}{V}$.

Exact Numbers

Numbers that have defined values or are determined by counting.

Inexact Numbers

Numbers obtained by measurement methods other than counting, which contain degree of uncertainty.

Significant Figures

The meaningful digits in a reported measurement.

Accuracy

A measure of how close a measurement is to the true or accepted value.

Precision

A measure of how close a series of replicate measurements are to one another.

Conversion Factor

A fraction in which the same quantity is expressed one way in the numerator and another way in the denominator.

Dimensional Analysis

The use of conversion factors and tracking of units in problem solving, also called the factor-label method.