Pages 3-4: 1.
1 Chemistry: An Overview
· Key Idea: Chemistry is the study of matter—its composition, properties, and changes.
· The Two Levels:
· Macroscopic: What we can see and touch (e.g., water boiling).
· Microscopic: The world of atoms and molecules that explains why things happen (e.g., water
molecules moving faster as they heat up).
· Your Goal: Learn to make the connection between these two levels and "think like a chemist."
Pages 5-10: 1.2 Historical Development (~2500 years ago)
atoms
· Democritus (460-370 BC): First proposed the idea of the atom ("uncuttable"). He believed matter was
made of tiny, indivisible particles. His idea was rejected.
· Aristotle (384-322 BC): Believed matter was continuous and could be divided infinitely. He proposed all
matter was made of four elements: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. This view dominated for 2000 years.
· Alchemy: A pseudoscience that followed, focused on turning metals into gold. While mostly mystical,
some alchemists were early experimentalists.
discovered new elements
Pages 11-12: Important Breakthrough (17th Century)
· Robert Boyle (1627-1691): The first "chemist" to emphasise systematic measurement.
· An element is a substance that cannot be broken down into simpler substances.
· A compound is made from elements.
Pages 13-25: 1.3 Fundamental Chemical Laws (Late 18th/Early 19th Century)
These three laws provided the experimental evidence that forced scientists to re-adopt the atomic
theory.
1. Law of Conservation of Mass (Lavoisier, 1785): Mass is neither created nor destroyed in a chemical
reaction. Mass of Reactants = Mass of Products.
2. Law of Definite Proportions (Proust, 1806): A given compound always contains exactly the same
proportion of elements by mass. (e.g., Lead sulphide always has the same mass ratio of lead to
sulphur).
3. Law of Multiple Proportions (Dalton, 1808): When two elements form more than one compound, the
masses of one element that combine with a fixed mass of the other are in ratios of small whole
numbers.
· Example (CO vs. CO₂): The mass of oxygen per gram of carbon in CO₂ is exactly twice that in CO (a
1:2 ratio). This only makes sense if elements combine as whole atoms.
Pages 26-28: 1.4 Dalton’s Atomic Theory (1808) atomunchanged
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Dalton synthesised the laws into a formal theory with five postulates. His model is the "Billiard Ball
Model" (atoms are solid, indivisible spheres).
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Pages 29-34: 1.5 Determining Molecular Formulas
· Gay-Lussac's Law of Combining Volumes (1809): The volumes of reacting gases and their products are
in ratios of small whole numbers.
· Avogadro's Hypothesis (1811): Equal volumes of gases, at the same temperature and pressure, contain
equal numbers of molecules.
Pages 35-38: The Next Questions & "Seeing" Atoms
· Modern Tech: We can now "see" atoms using instruments like the Scanning Tunnelling Microscope
(STM).scanssamplesurface up to atomic resolution
Pages 39-53: 1.6 Early Experiments to Characterise the Atom
This section details the experiments that broke apart Dalton's "indivisible" atom.
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to-mass ratio (e/m). Proposed the "Plum Pudding Model" (electrons embedded in a positive cloud).
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· Robert Millikan (1909): Oil Drop Experiment precisely measured the charge of a single electron (e⁻).
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· Ernest Rutherford (1911): Gold Foil Experiment shot alpha particles at gold foil.
· Expected (Plum Pudding): All particles should pass through with slight deflection.
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· Actual Result: Most passed through, but some were deflected at large angles, and a few bounced
straight back.
· Conclusion: The atom is mostly empty space with a tiny, dense, positively charged nucleus at the
centre. This is the Nuclear Atomic Model.
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· Becquerel (1896) discovered radioactivity (minerals containing uranium). Three types. EeEeh
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· Rutherford (1919): Discovered the proton (in the nucleus) and the neutron (also in the nucleus, neutral
charge), respectively.
Pages 54-55: 1.7 Modern View of Atomic Structure
· Components:
· Nucleus: Contains protons (positive) and neutrons (neutral).
· Electrons (negative) move around the nucleus in a space that is vast compared to the nucleus size.
· The atom is mostly empty space.
Pages 56-58: Isotopes
· Definition: Atoms of the same element (same number of protons) that have different numbers of
neutrons.
· Example - Hydrogen Isotopes:
· Protium (¹H): 1 proton, 0 neutrons (most common)
· Deuterium (²H): 1 proton, 1 neutron ("heavy hydrogen")
· Tritium (³H): 1 proton, 2 neutrons (radioactive)
· Heavy Water (D₂O): Water made with deuterium has different physical properties (higher boiling point,
higher density) than normal water (H₂O).
Pages 59-60: 1.8 The Mole Concept
· The mole (mol), specify amount of a substance, contains as many units as the number of C atoms in
12.0g of carbon-12.
· Avogadro's Number (Nₐ): 1 mole = 6.022 × 10²³ entities (atoms, molecules, etc.).
· Why it's useful: It connects the microscopic world (individual atoms) to the macroscopic world (grams
on a scale). The molar mass (mass of 1 mole) of a substance in grams is equal to its atomic/molecular
mass.