GENERAL CHEMISTRY

CHEMISTRY is defined as the branch of science that deals with the study of matter, its complete
structure, composition, properties, the changes it undergoes, and the laws, principles, theories, and
concepts that describe, interpret, and predict its behavior and basic nature.

DIVISIONS OF CHEMISTRY

A. ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY -determines the properties of chemical substances and the structure
and composition of compounds and mixtures.

 Qualitative Analysis – identifies the types of elements and compounds that make up
substances.
 Quantitative – measures the amounts of the different chemicals that make up the
substance.
 Radio Chemistry – involves the identification and production of radioactive elements and
their use in the study of the chemical process.

B. APPLIED CHEMISTRY – refers to the practical use of the knowledge of chemical substances and
processes.

 Agricultural Chemistry – develops fertilizers, pesticides, and studies the chemical processes
that occur in the soil and that involve crop growth.
 Environment Chemistry – studies, monitors, and controls the chemical processes and other
factors in the environment and their relationship to living things.
 Industrial Chemistry – studies the chemical production of raw materials and the
development and control of industrial chemical processes and products.
 Polymer Chemistry – deals with the plastics and other chainlike molecules formed by linking
many smaller molecules.
 Synthetic Chemistry – involves combining chemical elements and compounds to duplicate
naturally occurring substances or to produce compounds that do not occur naturally.
 Biochemistry – deals with the chemical processes of living organisms.
 Inorganic Chemistry – concerns with chemical substances that do not contain carbon-to-
carbon bonds.
 Organic Chemistry – contain carbon-to-carbon bonds.
 Physical Chemistry – interprets chemical processes in terms of physical properties of matter,
such as mass, motion, heat, electricity, and radiation.
o Chemical kinetics – sequence of steps in chemical reactions and factors that affect
the rates at which chemical reactions proceed.
o Chemical thermodynamics – deals with the chemical energy changes that occur
during chemical reactions and how temperature and pressure differences affect
reactions.
o Nuclear chemistry – chemical techniques in the study of nuclear reactions.
o Quantum chemistry – analyzes the distribution of electrons in molecules and
interprets the chemical behavior of molecules in terms of their electrons.
o Radiation chemistry – concerns with the chemical effect of high-energy radiation on
substances.
o Solid-state chemistry – deals with the composition of solids and the changes that
occur within and between solids.
 o Stereochemistry – studies the arrangement of atoms in molecules and their
properties of arrangement.
o Surface chemistry – examines the surface characteristics of chemical substances.

Chemistry came from the Greek word “chemia” which means “the black art” Egyptian origin dated
from the 4th century.

PREHISTORIC TIMES: TO THE BEGINNING OF THE CHRISTIAN ERA – “BLACK MAGIC”

A. AGE OF PHILOSOPHER (earliest time to 300 B.C.)

King Hammurabi’s reign over Babylon, 1700 BC

 In ancient Babylon, King Hammurabi began to classify metals such as gold, iron, and copper.
 He also certain materials’ value more than others depending on the potential of the
material.

Democritus 370 – 460 BCE

 Democritus proclaims the atom to be the simplest unit of matter. All matter was composed
of atoms.

Aristotle of Ancient Greece (300 BC)

 Declares the existence of only four elements: fire, air, water, and earth. All matter is made
up of those four elements and matter had four properties: hot, cold, dry, and wet.

BEGINNING OF THE CHRISTIAN ERA END OF THE 17TH CENTURY “ALCHEMY”

300 BC – 300 AD – the Advent of the Alchemists, influenced greatly by Aristotle’s ideas, alchemists
attempted to transmute cheap metals to gold. The substance used for this conversation was called
the Philosopher’s Stone.

13th Century (1200’s) – 15th Century (1400’s) – Failure of the Gold Business

 Although Pope John XXII issued an edict against gold-making, the gold business continued.
Despite the alchemist’s efforts, the transmutation of cheap metals to gold never happened
within this time period.

