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Unit 2 - Matter and Energy

Characteristics of Matter and Calculations
in Chemistry


LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Classify matter and distinguish between physical and chemical
properties/changes.


1.0 Classification, Physical and Chemical Properties of Matter
Classifications of Matter
Chemistry is the he study of matter and the changes it undergoes. Matter is anything
that occupies space and has mass. Chemists distinguish among several subcategories of
matter based on composition and properties. The classifications of matter include
substances, mixtures, elements, and compounds.
A substance is a form of matter that has a definite (constant) composition and distinct
properties. Examples are water, ammonia, table sugar (sucrose), gold, and oxygen. While,
mixture is a combination of two or more substances in which the substances retain their
distinct identities. Some familiar examples are air, soft drinks, milk, and cement. Mixtures do
not have constant composition.
Mixtures are either homogeneous or heterogeneous. When a spoonful of sugar
dissolves in water homogeneous mixture is obtain in which the composition of the mixture
is the same throughout. If sand is mixed with iron filings, however, the sand grains and the
iron filings remain separate. This type of mixture is called a heterogeneous mixture because
the composition is not uniform. Any mixture, whether homogeneous or heterogeneous, can
be created and then separated by physical means into pure components without changing
the identities of the components. After separation, the components of the mixture will have
the same composition and properties as they did to start with.

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Elements and Compounds

Substances can be either elements or compounds. An element is a substance that
cannot be separated into simpler substances by chemical means. For convenience, chemists
use symbols of one or two letters to represent the elements. Atoms of most elements can
interact with one another to form compounds. Compound is composed of atoms of two or
more elements chemically united in fixed proportions. Unlike mixtures, compounds can be
separated only by chemical means into their pure components.
The relationships among elements, compounds, and other categories of matter are
summarized in the figure below.

Substances can exist in three states: solid, liquid, and gas. Distances between
molecules distinguish them from one another. Solid, molecules are held close together in
an orderly fashion with little freedom of motion. Molecules in a liquid are close together
but are not held so rigidly in position and can move past one another. In a gas, the
molecules are separated by distances that are large compared with the size of the
molecules.

The diagram below shows the molecular arrangement of the three states of matter.

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LEARNING ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIES

Refer to this simulation link to explore more understanding on the three

states of matter
https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/states-of-matter/latest/states-of-matter_en.html


Physical and Chemical Properties of Matter
Substances are identified by their properties as well as by their composition. A
physical property can be measured and observed without changing the composition or
identity of a substance. Color, melting point, and boiling point are physical properties.
On the other hand, chemical property is the characteristic of a substance that is
observed during a reaction in which the chemical composition or identity of the substance is
changed. After such change, the original chemical substance vanished, and all that will be left
is a different chemical substance
All measurable properties of matter fall into one of two additional categories:
extensive properties and intensive properties. The measured value of an extensive property
depends on how much matter is being considered. The value of an extensive quantity
depends on the amount of matter. Mass, length, and volume are examples of extensive
properties. On the other hand, intensive property does not depend on how much matter is
being considered. Color, odor, taste, density, and temperature such as boiling point and
melting point are examples of intensive properties.

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2.0 Changes of Matter

Chemical reaction is a process in which a substance (or substances) is changed into
one or more new substances. To represent chemical reaction chemical equation is used. A
chemical equation uses chemical symbols to show what happens during a chemical reaction.
A chemical equation is a shorthand method of representing chemical reaction using chemical
symbols and formulas to indicate the reactants and the products. Reactants are the starting
materials in a chemical reaction and product is the substance formed as a result of a chemical
reaction. In a chemical equation, the reactants are conventionally written on the left and the
products on the right of the arrow. To provide additional information, chemists often
indicate the physical states of the reactants and products by using the letters g for gas, l for
liquid, s for solid, and aq for aqueous.
Knowing the states of the reactants and products is especially useful in the laboratory.
For example, when potassium bromide (KBr) and silver nitrate (AgNO3) react in an aqueous
environment, a solid, silver bromide (AgBr), is formed. This reaction can be represented by
the equation:

KBr(aq) + AgNO3(aq) KNO3(aq) + AgBr(s)

If the physical states of reactants and products are not given, an uninformed person
might try to bring about the reaction by mixing solid KBr with solid AgNO3. These solids
would react very slowly or not at all.
The important principles to remember about chemical equations is that every
compound has a formula which cannot be altered and a chemical reaction must account for
every atom that is used. This is an application of the Law of Conservation of Mass which
states that in chemical reaction atoms are neither created nor destroyed.

