MARANATHA CHRISTIAN ACADEMY

of Mandaluyong City, Inc.

PHYSICAL SCIENCE REVIEWER

8 IMPORTANT CONCEPTS

1. All atoms are made up of sub-atomic particles.

2. The identity of an element depends on how many protons it has.
3. The light elements hydrogen, helium, lithium and beryllium were the very first to form.
4. Nucleosynthesis combines nucleons to form new elements.
5. Big Bang is an expansion of space.
6. As the Universe expands, it cools.
7. The more energetic/higher energy the particles in an object are, the higher the temperature of
that object will be.
8. Mass can be converted into energy. (E=mc2)

FORMATION OF LIGHT ELEMENTS

• Hydrogen (H), Helium (He), Lithium (Li), and Beryllium (Be) are first light elements were
formed during the process of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis.
• Nucelosynthesis is the process of creating new atomic nuclei from pre-existing nuclei.
• Atom is the basic unit of matter.
• PROTONS is positively charged subatomic particle. / Located in the nucleus / Relatively large
mass compared to electrons.
• ELECTRONS is negatively charged subatomic particle. / Orbits around the nucleus / Very
small mass compared to protons and neutrons.
• NEUTRON is neutral charge (no charge). / Mass similar to a proton.
• Atomic Number = Number of PROTONS and ELECTRONS.
• Atomic Mass = Protons + Neutrons
• Nucleus – location of the protons and neutrons.
• The first 3 minutes of Big Bang focused primarily on the expansion and cooling of universe so as to the
synthesis of the first three elements. On the other hand, the second cosmological event is Stellar
nucleosynthesis, a process in which heavier elements such as Beryllium ( 4Be) and Iron (26Fe) were
formed by combining protons and neutrons from the nuclei of a lighter elements.

FORMATION OF HEAVIER ELEMENTS

• Star – is a ball of gas strongly held together by its own gravitational force.
• SUN – is our very own star, and the closest star to Earth and has been used by astronomers as a
model in studying stars in detail.
 • CONCEPT: A star’s life starts as clouds of dust and gas, gravity pulls these clouds together.
Various nuclear fusion reactions take place and drive the formation and development of stars.
Stars with different masses grow and ‘evolve’ (or change) throughout the different stages of
their lives. The Sun is formed around 4.5 billion years ago.

How Stars are Formed?

• The outer space may seem like a vacuum but in reality, it contains very thinly spread of gas and
dust called the ‘Interstellar Medium (ISM).’ Stars are formed from the accumulation (or
accretion) of these clouds of dust and gas, referred to as molecular clouds. The gravitational
energy pulls together the clouds of gas and dust causing it to collapse. As the clouds of gas and
dust collapse, they become denser and this paves the way for the formation of stars. The dense
clouds of gas and dust are known as a NEBULA – The Birthplace of Stars.
The Orion Nebula situated in our galaxy, the Milky Way, is one of the brightest nebulae that can be
observed in the night sky.