ELIXIR OF LIFE

 The elixir of life, also known as the elixir of immortality and sometimes equated with the
philosopher’s stone is a potion that supposedly grants the drinker eternal life and/or eternal
youth. This elixir was also said to cure all diseases. Alchemists of various ages and cultures
sought the means of formulating the elixir.
 Alchemy was rooted in a complex spiritual worldview in which everything around us
contains a sort of universal spirit, and metals were believed not only to be alive but also to
grow inside the Earth. When a base or common, metal such as lead was found, it was
thought to simply be a spiritually and physically immature form of higher metals such as
gold.

MID-19TH CENTURY (TRADITIONAL CHEMISTRY)

PHLOGISTON THEORY and COULOMBS LAW (1700)

Phlogiston, in early chemical theory, hypothetical principle of fire, of which every combustible
substance was in part composed. In this view, the phenomena of burning, now called oxidation, was
caused by the liberation of phlogiston, with the dephlogisticated substance left as ash or residue.

JOHN DALTON (1766-1844)

Dalton’s Atomic Theory (1766 – 1844)

 Democritus first suggested the existence of the atom, but it took almost two millennia
before the atom was placed on a solid foothold as a fundamental chemical object by John
Dalton. Although two centuries old, Dalton’s atomic theory remains valid in modern
chemical thought.
o All matter is made of atoms. Atoms are indivisible and indestructible.
o All atoms of a given element are identical in mass and properties.
o Compounds are formed by a combination of two or more different kinds of atoms.
o A chemical reaction is a rearrangement of atoms.

MODERN CHEMISTRY or 20TH CENTURY CHEMISTRY

Mercury vacuum pump (1854)

 In 1854, Heinrich Geissler invented the mercury displacement vacuum pump, which led to
high-quality vacuum tubes, which in turn led to the invention of the transistor.

Cathode Ray Tube, or Crooke’s Tube

 This was one of the very first experiments to be done with electricity.
 A tube containing two metal electrodes or plates connected to a battery and all the gas is
sucked out of the tube
 William Crookes designed this tube in 1879
 The cathode ray inside glows green
 Crookes was convinced this beam consisted of charged particles

THE PROTON in 1885

Eugen Goldstein, 1886, was one of the first to observe the proton (them unnamed). During his work
with discharge tubes. He observed rays traveling from the cathode to the anode (electrons) and also
noticed the presence of waves traveling in the opposite direction. These waves, called anode rays
and having the lowest e/m ratio, were found to be characteristic of the gas in the tube.

X-RAYS in 1895

Discovery of X-rays Beams. Willhelm Roentgen was already working on the effects of cathode rays in
1895 before he discovered X-rays. His experiments involved the passing of electricity through gases
at extremely low pressure.

Discovery of the Electron

In 1897, J. J. Thomson used a cathode ray tube to deduce the presence of a negatively charged
particle: the Electron.

MASS OF THE ELECTRON (1909)

Robert Millikan – determines the mass of the electron. The mass of the electron is 9.109 x 10−31 kg.
As a scientist, Millikan made numerous momentous discoveries, chiefly in the fields of electricity,
optics, and molecular physics. His earliest major success was the accurate determination of the
charge carried by an electron, using the elegant “falling-drop method”, he also proved that this
quantity was a constant for all electrons (1910), thus demonstrating the atomic structure of
electricity. Next, he verified experimentally Einstein’s all-important photoelectric equation and made
the first direct photoelectric determination of Planck’s constant h (1912 – 1915).

Niels Bohr (1885 – 1962)

 Planetary Model 1913

o A nucleus surrounded by orbiting electrons at different energy levels
o Electrons have definite orbits.
 Utilized Planck’s Quantum Energy Theory
 Worked on the Manhattan Project (US atomic bomb)

Atomic Model (1913)

 Bohr’s atomic model consisted of a nucleus that contained a combination of neutrons and
protons. Protons were considered positively charged and neutrons had no charge.
Negatively charged electrons orbited around this nucleus in confined patterns and
transferred energy in well-defined quantities. The orbits of these electrons were each at a
concrete distance away from the nucleus.

PROTON WITHIN A NUCLEUS in 1914

Henry Moseley was an outstandingly skilled experimental physicist. In 1913, he used self-built
equipment to prove that every element’s identity is uniquely determined by the number of protons
It has. His discovery enabled him to predict confidently the existence of four new chemical elements,
all of which were found.