Completing and Balancing Chemical Equations
In order to be able to predict the products in a reaction we shall consider the simple
types of reaction such as combination, decomposition, replacement (displacement),
metathesis (double displacement) and the neutralization reaction.
When writing equations we follow these steps:

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a. Write the correct formulas of the reactants, if necessary.

b. Decide what type of reaction it is and thus what the products are.
c. Write the correct formula (s) for the product (s)
d. Balance the equation

Types of Chemical Reactions
1. Combination Reactions – two or more substances combine to form one product.
General Form: A + B AB
Patterns for Combination Reactions:
a. Metal + Nonmetal Binary compound
Example: 4AI(s) + 3O2(g) 2AI2O3(s)

Note: For metals with variable oxidation number, the final product depends
on the reaction condition.

b. Nonmetal + oxygen Nonmetal oxide
Example: 2C(s) + O2 (limited) 2CO(g)
C(s) + O2 (unlimited) CO2(g)
c. Metal oxide + water metal hydroxide (base)
Note: Metal oxide is sometimes called basic oxide or basic anhydride
Example: CaO(s) + H2O(I) Ca(OH)2(aq)

d. Nonmetal oxide + H2O oxyacid (acid)
Note: Nonmetal oxide is sometimes called acid oxide or acid anhydride
Example: SO2(g) + H2O(I) H2SO3(aq)
SO3(g) + H2O(I) H2SO4(aq)

e. Metal oxide + Nonmetal oxide salt
Example: CaO(s) + SO2(g) CaSO3(s)

2. Decomposition Reaction– a compound decomposed to form two or more substances

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General Form: AB Δ A + B
Patterns for Decomposition Reactions:
a. Hydrates Δ salt + water
Example: CuSO4.5H2O Δ CuSO4(s) + 5H2O(g)
b. IA bicarbonates Δ Carbonates + H2O + CO2
Example: 2 KHCO3 Δ Cu2CO3(s) + H2O(g) + CO2(g)
c. IIA bicarbonates Δ Metal oxide + H2O + CO2
Example: Mg(HCO3)2(s) Δ Mg0(s) + H2O + CO2
d. Carbonates Δ Metal oxide + CO2
Example: Na2CO3(s) Δ Na2O (s) + CO2(g)
e. Chlorates Δ Chloride + Oxygen
Example: 2KCIO3(s) Δ 2KCI(I) +302(g)
f. Metal oxide Δ Metal + oxygen
Example: CaO(s) Δ Ca(s) + O2(g)
g. H2O(I) Δ H2 (g) + O2 (g)

3. Displacement Reaction– more active metal can displace a less active metal, while a
less active one can’t displace the more active.
General Form: AY + B BY + A
Where: A & B are metals (refer to activity series)
Example: Fe(s) + CuSO4(aq) FeSO4(aq) + Cu(s)
Zn(s) + MgSO4(aq) no reaction
Below is a list of metals arranged in the order of decreasing activity, called
electromotive or activity series.

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• Metals above hydrogen displace hydrogen gas from an acid.
Example: 2AI(s) + 6HCI(aq) 2AICI3(aq) + 3H2(g)
• There are also replacement reactions involving non-metals. For example,
for the halogens, the series would be fluorine, chlorine, bromine and iodine.
Example: Cl2(g) + 2NaBr(aq) 2NaCl(aq) + Br2(aq)
I2(g) + 2NaBr(aq) no reaction

4. Metathesis (Double Displacement Reaction) – the positive ions exchange
partners with the negative ions to form two new compounds.
General Form: AX + BY AY + BX
• All neutralization reaction involving acids and bases are actually
metathesis reaction.
Example: AgNO3(aq) + HCI(aq) AgCl(aq) +HNO3(aq)
Na2SO4(aq) + Pb(NO3)2(aq) 2 NaNO3(aq) + PbSO4(aq)
• Any carbonate, either in the solid state or aqueous solution, react with acid
to form water, carbon dioxide gas, and salt .

Example: CaCO3(s) + 2HCl(aq) CaCl2(aq) + CO2(g) + H2O(l)

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5. Neutralization Reaction
Types of neutralization reaction:
a. Acid + base salt + water
Example: HCl(aq) + NaOH(aq) NaCl(aq) + H2O(I)

b. Metal oxide + acid salt + water
Example: CaO(s) + 2HCl(aq) CaCl2(aq) + H2O(I)

c. Nonmetal oxide + base salt +water
Example: SO2(g) + 2NaOH Na2SO3 + H2O

d. Ammonia + Acid ammonium salt
Example: NH3 + HCl NH4Cl

6. Combustion Reaction – reaction of elements and compounds with oxygen.
Example: C(s) + O2 (limited) CO
C(s) + O2 (excess) CO2
C2H4 + O2 (limited) CO + H2O
C2H4 + O2 (excess) CO2 + H2O

