CHAPTER ONE
Essential Ideas in Chemistry
• "Essential ideas in chemistry" refer to the fundamental concepts that strengthen the
study and understanding of chemical phenomena.
• Chemistry is the study of the composition, properties, and interactions of matter.
• Why should you study Chemistry?
In short, chemistry helps you understand the world, prepare for the future, and think
critically.
• Chemical substances and processes are essential for our life, providing sustenance,
keeping us clean and healthy, fabricating electronic devices, enabling
transportation, etc….
• Everything you do and encounter during your day involves chemistry:
Making coffee, cooking eggs, and toasting bread involve chemistry.
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The products you use like soap and shampoo, the fabrics you wear, the
electronics that keep you connected to your world, the gasoline that propels
your car all of these and more involve chemical substances and processes.
• Whether you are aware or not, chemistry is part of your everyday world.
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1.1. Chemistry in Context
• Humans began to practice chemistry when they learned to control fire and use it to
cook, make pottery, and smelt metals.
• Subsequently, they began to separate and use specific components of matter.
• A variety of drugs such as aloe, myrrh( kerbe), and opium( from poppy plant) were
isolated from plants.
• Dyes were extracted from plant and animal matter.
• Metals were combined to form alloys for example, copper and tin were mixed
together to make bronze and more elaborate smelting techniques produced iron.
• Alkalis were extracted from ashes, and soaps were prepared by combining these
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alkalis with fats.
Con’t…
• Alcohol was produced by fermentation and purified by distillation.
• From alchemy came the historical progressions that led to modern chemistry:
the isolation of drugs from natural sources
metallurgy, and
the dye industry
• Today, chemistry continues to deepen our understanding and improve our ability to
harness(bind) and control the behavior of matter.
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1.1.1. Chemistry as the Central Science
• Chemistry as the Central Science: due to its interconnectedness with a vast array of
other STEM disciplines (STEM stands for areas of study in the science, technology, engineering, and math fields ).
Figure: Knowledge of chemistry is central to understanding a wide range of scientific disciplines. This
diagram shows just some of the interrelationships between chemistry and other fields.
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Con’t…
• What are some changes in matter that are essential to daily life?
Digesting and assimilating food,
Synthesizing polymers that are used to make clothing, containers, cookware, and
credit cards,
Refining crude oil into gasoline and other products
• The practice of chemistry is not limited to chemistry books or laboratories: It happens
whenever someone is involved in changes in matter or in conditions that may lead to
such changes.
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1.2. The Scientific Method
• Scientific method is a procedure used to provide scientific explanations about the
world.
• It’s a step-by-step approach used to gather evidence and draw conclusions based on
observations and experiments.
• Chemistry is a science based on observation and experimentation.
• Doing chemistry involves attempting to answer questions and explain observations in
terms of the laws and theories of chemistry, using procedures that are accepted by
the scientific community.
• Hypothesis: a tentative explanation of observations that acts as a guide for gathering
and checking information.
• A hypothesis is tested by experimentation, calculation, and/or comparison with the
experiments of others and then refined as needed.
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Con’t…
• The laws of science summarize a vast number of experimental observations, and describe or predict
some facet(aspect) of the natural world.
• If such a hypothesis turns out to be capable of explaining a large body of experimental data, it can
reach the status of a theory.
• Scientific theories are well-substantiated, comprehensive, testable explanations of particular aspects of
nature.
• Theories are accepted because they provide satisfactory explanations, but they can be modified if
new data become available.
• The path of discovery that leads from question and observation to law or hypothesis to theory,
combined with experimental verification of the hypothesis and any necessary modification of the
theory, is called the scientific method.
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The Scientific Method
Figure: The scientific method follows a process similar to the one shown in this diagram. All the key components are
shown, in roughly the right order.
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1.3. The Domains of Chemistry
• Chemists study and describe the behavior of matter and energy in three different
domains: macroscopic, microscopic, and symbolic.
• Macroscopic domain: It is the realm of everyday things that are large enough to be
sensed directly by human sight or touch.
• It includes everyday and laboratory chemistry, where we observe and measure
physical and chemical properties such as density, solubility, and flammability.
• Microscopic domain of chemistry is often visited in the imagination. Some aspects of
the microscopic domain are visible through standard optical microscopes, for
example, many biological cells.
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Con’t…
• More sophisticated instruments are capable of imaging even smaller entities such as
molecules and atoms.
• Most of the subjects in the microscopic domain of chemistry are too small to be seen
even with the most advanced microscopes and may only be pictured in the mind.
• Other components of the microscopic domain include ions and electrons, protons
and neutrons, and chemical bonds, each of which is far too small to see.
