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Chemistry Introduction
Chemistry Introduction
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Bra n c h e s o f C h e m istry
4. Ph ysic a l C h e m istry is concerned with the physical properties of chemicals. It is the study
of the theories that explain the behavior of chemicals. This branch of chemistry is the most
mathematical in nature among all the five branches .
5. Bio c h e m istry is the study of chemistry of biological processes in all living organisms. These
branches overlap considerably with each other, and all chemist practice a mixture of the
various branches, depending on the exact nature of their work.
1. If the number following the digits to be kept for the answer is less than 5, the digits kept
are not altered.
For example, 3.084 rounded to three digits is 3.08
2. If the number following the digits to be kept for the answer is 5 or greater, add 1 to the digit
kept.
For example, 4.899582 rounded to four digits is 4.900
Scientific Notation
Mass and weight are often used interchangeably , but the words
have different meanings. The mass of a body is defined as the
amount of matter in that body. The mass of an object is a fixed
and unvarying quantity that is independent of the object’s
location.
The weight of a body is the measure of the earth’s
gravitational attraction for that body. Unlike mass, weight varies
in relation to the position of an object on or its distance from the
earth and whether the rate of motion of the of the object is
changing with respect to the motion of the earth.
Sp e c ific G ra vity
Chemical Properties
These are the characteristics that can be observed when the substance
undergoes a change in its composition. The ability of water to undergo a
process called electrolysis is among its chemical properties. A change in
composition occurs when an electric current is passed through a
container of liquid water (H2O), and the water is broken down to yield the
hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2), gases. A chemical property is evident
when a substance reacts with another substance.
For example, iron slowly corrodes or rusts when exposed to air or a
moist environment to form iron oxide – the reddish brown rust. It is also a
chemical property is a substance does not react with another substance
because it is inert or more stable than the other substance.
P u re S u b s ta n c e
Pure substance are forms of matter that have the same properties throughout, but
unlike solutions that have variable composition, these have definite and unchanging
chemical composition. This means that the substance is the same no matter where it is
found. Salt, water, aluminum foil, baking soda, carbon dioxide, and oxygen are all
substances because their composition is the same no matter where you find them. All
elements and all compounds are substances.
Ele m e nts
Elements are substances that are made up of only one type of atom. They
cannot be further separated into simpler substances. Atoms are made up of smaller
particles, but they are not broken down by ordinary chemical means.
There are currently 112 known elements, most of which are metals. Chemical
elements have abbreviations called “ Element Symbols”. Element symbol consist of
one, two, three letters. The first letter of an element symbol is always capitalized
and the second and third letter, if present, are lower cased.
Among the scientists who worked to created a table of the elements were, from left, Antoine
Lavoisier, Johann Wolfang Döbereiner, John Newlands and Henry Moseley.
In 1789, French chemist Antoine Lavoisier tried grouping the elements as metals and
nonmetals. Forty years later, German physicist Johann Wolfang Döbereiner observed
similarities in physical and chemical properties of certain elements. He arranged them in
groups of three in increasing order of atomic weight and called them triads, observing that
some properties of the middle element, such as atomic weight and density, approximated
the average value of these properties in the other two in each triad.
A breakthrough came with the publication of a revised list of elements and their atomic
masses at the first international conference of chemistry in Karlsruhe, Germany, in 1860.
They concluded that hydrogen would be assigned the atomic weight of 1 and the atomic
weight of other elements would be decided by comparison with hydrogen. For example,
carbon, being12 times heavier than hydrogen, would have an atomic weight of 12.
British chemist John Newlands was the first to arrange the elements into a
periodic table with increasing order of atomic masses. He found that every eight
elements had similar properties and called this the law of octaves. He arranged
the elements in eight groups but left no gaps for undiscovered elements.
In 1869, Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev created the framework that became
the modern periodic table, leaving gaps for elements that were yet to be
discovered. While arranging the elements according to their atomic weight, if he Dmitri Mendeleev
found that they did not fit into the group he would rearrange them. Mendeleev
predicted the properties of some undiscovered elements and gave them names
such as "eka-aluminium" for an element with properties similar to aluminium.
Later eka-aluminium was discovered as gallium. Some discrepancies remained;
the position of certain elements, such as iodine and tellurium, could not be
explained.
German chemist Lothar Meyer produced a version of the periodic table similar
to Mendeleev’s in 1870. He left gaps for undiscovered elements but never
predicted their properties. The Royal Society of London awarded the Davy
Medal in 1882 to both Mendeleev and Meyer. The later discovery of elements
predicted by Mendeleev, including gallium (1875), scandium (1879) and
germanium (1886), verified his predictions and his periodic table won
universal recognition. In 1955 the 101st element was named mendelevium in
his honor.
The concept of sub-atomic particles did not exist in the 19 th century. In 1913, Lothar Meyer
English physicist Henry Moseley used X-rays to measure the wavelengths of
elements and correlated these measurements to their atomic numbers. He
then rearranged the elements in the periodic table on the basis of atomic
numbers. This helped explain disparities in earlier versions that had
used atomic masses.
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