GENERAL CHEMISTRY NOTES

Chemistry – study of the composition, structure, and properties of matter and of the reactions by
which one form of matter may be produced from or converted into other forms.

BRANCHES:

1. Analytical chemistry
a. Qualitative analysis – separation and identification of what is present in a given
sample.
b. Quantitative analysis – determination of how much of a substance is present in a
given sample.

2. Physical chemistry – concerned with the structure of matter, energy changes, and the
laws, principles, and theories that explain the transformation of one form of matter into
another.

3. Organic chemistry – deals with reactions of the compounds of carbon

4. Inorganic chemistry – deals with the chemistry of elements other than carbon and its
compound.

5. Biochemistry – concerned with the substances comprising living organism bacteria,

plants, animals and human.

Matter – is anything that occupies space and has mass. The mass of an object is the quantity of
matter that it contains.

PURE SUBSTANCES – have fixed composition and distinct properties.

1. Elements – are substances that cannot be decomposed into simpler substances by

chemical means.
a. Metals – they exhibit properties like luster, malleability and electrical conductivity.
b. Nonmetals – all other materials that exhibit properties opposite to those of metals.
c. Metalloids – materials which exhibit some of the properties of metals and also some
of the properties of nonmetals.

COMPOUNDS – are substances composed of two or more elements united chemically in

definite proportions by mass.
 a. Acids – are substances that increase the hydronium ion in water.
b. Bases – are substances that increase the hydroxide ions in water.
c. Salts – are substances produced when acids and bases are mixed.

MIXTURES - composed of two or more kinds of matter each substance retains its own identity
and properties, thus it can be separated by physical means.

1. Homogeneous mixture – have uniform composition throughout. Solutions are classified

under this group.
Ex. vinegar, brine, syrup

2. Heterogeneous mixtures – substances whose compositions, properties, and appearance

differ throughout.
Ex. sand in water, chocolate chip ice cream

PHYSICAL STATES OF MATTER

1. Gas or vapor – a substance whose particles are far apart, it has no fixed volume or shape;
it expands or contracts to assume the shape and volume of its container.
2. Liquid – a substance that has fixed volume and but do not have fixed shape; it tends to
flow freely, thus, it assumes the shape of the container that it occupies.
3. Solid – a substance that has fixed volume and fixed shape; the particles are closely
packed thus it is rigid and tends to resist any change in shape.

PROPERTIES OF MATTER

- These are the characteristics that enable us to distinguish one substance from another.

1. Physical Properties – are those characteristics that do not involve a change in the
chemical identity of the matter.
Ex. color, odor, taste, hardness, physical state, melting point, boiling point, electrical,
conductivity, malleability, density, solubility, specific gravity.

2. Chemical Properties – are those characteristics associated with how one kind of
matter transforms into another kind.
Ex. rusting metal, burning fuel, milk turning sour

CHANGES OF MATTER

1. Physical change – does not involve a change of one kind of matter into another, no
change in the fixed composition of the substance.
 Ex. Phase changes such as – melting, evaporation or boiling, sublimation

2. Chemical change – involves the transformations or change of one kind of matter into
another; it results in the formation of a new substance with different properties.

a. Rusting of iron when exposed to the atmosphere.

Fe (5) + O2 (g) Fe2O3 (s)
Iron metal air rust (brown substance on the surface of iron
metal)

b. Destruction of marble statues

CaCo3 + H2SO4 CO2+ H2O + C9O
Marble Acid rain

ENERGY

- It is defined as the capacity to do work, where work is the process of causing matter to
move against an opposing force.

ENERGY CAN BE FURTHER CLASSIFIED INTO:

1. Potential energy – possessed by matter by virtue of its positions, conditions or

composition.

Ex. water at the top of a waterfall possesses potential energy because of its position.

2. Kinetic energy – possessed by matter because of its motion

Ex. as water falls from the top of a waterfall, its potential energy because kinetic energy.

LAWS OF MATTER AND ENERGY

1. Law of Conservation of Mass and Energy - states that mass and energy are neither
created nor destroyed. They are just transformed from one form to another.

a. Law of Conservation of Mass – total mass of reactants = total mass of product.

b. Law of Conservation of Energy – total energy before reaction = total energy after
reaction

Chemical Energy of Reactants – chemical energy of products and transformed energy.

 Exothermic – where energy is liberated or given off, chemical energy is converted into
heat energy.

Endothermic – where energy is absorbed heat, light or Electrical energy is converted to

chemical energy.

