Chemistry I

Guided Notes For Unit II

What is Chemistry?
Chemistry is the study of the composition, structure, and properties of matter
and the changes it undergoes.

5 Major Branches of Chemistry

 Organic Chemistry: The study of carbon containing substances.
Common examples include pharmaceuticals and plastics.

 Inorganic Chemistry: The study of substances not containing carbon.

Inorganic chemists might be involved in ceramics, catalysis, or
semiconductors.

 Analytical Chemistry: This is concerned with the separation or

determination of the composition of substances. Forensics, nutritional
analysis, and assisting other scientists are among the research areas
for analytic chemists.

 Physical Chemistry: This deals with the laws, principles, and theories
that describe the behavior of chemicals. Physical chemists study
things like reaction rates, reaction mechanisms, and thermodynamics.

 Biochemistry: The study of the chemistry of organisms. Examples

include studying metabolism, fermentation, and medicine.

Classification of Matter
 Matter: anything that has volume and mass.

 Pure substance: something made up of one kind of material with

specific properties. Both elements and compounds are pure
substances.

 Mixture: combination of two or more pure substances. Some

examples are granite, trees, and pencils.

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  Compound: substance that contains two or more elements combined
in a fixed proportion. Compounds can be written as a formula.
Common examples are water (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), and
sodium chloride (NaCl).

 Element: simplest type of pure substance; contains only one type of

atom. Elements are the substances listed on the periodic table.

 Heterogeneous mixture: mixture where the different phases (parts)

can be seen. Dirt and a mixture of salt and pepper are examples.

 Homogeneous mixture: mixture where the different phases (parts)

cannot be seen. These can also called solutions. Salt water and brass
are examples.

Fundamental Building Blocks of Matter and Phases of Matter

 Atom: the smallest particle of an element. Atoms are composed of a
nucleus which is surrounded by a cloud of electrons. The nucleus
houses protons and neutrons.
 Molecule: the smallest particle of a covalent compound that still has
the
composition and properties of that substance.

Substances can exist in three different states of matter depending on the

strength of bonding and the amount of kinetic energy available. When
bonding between particles is strong, the solid phase is more likely. Weak
bonding favors the gaseous phase. The average kinetic energy of a
substance is its temperature. At higher temperatures gases are favored,
while solids are more likely at lower temperatures.

Solid: In a solid, the particles (atoms or molecules) are in contact with each
other and have a very limited ability to move. Characteristic
properties include definite volume and shape, slight expansion when
heated, and incompressible.
Liquid: Like solids, the particles are in contact with each other; however,
the

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 particles can move around more freely. Characteristic properties
include definite volume, takes the shape of its container, slight
expansion when heated, incompressible, and has the ability to flow.
Gases: In gases, the particles are not in contact with each other.
Characteristic
properties include takes the shape and volume of its container, large
expansion when heated, compressible, and has the ability to flow.

Distinguishing Between Physical and Chemical

 Physical Change: process that alters a substance without changing its
composition.
▫ Ex. Boiling water, dissolving sugar in water, carving wood.

 Chemical Change: a chemical reaction

▫ Ex. Burning a candle, rusting.

 Physical Property: characteristic that is determined without changing

the composition.
▫ Ex. Color, boiling point

 Chemical Property: characteristic that changes the composition when

determined.
▫ Ex. Flammability.

As can be seen above, the main distinction between chemical and physical is
that there is a change in identity for chemical changes and properties. In a
chemical change, new substances (elements or compounds) are created by
breaking bonds and/or forming new bonds. There are five pieces of
evidence that can help you identify if a chemical reaction has taken place.

Evidence of a Chemical Reaction:

1. Precipitation–formation of a solid out of a liquid or gaseous phase.
2. Color change
3. Formation of a gas
4. Heat change–usually temperature increases but not always
5. Plating–formation of a thin metal coating

Separation Techniques

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 Separation techniques are based upon differences in physical properties
Many techniques involve solubility or phase changes.