• Symbolic domain contains the specialized language used to represent components of
the macroscopic and microscopic domains.
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Con’t…
• Chemical symbols, chemical formulas, and chemical equations are part of the
symbolic domain.
• These symbols play an important role in chemistry because they help to interpret the
behavior of the macroscopic domain in terms of the components of the microscopic
domain.
• Example:
What is Johnstone's triangle .mp4
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Con’t…
Figure: (a) Moisture in the air, icebergs, and the ocean represent water in the macroscopic domain. (b) At the molecular level
(microscopic domain), gas molecules are far apart and disorganized, solid water molecules are close together and organized, and
liquid molecules are close together and disorganized. (c) The formula H 2O symbolizes water, and (g), (s), and (l) symbolize its
phases. 13
Con’t…
• Water is a liquid at moderate temperatures will freeze to form a solid at lower
temperatures, and boil to form a gas at higher temperatures are macroscopic
observations.
• The description of water as comprising two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom,
and the explanation of freezing and boiling in terms of attractions between these
molecules, is within the microscopic arena.
• The formula H2O, which can describe water at either the macroscopic or
microscopic levels, is an example of the symbolic domain.
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1.4. State and Classification of Matter
• Matter is defined as anything that occupies space and has mass, and it is all around us.
• Solids, liquids, and gases are the three states of matter commonly found on earth.
• A solid is rigid and possesses a definite shape.
• A liquid flows and takes the shape of its container, except that it forms a flat or
slightly curved upper surface when acted upon by gravity. (In zero gravity, liquids
assume a spherical shape.)
• Both liquid and solid samples have volumes that are very nearly independent of
pressure.
• A gas takes both the shape and volume of its container.
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State and Classification of Matter
Figure: The three most common states or phases of matter are solid, liquid, and gas.
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Con’t…
• A fourth state of matter, plasma occurs naturally in the interiors of stars. Plasma is a gaseous state of
matter that contains appreciable numbers of electrically charged particles
• This state of matter, a gaseous mixture of positive ions and electrons.
Figure: A plasma torch can be used to cut metal.
• The presence of these charged particles imparts unique properties to plasmas that justify their
classification as a state of matter distinct from gases.
• Plasmas are also found in some other high-temperature environments such as lightning strikes, certain
television screens, and specialized analytical instruments used to detect trace amounts of metals.
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Con’t…
• Some samples of matter appear to have properties of solids, liquids, and/or gases at
the same time.
• This can occur when the sample is composed of many small pieces.
• We can pour sand as if it were a liquid because it is composed of many small grains of
solid sand.
• Matter can also have properties of more than one state when it is a mixture, such as
with clouds.
• Clouds appear to behave somewhat like gases, but they are actually mixtures of air
(gas) and tiny particles of water (liquid or solid).
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Con’t…
• The mass of an object is a measure of the amount of matter in it.
• One way to measure an object’s mass is to measure the force it takes to accelerate
the object.
• Even though weight is related to mass, it is not the same thing. Weight refers to the
force that gravity exerts on an object. This force is directly proportional to the mass
of the object.
• The weight of an object changes as the force of gravity changes, but its mass does
not.
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Con’t…
• The law of conservation of matter: It states that there is no detectable change in the
total quantity of matter present when matter converts from one type to another (a
chemical change) or changes among solid, liquid, or gaseous states (a physical
change).
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Con’t…
Figure: (a) Brewing beer: The mass of beer precursor materials (water, yeast, grains, malt, hops, and
sugar) is the same as the mass of beer (water, alcohol, carbonation, and flavoring substances) produced:
Sugar has become alcohol and carbon dioxide.
(b) Lead-acid car battery: The mass of the lead, lead oxide, and sulfuric acid consumed by the
production of electricity is exactly equal to the mass of lead sulfate and water that is formed .
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1.4.2. Classification of Matter
• The two broad categories are mixtures and pure substances
• A pure substance has a constant composition: all specimens of a pure substance have
exactly the same makeup and properties.
• Example: Any sample of sucrose (table sugar) (C12H22O11)
consists of 42.1% carbon, 6.5% hydrogen, and 51.4% oxygen by mass
has the same physical properties (melting point, color, and sweetness) regardless
of the source from which it is isolated.
• Pure substances may be divided into two classes: elements and compounds
• Pure substances that cannot be broken down into simpler substances by chemical
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changes are called elements.
Con’t…
• Pure substances that can be broken down by chemical changes are called compounds.
• This breakdown may produce either elements or other compounds, or both.
• Mercury (II) oxide can be broken down by heat into the elements mercury and
oxygen.
• When heated in the absence of air, the compound sucrose is broken down into the
element carbon and the compound water.