Stoichiometric Calculations
Stoichiometry is a term used to describe quantitative relationships in chemistry. It is
the quantitative study of reactants and products in a chemical reaction. Whether the units
given for reactants (or products) are moles, grams, liters (for gases), or some other units,
moles is used to calculate the amount of product formed in a reaction. This approach is called
the mole method, which means simply that the stoichiometric coefficients in a chemical
equation can be interpreted as the number of moles of each substance.
To perform the calculations involved in stoichiometry, it is necessary to understand
the mole and how to calculate the number of moles from the mass of a substance and its
molar mass. The molar mass of a substance is the mass in grams of one mole of the substance.

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Molar masses are calculated by summing the atomic masses of all the elements appearing in
a chemical formula
To understand this clearly, first consider the significance of a chemical equation. For
example, the balances equation in a combination reaction of aluminum oxide and water is

Al2O3 + 3H2O 2Al(OH)3

Quantitatively, this means that 1 mole of aluminum oxide reacts with 3 moles of
water yield 2 moles of aluminum hydroxide. Also from the coefficients in the balanced
equation you can derive the following relationships:

1 mole Al2O3 = 2 moles Al(OH)3

1 mole Al203 = 3 moles H2O

Then you are going to consider the mole concept to find the mass of a mole of each
of the substances involve.

The following are the general approach for solving stoichiometry problems:
1. Write a balanced equation for the reaction.
2. Convert the given amount of the reactant (in grams or other units) to number of moles.
3. Use the mole ratio from the balanced equation to calculate the number of moles of
product formed.
5. Convert the moles of product to grams (or other units) of product.

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Example 1
What mass of AgNO3 (169.9 g/mol) is needed to convert 2.33 g of Na2CO3
Stoichiometry parang test
(106.0 g/mol) to Ag2CO3? What mass of Ag2CO3 (275.7 g/mol) will be
http://web.mst.edu/~gbert/Aj2.HTML?JAVA/stoic1a.HTM
formed?
Na CO (aq) + 2AgNO (aq) Ag2CO3(s) + 2NaNO3(aq)
2 3 3

Solution
To solve for the mass of AgNO
3:

1 /D> A=! BC+ 2 /D> E<AC+ 170< E<AC+
2.33 < A=! BC+ ' 106 < A=! BC+ ' 1 /D> A=! BC+ ' 1 /D> E<AC+
= 7.47 < E<AC+

To solve for the mass of Ag 2CO3 formed:

1 /D> A=! BC+ 1 /D> E<! BC+ 275.7 < E<! BC+
2.33 < A=! BC+ ' ' '
106 < A=! BC+ 1 /D> A=! BC+ 1 /D> E<! BC+
= 6.06 < E<! BC+

Example 2
Calculate the number of grams of aluminum sulfate that could be obtained by

the action of 12.5 grams of aluminum on an excess of sulfuric acid.

2 Al + 3H2SO4 Al2(SO4)3 + 3H2


Solution
To solve for the mass of aluminum sulfate, we need to get first the molar mass
of aluminum sulfate which is 342 g.

1 /D> E> 1 /D> E>! (FC$ )+ 342< E>! (FC$ )+
12.5 < E> ' ' '
27 < E> 1 /D> E> 1 /D> E>! (FC$ )+
= 79.2 < E>! (FC$ )+

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Example 3
Given the equation:

3 Cu + 8HNO3 3Cu(NO3)2 + 2NO + 4H2O
Calculate the number of grams of copper (II) nitrate that could be produced

from 5.25 moles of copper.

Solution
To solve for the mass of copper (II) nitrate we need to get first the molar mass
of copper (II) nitrate which is 188 g.


3 /D> BG(AC+ )! 188< BG(AC+ )!
5.25 /D> BG ' ' = 987 < BG(AC+ )!
3 /D> BG 1 /D> BG(AC+ )!

LEARNING ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIES

Practice your knowledge in solving stoichiometric problem using the following
link:
http://web.mst.edu/~gbert/Aj2.HTML?JAVA/stoic1a.HTM
https://teachchemistry.org/classroom-resources/chemical-reactions-stoichiometry-simulation




References:
Chang, R. and Goldsby, K. A. (2017). Chemistry, (12th International Edition), New York:
McGraw-Hill.

Brown, L., Brown, L. S., & Holme, T. (2011). Chemistry for engineering students. Nelson
Education.

Silberberg, M. (2012). Principles of general chemistry. McGraw-Hill Education.

SCI 401 –GENERAL CHEMISTRY