Evaporation
 Used to recover a solid from solution
 Solvent is often actually boiled off – not
evaporated
 Watch glass reduces loss of solid from
spattering
Filtration
 Used to separate an insoluble solid
from a liquid
 The liquid that comes through is
called the filtrate

Distillation
 Separates mixtures of liquids
having different boiling points
 Lower boiling liquid condenses
in the condenser

Fractional Distillation
 Used for mixtures that are hard to
separate
 Typically used when there is more than
one volatile substance

Chromatography
 Separates different substances
dissolved in a liquid based upon the
tendency to travel across the surface of
another material

Extraction
 Separates different substances dissolved in a
liquid based upon solubility

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Significant Digits
Overview
All measurements have uncertainty. In science, it is important to indicate
the uncertainty when you are reporting numbers since this indicates the
reliability of the data and the quality of instruments being used. When a
scientist takes a measurement, she records all the digits she is certain of and
includes one digit that has some uncertainty. For instance, if a standard
metric ruler were used to find the length of a pen, the reading may fall
between 15.4 cm and 15.5 cm. The scientist may estimate that the length is
closer to the 15.5 mark and report the value as 15.47 cm. In this
measurement, only the 7 is uncertain and is probably off by 1 or 2 at the
most.
Sometimes the uncertainty will be reported using the ± symbol. For
example, 244 ± 3. When the ± symbol is not used, expect that the right-most
digit is uncertain and could be off by 2. For example, a value of 34.23 mL
means that the scientist is fairly certain the value is between 34.21 and 34.25
mL with the best guess being 34.23 mL.

Besides measurements, scientists also report calculated values (like density).

There is a two-part rule that indicates how to round calculated numbers so
that they show the same degree of uncertainty as the measurements they
were calculated from. To use the rule for multiplication and division you
will need to know how many significant digits each factor has. The number
of significant digits is the number of digits that indicate precision. It is the
number of digits you are certain of and the one uncertain digit. The number
of significant digits in 15.47 cm (the length of the pen) is 4.

Determining the number of significant digits

Atlantic-Pacific Rule: Draw a map of the US and label the Atlantic
and Pacific oceans. When the decimal point is Present, count the
digits starting with the first non-zero digit from the Pacific side (left
side). When the decimal point is Absent, count the digits starting with
the first non-zero digit from the Atlantic side (right side).

Examples: 1. 34000 Decimal is absent. Starting from the right, the

1st non-zero digit is the 4. There are 2
significant digits.

2. 0.005030Decimal is present. Starting from the left, the

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 1st non-zero digit is the 5. There are 4
significant digits.

As you can see from the examples, some of the zeros get counted and
some don’t. On the other hand, all non-zeros are counted all of the
time.

Reporting calculated numbers to the correct significant digits

Many-Places Rule: When doing Multiplication or division, report
your answer to as Many significant digits as the factor with the least
significant digits. When doing Plus or minus (i.e., addition or
subtraction), report your answer to the same number of Places as the
factor with the least.

Examples: 1. 0.4563 x 13 = 5.9 (5.9319 before rounding)

2. 28.432 + 37.2 = 65.6 (65.632 before rounding)

Scientific Notation
Very large and very small numbers are not uncommon in chemistry. Using
scientific notation is the best way to work with such numbers. In scientific
notation, the number is expressed as the product of two factors. The first
factor is a number between 1 and 10 and the second factor is a power of 10.
As an example, 250000 is written as 2.5 x 105 using scientific notation.

When converting a number to scientific notation, the first step is to move the
decimal point so that there is one nonzero digit to the left of the decimal
point. Next, multiply by 10 raised to the power equal to the number of
places that the decimal was moved to the left. If the decimal was used to the
right, 10 will be raised to a negative exponent.

Ex. 1 Ex. 2
5,000,000 = 5 x 106 0.00000036 = 3.6 x 10–7

When converting a number to standard notation, move the decimal the

number of places equal to the exponent that 10 is raised to. Move to the
right when the exponent is positive and to the left when the exponent is
negative.

Ex. 1 Ex. 2

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2.3 x 104 = 23,000 5.12 x 10–3 = 0.00512

Know the Right Word

 Qualitative: A description that is descriptive. Ex. The rock is heavy.
 Quantitative: A description that is numerical; measurement. Ex. The
rock weighs 45 kg.

 Intensive property: Property that doesn’t depend upon the amount of

matter present. Example: Chalk is white.
 Extensive property: Property that depends upon the amount of matter
present. Example: The mass of a nickel is 5.0 grams.

 Accuracy: Refers to how close a measurement is the accepted or

correct value. A synonym for accurate is correct. Imagine 3 darts
were thrown at a dart board. Where would they have to land to have
good accuracy?
Ans. If you were aiming for the bull’s eye, all the darts should be in
the bull’s eye or at least very close.
 Precision: Refers to how close a set of measurements are to each
other.
A synonym for precise is reproducible. Imagine 3 darts were thrown
at a dart board. Where would they have to land to have good
precision?
Ans. The three darts should all be very close to each other. It doesn’t
matter where on the dart board they land.