Ernest Rutherford (1871 – 1937)

The Three types of Radioactivity (1911)

A consummate experimentalist, Rutherford was responsible for a remarkable series of discoveries in

the fields of radioactivity and nuclear physics. He discovered alpha and beta rays, set forth the laws
of radioactive decay, and identified alpha particles as helium nuclei. Most important, he postulated
the nuclear structure of the atom: experiments done in Rutherford’s laboratory showed that when
alpha particles are fired into gas atoms, a few are violently deflected, which implied a dense,
positively charged central region containing most of the atomic mass.

The Neutron (1932)

James Chadwick discovered neutrons.

CHEMISTRY IN CRIMINOLOGY

Forensic Chemistry – forensic or legal chemistry may be defined as chemistry applied to the solution
of a certain problem which arises in connection with the administration of justice. It is chemistry
exercised in the service of the laws. The magic of chemistry is used for the analysis of different
chemical evidence.

 Fertilizers
  Arson Residues
 Petroleum products
 Insecticides
 Trace evidence
 Metallurgical analysis
 Industrial solvents and chemicals
 Natural products
 Drugs of abuse
 Explosives
 Alcoholic beverages

Chemistry in Psychology

Psychology is the study of the human mind and how it functions, principally from the perspective of
behavior. Chemistry relates to psychology because chemicals affect our moods and behavior. These
processes include the release and re-uptake of neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitter, also known a
chemical messengers, are endogenous chemicals that enable neurotransmission.

Neurotransmitter

 Dopamine
 Serotonin
 Endorphin
 Oxytocin

ULOa - CHAPTER 1

Scientific Method
  Observation
 Question
 Hypothesis
 Experiment
 Analysis
 Conclusion

Step 1: Make an Observation (Theory Construction)

By making observations, researchers can establish an area of interest. Once this topic of study has
been chosen, a researcher should review existing literature to gain insight into what has already
been tested and determine what questions remain unanswered.

Step 2: Ask a Question

• A scientific question must be defined, testable, and measurable.

• A useful approach to develop a scientific question is: “What is the effect of…?” or “How does
X affect Y?”

• To answer an experimental question, a researcher needs to identify two variables: the

independent variable and the dependent variable.

• The independent variable is the variable that is manipulated (the cause) and the dependent
variable is the variable that is being measured (the effect).

Step 3: Form a Hypothesis (Make Predictions)

A hypothesis is an educated guess about the relationship between two or more variables.
A hypothesis is an attempt to answer your research question based on prior observation and
background research. Theories tend to be too complex to be tested all at once; instead, researchers
create hypotheses to test specific aspects of a theory.

Step 4: Run an Experiment (Gather Data)

A researcher will design an experiment to test the hypothesis and gather data that will either
support or refute the hypothesis.

Experimental Research – is used to investigate cause-and-effect associations between two or more

variables. This type of research systematically controls an independent variable and measures its
effect on a specified dependent variable. It is important to repeat the experiment multiple times to
confirm that your results are accurate and consistent.

Descriptive Research – generally used when it is challenging or even impossible to control the
variables in question. Examples of analysis include naturalistic observation, case studies, and
correlation studies.

Step 5: Analyze the Data and Draw Conclusions Stats

• Using analyses and statistics, researchers can summarize the data, interpret the results, and
draw conclusions based on this evidence.
 • Upon completion of the experiment, you can collect your measurements and analyze the
data using statistics. Based on the outcomes, you will either reject or confirm your
hypothesis.

Step 6: Share Your Results

Scientists should report their findings by writing up a description of their study and any subsequent
findings. This enables other researchers to build upon the present research or replicate the results.

Scientific Measurements

System of Units (also known as SI after Syteme Internationale d’Unites), which was established so
that scientists around the world could communicate efficiently with each other.