• The properties of combined elements are different from those in the free, or
uncombined, state.
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Con’t…
• White crystalline sugar (sucrose) is a compound resulting from the chemical
combination of the element carbon (black solid), and the two elements hydrogen
and oxygen (colorless gases).
• A mixture is composed of two or more types of matter that can be present in varying
amounts and can be separated by physical changes, such as evaporation.
• A mixture with a composition that varies from point to point is called a
heterogeneous mixture.
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Con’t…
• A homogeneous mixture, also called a solution, exhibits a uniform composition and
appears visually the same throughout.
Figure: (a) Oil and vinegar salad dressing is a heterogeneous mixture because its composition is not
uniform throughout.
(b) A commercial sports drink is a homogeneous mixture because its composition is uniform throughout.
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Classification of Matter
Figure: Depending on its properties, a given substance can be classified as a homogeneous mixture, a
heterogeneous mixture, a compound, or an element.
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1.5. Physical and Chemical Properties
• The characteristics that distinguish one substance from another are called properties.
• A physical property is a characteristic of matter that is not associated with a change in
its chemical composition.
• Familiar examples of physical properties include density, color, hardness, melting
and boiling points, and electrical conductivity.
• Other physical properties, such as the melting temperature of iron or the freezing
temperature of water, can only be observed as matter undergoes a physical change.
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Con’t…
• A physical change is a change in the state or properties of matter without any
accompanying change in the chemical identities of the substances contained in the
matter.
• Physical changes are observed when wax melts, when sugar dissolves in coffee, and
when steam condenses into liquid water
• Other examples of physical changes include magnetizing and demagnetizing
metals, grinding solids into powders
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Con’ t…
• In each of these examples, there is a change in the physical state, form, or
properties of the substance, but no change in its chemical composition.
Figure: (a) Wax undergoes a physical change when solid wax is heated and forms liquid wax. (b) Steam
condensing inside a cooking pot is a physical change, as water vapor is changed into liquid water.
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Con’t…
• The change of one type of matter into another type (or the inability to change) is a
chemical property
• Examples of chemical properties include flammability, toxicity, acidity, and many
other types of reactivity
• Iron combines with oxygen in the presence of water to form rust; chromium does not
oxidize.
Figure: (a) One of the chemical properties of iron is that it rusts; (b) one of the chemical properties of chromium is
that it does not. 30
Con’t…
• Nitroglycerin is very dangerous because it explodes easily; neon poses almost no
hazard because it is very unreactive.
• A chemical change always produces one or more types of matter that differ from
the matter present before the change
• The formation of rust is a chemical change because rust is a different kind of matter
than the iron, oxygen, and water present before the rust formed
• The explosion of nitroglycerin is a chemical change because the gases produced are
very different kinds of matter from the original substance
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Con’t…
• Other examples of chemical changes include reactions that are performed in a lab
(such as copper reacting with nitric acid), all forms of combustion (burning), and
food being cooked, digested, or rotting(decomposing).
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Physical and Chemical Properties
Figure: (a) Copper and nitric acids undergo a chemical change to form copper nitrate and brown, gaseous nitrogen
dioxide. (b) During the combustion of a match, cellulose in the match and oxygen from the air undergo a chemical
change to form carbon dioxide and water vapor. (c) Cooking red meat causes a number of chemical changes,
including the oxidation of iron in myoglobin that results in the familiar red-to-brown color change. (d) A banana
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turning brown is a chemical change as new, darker (and less tasty) substances form.
1.6. Extensive and Intensive Property of matter
• Properties of matter fall into one of two categories:
• If the property depends on the amount of matter present, it is an extensive property.
• The mass and volume of a substance are examples of extensive properties; for instance, a
gallon of milk has a larger mass than a cup of milk.
• The value of an extensive property is directly proportional to the amount of matter in question.
Additional examples: No. of moles, length, weight, area, heat, entropy, etc.
• If the property of a sample of matter does not depend on the amount of matter present, it is an
intensive property.
• Temperature is an example of an intensive property.
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Con’t…
• If the gallon and cup of milk are each at 20°C (room temperature), when they are
combined, the temperature remains at 20°C.
• As another example, consider the distinct but related properties of heat and
temperature. A drop of hot cooking oil spattered on your arm causes brief, minor
discomfort, whereas a pot of hot oil yields severe burns. Both the drop and the pot of
oil are at the same temperature (an intensive property), but the pot clearly contains
much more heat (extensive property).
Additional examples: Melting point, Density, Conductivity, Color, odor, flammability, hardness,
etc.
• Extensive property varies with amount do not reveal much on what the substance actually is.
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