• Protostar – the early stage of a star's formation, occurring when a dense region within a
molecular cloud collapses under its own gravity, causing fragments of the cloud to contract and
form a central stellar core, which is not yet hot enough to initiate nuclear fusion.
• The contraction and gravitational force of the protostar result in an increase in temperature
which triggers nuclear reaction within the star upon reaching 10 million Kelvin. Once the
contraction stops and the protostar attains its gravitational equilibrium, a main sequence star
will be formed.
• In the core of a main sequence star, hydrogen fuses with helium through proton-proton chain.
In addition, the gravitational force of a main sequence star forces hydrogen and helium to fuse
resulting to burning of the 2 primordial elements.
• At this stage, helium is converted to carbon at the core while hydrogen is converted into helium
surrounding the core which denotes the formation of red giant. On the other hand, since
massive stars possess enough energy, mass, temperature, and pressure, the star will undergo a
series of stages where heavier elements are fused around the shell of the core whereas carbon
will be formed through helium fusion, neon will be formed through oxygen fusion, magnesium
from neon fusion, silicon from magnesium fusion, and iron from silicon fusion which denotes
the formation of red giant.
• Considering that the majority of helium surrounding the core has been converted into carbon,
the rate of reaction will decrease causing the gravitational force to act squeezing the entire star.
With low mass stars, considering that the amount of energy is not enough to sustain the
reaction, and that the star’s fuel has been exhausted, the outer material covering the star will
eventually be blown-off leaving an inert carbon core resulting to the formation of white dwarf.
• Supernova happens when the core can no longer produce the needed energy to resist
gravitational force, leading to its explosion and release of large amounts of energy. (doom or
death of a star)
 • A neutron star and a black hole are both remnants left behind after a supernova explosion, but
the key difference is that a neutron star is a dense, extremely compact object with immense
gravity, while a black hole is so dense that nothing, not even light, can escape its
gravitational pull, making it essentially invisible; the deciding factor between the two is the
mass of the star's core after the supernova, with more massive cores collapsing into black holes
and less massive ones forming neutron stars.
• Infrared radiation is a piece of evidence of a star formation provides a view of stars due to
their heat energies.
• TECHNETIUM is the element that was created by Emilio Sergio and Carlo Perrier in 1937
through the bombardment of molybdenum by deuterons.
• Electron will be emitted during beta decay.
• Gamma ray will be emitted when a radioactive nuclide leaves a nucleus in an excited state.
• Alpha Emission is a particle with two protons and two neutrons is emitted resulting to a lighter
new element.
• Proton-proton Chain Reaction is a type of nuclear fusion occurs at the core of a medium-
sized star. Average star (SUN) gets their energy by converting Hydrogen to Helium.
• CNO Cycle or Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen (CNO) cycle is used in the stars 8 times bigger than
the Sun to convert Hydrogen into helium.
• Tri-Alpha Process – Red Giant stars uses helium to power itself through the Tri-Alpha process.
It is a series of nuclear reactions that combine three helium nuclei to create a carbon atom. It's
responsible for the carbon in stars and in humans.

The Molecular World

Molecules – are formed when two or more atoms combine and form bonds between them.

Valence shell – also known as “outermost shell.”

• A metallic bond is a chemical bond that occurs between atoms of metallic elements. The force
that holds atoms together is due to a sea of valence electrons that moves from atom to atom
within the material.
- Metals lose electrons to form positive ions and delocalized electrons.

- PROCESS: The metal atoms lose electrons to their outer shell and that makes them form positive ions.
The electrons they lose become delocalized which means they're no longer attached to any one ion
and they kind of float around in this sea of delocalized electrons. We've got positive ions, and then a
sea of delocalized electrons floating around between them. Because the ions are positive, and the
electrons are negative, there's going to be an attraction between them. Just like with ionic bonding,
they're going to be attracted to each other. And this attraction between the ions and electrons is the
Metallic bond.
e.g., Giant Metallic Structure; we've got many thousands of atoms joined together in rows forming
this Giant Metallic Lattice being held together by that attraction between the ions and electrons.

- Magnesium (Mg), Aluminum (Al), Sodium (Na), Calcium (Ca), Copper (Cu), and Iron (Fe).

• An ionic bond is a chemical bond that forms between a metal atom and a nonmetal atom. Metal
atoms lose their valence electrons to form positive ions (cations), whereas nonmetal atoms gain
electrons to become negative ions (anions). Ionic Bonding is a strong electrostatic attraction
between positive and negative ion. e.g., Magnesium/Mg (metal) and Oxygen/O (non-metal)
= Magnesium Oxide (MgO)

Examples of Ionic Compounds

- Calcium Chloride - CaCl
- Aluminum Bromide (AlBr3)

• A covalent bond is a chemical bond that results from the sharing of electrons between
metal and nonmetal.