 Mass: Mass is a measure of the amount of matter in a substance.

Scientists prefer to use mass instead of weight because the mass of an
object is not affected by changes in gravity. Mass is measured in
grams or kilograms using a balance. A balance determines the mass
by comparison with objects of known mass.
Weight: Weight (w) is a measure of the force of gravitational
attraction between the earth and an object. It is equal to the mass of
the object (m) multiplied by the gravitational constant (g); w = mg.
Since the gravity on the moon is about 1/6 of what it is on earth, a 180
lb person would only weigh 30 lbs on the moon. Weight is measured
in pounds or newtons (the metric unit) using a scale. A scale
measures force, often with the use of a spring.

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Metric System

Base Units in the Metric System

Quantity Name Symbol
length meter m
mass grams g
time seconds s
amount of substance mole mol
temperature kelvin K
electric current ampere A
light intensity candela cd

Useful Derived Units in the Metric System

Quantity Name Symbol
kg g g
Density 3 or 3 or
m cm mL
m ⋅ kg
Force Newton N or 2
s
kg
Pressure Pascal Pa or
m ⋅ s2
Energy or Quantity of m2 ⋅ kg
Joule J or
Heat s2
Volume Liter L or dm3

Metric prefixes
Prefix Abbre Exp. Meaning Example
v Factor
tera T 1012 1,000,000,000,000 1 Tm = 1x1012 m
giga G 109 1,000,000,000 1 Gm = 1x109 m
mega M 106 1,000,000 1 Mm = 1x106 m
kilo k 103 1,000 1 km = 1000 m
hecto h 102 100 1 hm = 100 m
deka da 101 10 1 dam = 10 m
100 1 1 meter
deci d 10–1 0.1 1 dm = 0.1 m

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centi c 10–2 0.01 1 cm = 0.01 m
milli m 10–3 0.001 1 mm = 0.001 m
micro µ 10–6 0.000 001 1 µm = 1x10–6 m
nano n 10–9 0.000 000 001 1 nm = 1x10–9 m
pico p 10–12 0.000 000 000 001 1 pm = 1x10–12 m
femto f 10–15 0.000 000 000 000 001 1 fm = 1x10–15 m
atto a 10–18 .000 000 000 000 000 1 am = 1x10–18 m
001

Metric Conversions
There are two methods commonly used to perform conversions within the
metric system. While the first method is certainly easier, the second method
introduces you to a method that is much more powerful and will be very
useful for solving difficult problems.

Method 1: Moving the decimal

Because the metric system is designed around powers of 10, you can convert
between different units by moving the decimal point. Move the decimal to
the left when you are changing to a larger unit and move to the right when
changing to a smaller unit. The number of places to move is equal to the
difference in the exponents from the Exp. Factor column in the above table.

Ex. 1 Ex. 2
Convert 450 mL to L Convert 0.25 km to cm
Move to the left 3 places; .45 L Move to the right 5 places; 25000 cm

Method 2: Conversion Factors

This method takes more time for simple problems like the previous two
examples; however, it does make more difficult problems easier to do. The
basic idea is to multiply by a fraction that contains the ending units you are
trying to get to in the numerator and the starting units in the denominator.
Write the number 1 in front of the larger unit. For the smaller unit, write in
the number of smaller units it takes to make up one of the larger units.
Finally, perform the calculation. The example below should make this more
clear.

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Ex.
Convert 450 mL to L
Step 1: Write the given number, the multiplication symbol, a fraction bar,
and an equals sign.

450 mL x ––––––––––– =

Step 2: Write the units you are starting with in the denominator and the
units you are ending with in the numerator.
L
450 mL x ––––––––––– =
mL

Step 3: Put a “1” in front of the larger unit (in this case, L). Next, make
the numerator and denominator equivalent by writing in the
number of smaller units it takes to make up one of the larger units.
1L
450 mL x ––––––––––– =
1000 mL

Step 4: Calculate (multiply by things on top and divide by things on the

bottom). Notice that the units of mL cancel out.
1L
450 mL x ––––––––––– = 0.45 L
1000 mL

Unit Conversions
The method of moving the decimal place cannot be used for conversions
within the U.S. customary system of measurements and between the U.S.
system and the metric system. For these conversions we will use the
conversion factor method. Step 3 from this method will be modified. You
have been given a list of conversions in the Reference Packet. Use these
values for the numbers that you put into the conversion factor.