Base SI Units

Base (or basic) units are the fundamental units of SI. There are seven base units, which are the
length, mass, time, amount, temperature, electrical current, and luminous intensity. Chemistry uses
five of the base units: the mole of amount, the kilogram for mass, the meter for length, the second
for time, and the kelvin for temperature. The degree Celsius (ᵒC) is also commonly used for
temperature. The numerical relationship between kelvins and degrees Celsius is as follows: K = ᵒC +
273

Note: The United States uses the English system of units for many quantities. Inches, feet, miles,
gallons, pounds, and so forth, are all units connected with the English system of units.
Energy, another important quantity in chemistry, is the ability to perform work, such as moving a
box of books from one side of a room to the other side. It has a derived unit of kg·m2/s2. (The dot
between the kg and m units implies the units are multiplied together.) Because this combination is
cumbersome, this collection of units is redefined as a joule (J). An older unit of energy, the calorie
(cal), is also widely used. There are 4.184 J in 1 cal. All chemical processes occur with a simultaneous
change in energy.

Conversion of Units
Scientific Notation - is a form of presenting very large numbers or very small numbers in a simpler
form. 

Temperature

 CELSIUS TO FAHRENHEIT - ° F = 9/5 (° C) + 32

 FAHRENHEIT TO CELSIUS - ° C = 5/9 (° F - 32)
 CELSIUS TO KELVIN - K = ° C + 273
 KELVIN TO CELSIUS - ° C = K - 273
MATTER & ATOMS

The matter is anything that has mass and takes up space (volume). The matter is made up of small
particles, known as atoms. Matter can be presented in different states, and each of them has specific
characteristics.

Solid – the molecules that make up a solid are arranged in regular, repeating patterns. They are held
formerly in place but can vibrate within a limited area.

Liquid – the molecules that make up a liquid flow easily around one another. They are kept from
flying apart by attractive forces between them. Liquids assume the shape of their containers.

Gas – the molecules that make up a gas fly in all directions at great speeds. They are so far apart that
the attractive forces between them are insignificant.

Plasma - at the very high temperatures of stars, atoms lose their electrons. The mixture of electrons
and nuclei results in the plasma state of matter.

Elements - a substance that cannot be broken down into simpler substances by chemical
means. An element is composed of atoms that have the same atomic number, that is, each
atom has the same number of protons in its nucleus as all other atoms of that element.

 Consists of only one kind of atom

 Cannot be broken down into a simpler type of matter by either physical or chemical
means
 Can exist as either atoms or molecules.
 Pure substance that cannot be separated into a simpler substance by physical or
chemical means.
Compounds – are pure substances made up of two or more different chemical elements
combined in a fixed ratio. The compound has its own unique set of properties that are
different from the elements that formed it. Compounds can be broken into simpler
substances by chemical means.
Homogeneous mixture - a mixture of substances blended so thoroughly that you cannot see
individual substances.

Heterogeneous mixture - a mixture in which the composition is not uniform throughout the
mixture.
Six (6) Phases of changes in the matter:

 Liquid – Gas: EVAPORATION

 Liquid – Solid: FREEZING
 Solid – Liquid: MELTING
 Solid – Gas: SUBLIMATION
 Gas – Liquid: CONDENSATION
 Gas – Solid: DEPOSITION

PROPERTIES OF MATTER

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES – can be observed or measured without changing the identity of the
substance.
CHEMICAL PROPERTIES – can be observed or measured as substantial changes in identity

ATOM

 An atom consists of a nucleus (protons and neutrons) and electrons in space around the
nucleus.
 The building blocks of matter
 Smallest unit of an element that has all the same properties of the element.

NAMES OF COMPOUNDS

 The scientific name of each compound includes the elements that are I it.
 Many compounds also have common names.
 Salt is a common name for the compound sodium chloride.

FORMULAS OF COMPOUNDS

 The formula of a compound represents its repeating unit

of atoms.
 The symbol of each type of atom is in the formula.
 The subscript a show the number of each atom in the
repeating unit.
 These subscripts together form the ratio of atoms in the
compound. This ratio is the same in every sample of the
compound, no matter how large or how small the sample.

WHY DO COMPOUNDS FORM?

 Atoms join with other atoms to share or exchange electrons.

 They either gain, give up, or share enough electron to fill the outer energy level.
 This makes them more stable.