- bonds where the electrons are shared in order to satisfy the octet rule.
- due to the difference in electronegativity

1.1 Simple Covalent - we've got few atoms in a molecule

- most covalent compounds.

e.g., Cl - Cl = Chlorine, Cl2

H - Cl = Hydrogen Chloride, HCl
H - O - H = Water, H2O
O=O = Oxygen, O2
O-C-O = Carbon Dioxide, CO2

1.2. Giant Covalent - we've got many thousands of atoms joined together in a giant structure
- a few of covalent compounds

e.g., Diamond, Graphite, Graphene, and Silicon Dioxide SiO2 (these are examples of Giant Covalent
the rest are Simple Covalent)

• A nonpolar covalent bond is a chemical bond that forms between two nonmetal atoms that
have similar electronegativities. (e.g., CO2 , bond between two hydrogen atoms in a
hydrogen molecule (H₂) because both atoms have the same electronegativity,
resulting in an equal sharing of electrons.)
 • A polar covalent bond is a chemical bond that involves the unequal sharing of electrons
between two nonmetals that have different electronegativities. (e.g., HCl or Hydrogen Chloride,
HF or Hydrogen fluorine, or the bond between oxygen and hydrogen in a water molecule
(H2O))
- Hydrogen fluoride (HF) molecules can form hydrogen bonds with other hydrogen
fluoride molecules because the highly electronegative fluorine atom creates a
significant partial negative charge, allowing the hydrogen atom with a partial
positive charge to be attracted to it in neighboring molecules, thus forming a
hydrogen bond.
• Electronegativity is the measure of an atom’s ability to attract the shared electrons in a
chemical bond. It is a relative value assigned to atoms and ranges from 0.7 to 4.0.
• Valence shell electron pair repulsion (VSEPR) theory considers the repulsion between
electron pairs (whether bonding or nonbonding) in a molecule to predict its molecular structure.
In this model, the electrons pair orient themselves in a way that maximizes the distances
between them.
• Polarity is a physical property of molecules that is related to solubility, melting or boiling
points, and intermolecular interactions between molecules. The polarity of a molecule may be
due to the presence of a polar bond or a result of the overall direction of the dipole moment that
results from the 3D arrangements of bonds.
• Ion-dipole force is the force between an ion and a polar molecule. Example: When a chloride
ion is dissolved in water, it will be attracted to the hydrogen end of the water molecule, as
the hydrogen end carries a partial positive charge, while the chloride ion has a negative
charge, causing an electrostatic attraction between them.
- When a chloride ion dissolves in water, it becomes surrounded by water molecules with their
hydrogen atoms oriented towards the chloride ion, forming a "hydration shell".
• Dipole-dipole force is the attractive force between polar molecules. Example: Water
molecules (H2O): The oxygen atom in water is more electronegative than hydrogen, causing a
partial negative charge on the oxygen and a partial positive charge on the hydrogen atoms,
leading to dipole-dipole interactions between water molecules.
- CH2O, also known as formaldehyde, would have a higher boiling point
compared to many other similar molecules due to its polar nature and
ability to form dipole-dipole interactions, making the intermolecular
forces stronger and requiring more energy to overcome them to reach
the boiling point; its boiling point is around -19°C.
- Acetone (CH3COCH3): The oxygen atom in acetone is more electronegative than the carbon
atoms, creating a dipole moment.
- Sulfur dioxide (SO2): The sulfur atom has a partial positive charge while the oxygen atoms have
partial negative charges, enabling dipole-dipole interactions.
• Hydrogen bonding (H-bonding) is a special kind of dipole-dipole interaction that occurs only
in a polar molecules that have N – H, O – H, or F – H bonds.
• Dispersion force (also known as London dispersion force) is the attractive force that arises
from the temporary dipoles induced in molecules by the random movement of electrons. It is an
IMFA that occurs between two or more non-polar molecules.