2. Law of Definite Proportion – states that “all sample of a pure composed contain some
elements in a definite proportion by mass.
Ex. The composition of sugar regardless of its source be it from sugar beet, or maple,
is 42.1% carbon 6.5% Hydrogen, and 51.4% Oxygen.

3. Law of Multiple Proportions – states that when two elements combine to form more
than one compound, the different weights of one that combined with a fixed weight of
other are in the ration of small whole numbers.
Ex. consider the combination of C and O 1.00g Carbon + 1.33g

Oxygen Compound A

1.00g Carbon + 1.33 Oxygen Compound B

* For the same weight Carbon, we see that the ratio of the weights of oxygen that combine with
the same weight of C is 2.1
PERIODIC TABLE OF ELEMENTS

- Dmitry I. Mendeleyev discovered it in the mid-nineteenth century, and it has been of

immeasurable use in the development of chemistry. The order of elements in the periodic
system is determined by their atomic numbers, the integers of which are equivalent to the
positive electrical charges of the atomic nuclei represented in electronic units. This was
not completely realized until the second decade of the twentieth century.

CLASSIFYING THE ELEMENTS

- J.A.R. Newlands suggested classifying the elements in order of increasing atomic weights
in 1864, assigning ordinal numbers from unity upward to the elements and dividing them
into seven groups with properties closely related to the first seven elements widely
known: hydrogen, lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen.

SCIENTIFIC NOTATION

- Also referred to as scientific form or standard index form or standard form.

DECIMAL NOTATION SCIENTIFIC NOTATION

2 2x100

300 3x102

4,321.768 4.371768x103

-53,000 -5.3x104

6,720,000,000 6.72x109

0.2 2x10−1

0.00000000751 7.51x109

SCIENTIFIC NOTATION

- Is a way of expressing number that are too big or too small to be conveniently written in
decimal commonly used by scientist mathematicians and engineers.

SIGNIFICANT FIGURES
 RULES:

1. All non – zero numbers are significant (certain and exact).

2. Zeros between non-zero numbers are significant.
3. Leading zeros are never significant.
4. Zeros on the end of a number are significant if there is a decimal point.

ATOMIC THEORY

- Is a scientific theory of the nature of matter, which states that matter is composed of
discrete units called atoms

HISTORY OF ATOMIC THEORY

19TH CENTURY

- Began as a philosophical concept in ancient Greece and entered the scientific mainstream
in the early 19th century when discoveries in the field of chemistry showed that matter did
indeed behave as if it were made up of atoms.

20th CENTURY

- Physicists discovered that the so – called “uncuttable atom” was conglomerate of various
subatomic particles which can exist separately from each other.

DALTON’S ATOMIC THEORY

1. Elements are made of extremely small particles called atoms.

2. Atoms of a given element are identical in size, mass and other properties.
3. Atoms cannot be subdivided, created or destroyed.
4. Atoms are combined, separated or rearranged through chemical reactions.
5. Atoms of different elements combine in simple whole – number ratios to form chemical
compounds

ATOM

- Comes from the ancient Greek adjective “atomos” meaning “indivisible”.

THE STRUCTURES OF AN ATOM

- Atoms are made up of particles called protons, neutrons and electrons which are
responsible for the mass and charge of atoms.
  ATOM – smallest (unit) possible amount of matter which still retains its identity as a
chemical element, consisting of a nucleus surrounded by electrons.
 PROTON – positively charged subatomic particle forming part of the nucleus of an
atom and determining the atomic number of an element. It weighs 1 atomic mass unit
or amu.
 NEUTRON – A subatomic particle forming part of the atom. It has no charge. It is
equal in mass to a proton or it weighs 1 amu.
 ELECTRON - An electron is a subatomic particle with a negative charge. It can be
either free (not bound to any atom) or tied to an atom's nucleus.
 An atom is composed of two regions: The nucleus, which is in the center of the atom
and contains of protons and neutrons, and the outer region of the atom, which hold its
electrons in orbit around the nucleus.
 Protons and neutron have approx. the same mass; about 1.67x10.24 with scientists
define as one atomic mass unit (amu) or one Dalton.
 Each electron has a negative charge (-1)
 Neutrons are uncharged particles found within the nucleus.

The atom is the smallest unit of matter that retains of all the chemical properties of an
element. Atom combined to form molecules, which they interact to form solids, gasses or
liquids. For example, water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen atoms that have combined
to form water molecules. Many biological processes are devoted to breaking.

ATOMIC STRUCTURE