Ex. 1
Convert from 175 lb to kg.
kg
Steps 1 & 2: 175 lb x ––––––––––––– =
lbs

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 0.45359237 kg
Steps 3 & 4: 175 lb x ––––––––––––– = 79.4 kg
1 lb

Note: The answer has been rounded to the proper significant digits.

Ex. 2
mi km
Convert from 75 to .
hr hr

75 mi km Note: “mi” was placed

in
Steps 1 & 2: –––––– x –––––––––– = denominator so it
hr mi would cancel out.

75 mi 1.609344 km
km
Steps 3 & 4: –––––– x –––––––––– = 120
hr
hr 1 mi

Ex. 3 (Note: This problem requires 2 conversions.)

km mi
Convert from 13.6 to gal .
L

13.6 km 1 mi
mi
Change km to mi ––––––– x ––––––––––– = 8.45064821
L
L 1.609344 km

8.45064821 mi 3.785412 L
Change from L to gal –––––––––––– x –––––––––– = 32.0
mi
gal
L 1 gal

It would be more efficient to combine these two steps as shown below:

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 13.6 km 1 mi 3.785412 L
mi
––––––– x ––––––––––– x –––––––––– = 32.0 gal
L 1.609344 km 1 gal

Density
If you had a block of aluminum and a block of lead of equal size, the lead
block would be heavier. This is because lead has a higher density. Density
is a measure of mass per unit volume. The formula is

mass m
Density, D = =
volume V

When trying to determine density of an object, you will probably have to

determine its volume. The volume of a rectangular solid can be found using
V = lwh. The volume of a cylinder can be found using V = Πr2h. The
volumes for irregular solids are generally determined by displacement of
water using a graduated cylinder. The first example illustrates this.

Ex. 1
A jeweler examines a 5.00 carat gemstone to determine if it is a diamond.
She fills a 10 mL graduated cylinder with 6.00 mL of water. When she adds
the stone, the volume reading increases to 6.18 mL. Is the gemstone likely
g
to be a diamond, which has a density of 3.51 ?
cm3
Ans. Since 1 carat = 0.2 grams, the mass of the diamond is

0.2 g
5.00 carat x = 1.00 g
1 carat

The volume of the diamond is the difference between the final

volume, 6.18 mL, and the initial volume, 6.00 mL.

V = Vf – Vi = 6.18 mL – 6.00 mL = 0.18 mL

Finally, density is found by dividing the mass by the volume.

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 m 1.00 g g
Density = D = = = 5.6
V 0.18 mL mL

g
Since 1 mL = 1 cm3, the density can be written as 5.6 . The stone
cm3
could be cubic zirconia, which has a density that ranges between 5.5
g
and 5.9 . We do know, however, that the stone is not diamond.
cm3

Ex. 2
A plastic rectangular block has a length of 24 cm, a width of 3.5 cm, and a
height of 3.5 cm. The block has a mass of 278.4 g. Would it float in water?
Ans. The volume is calculated as follows:

V = lwh = (24 cm) x (3.5 cm) x (3.5 cm) = 294 cm3

Next, find the density.

m 278.4 g g
Density = D = = 3 = 0.95 .
V 294 cm cm3

An object will float in water if its density is less than that of water.
Since
g
water has a density of 1.00 , the block will float.
mL

Solving Chemistry Word Problems

Solving chemistry word problems is considered one of the most difficult
aspects of learning chemistry. The strategy below will help you organize
your thoughts so you will become a better problem solver.

List: Read the problem. Determine what information is given in the

problem and what you are supposed to find. Write it down.
The more familiar you are with units the easier this will be.
Plan: Write down an equation that contains both the known and
unknown information. Some problems require more than one
step, and more than one equation. Map out a pathway to the
solution. Write everything down.

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Isolate: Rearrange the equation to isolate the quantity you want to find.
Write it down.
Solve: Substitute the numerical values for the quantities in the
equation, including units. Solve using a calculator.
Answer: Write down you answer including units. Round off to the
appropriate number of significant figures. Circle the answer.
Note: Do not round off until you get to the final answer.

Here’s an example:
g
What is the mass of 2.00 L of soda that has a density of 1.098 ?
mL
g
List: m=? V = 2.00 L D = 1.098
mL

m
Plan: D= Volume of soda is in L but density uses mL. The
V
volume units need to be the same before using the density
equation. 1000 mL = 1 L

1000 mL
Isolate: 2.00 L x = 2000 L m = VD
1L

g
Solve: m = 2000 L) x (1.092 ) = 2184 g
mL

Answer: 2180 g

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