Chapter-wise Important Laws, Rules & Definitions
1. Some Basic Concepts of Chemistry
Law of Conservation of Mass (Lavoisier) – "Mass can neither be created nor
destroyed in a chemical reaction."
Law of Definite Proportions (Proust's Law) – "A given compound always contains the
same elements in the same proportion by mass, regardless of its source."
Law of Multiple Proportions (Dalton's Law) – "When two elements combine to form
more than one compound, the masses of one element that combine with a fixed
mass of the other are in a simple whole number ratio."
Gay-Lussac’s Law of Gaseous Volumes – "The volumes of reacting gases and their
gaseous products are in simple whole number ratios at constant temperature and
pressure."
Avogadro’s Law – "Equal volumes of all gases at the same temperature and pressure
contain the same number of molecules."
Mole Concept – "One mole of any substance contains 6.022×10236.022 \times
10^{23}6.022×1023 entities (Avogadro’s number)."
Empirical Formula – "The simplest whole number ratio of atoms in a compound."
Molecular Formula – "The actual number of atoms of each element in a molecule."
2. Structure of Atom
Dalton’s Atomic Theory – "All matter is made up of indivisible atoms, which cannot
be created or destroyed." (Later modified)
Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle – "It is impossible to determine simultaneously
both the exact position and exact momentum of an electron."
Aufbau Principle – "Electrons fill atomic orbitals in order of increasing energy levels."
Pauli’s Exclusion Principle – "No two electrons in an atom can have the same set of
four quantum numbers."
Hund’s Rule of Maximum Multiplicity – "In degenerate orbitals, electrons are filled
singly first before pairing up."
De Broglie’s Hypothesis – "Electrons behave as both particles and waves, with
wavelength λ=hmv\lambda = \frac{h}{mv}λ=mvh."
3. Classification of Elements and Periodicity in Properties
Mendeleev’s Periodic Law – "The properties of elements are periodic functions of
their atomic masses."
Modern Periodic Law (Moseley’s Law) – "The properties of elements are periodic
functions of their atomic numbers."
Ionization Energy (IE) – "The minimum energy required to remove an electron from
an isolated gaseous atom."
Electronegativity – "The tendency of an atom to attract a shared pair of electrons
towards itself."
4. Chemical Bonding and Molecular Structure
Octet Rule – "Atoms tend to gain, lose, or share electrons to attain a stable noble gas
configuration."
Lewis Structure – "A representation of molecules showing bonds and lone pairs using
dots and lines."
VSEPR Theory (Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion Theory) – "The shape of a
molecule is determined by the repulsions between bonding and lone pairs of
electrons around the central atom."
Valence Bond Theory (VBT) – "A covalent bond forms by the overlap of atomic
orbitals containing unpaired electrons."
Hybridization – "The mixing of atomic orbitals to form new equivalent hybrid
orbitals."
5. States of Matter
Boyle’s Law – "At constant temperature, the volume of a gas is inversely proportional
to its pressure."
o P∝1VP \propto \frac{1}{V}P∝V1 or PV=constantPV = \
text{constant}PV=constant
Charles’ Law – "At constant pressure, the volume of a gas is directly proportional to
its absolute temperature."
o V∝TV \propto TV∝T or VT=constant\frac{V}{T} = \text{constant}TV=constant
Avogadro’s Law – "At constant temperature and pressure, equal volumes of gases
contain an equal number of molecules."
Dalton’s Law of Partial Pressures – "The total pressure of a gas mixture is the sum of
the partial pressures of individual gases."
6. Thermodynamics
First Law of Thermodynamics – "Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it can
only be converted from one form to another."
o ΔU=q+w\Delta U = q + wΔU=q+w
Second Law of Thermodynamics – "The entropy of an isolated system always
increases over time for a spontaneous process."
Gibbs Free Energy (ΔG\Delta GΔG) – Determines spontaneity:
o ΔG<0\Delta G < 0ΔG<0 → Spontaneous
o ΔG>0\Delta G > 0ΔG>0 → Non-spontaneous
7. Equilibrium
Law of Chemical Equilibrium (Le Chatelier’s Principle) – "If an equilibrium is
disturbed by a change in conditions, the system shifts in a direction that counteracts
the disturbance."
Equilibrium Constant (KKK) – "The ratio of the concentration of products to
reactants at equilibrium, each raised to their stoichiometric coefficients."
pH Definition – "A measure of acidity or basicity of a solution: pH=−log[H+]pH = -\
log[H^+]pH=−log[H+]."
8. Redox Reactions
Oxidation – "Loss of electrons or increase in oxidation state."
Reduction – "Gain of electrons or decrease in oxidation state."
Balancing Redox Reactions – Ion-electron method.
9. Hydrogen
Hard Water – "Water that contains high concentrations of Ca2+\text{Ca}^{2+}Ca2+
and Mg2+\text{Mg}^{2+}Mg2+ ions."
10. The s-Block Elements
Alkali Metals (Group 1) – "Highly reactive metals that form strong bases (alkalies) in
water."
Alkaline Earth Metals (Group 2) – "Less reactive than alkali metals and form divalent
cations."
11. The p-Block Elements
Allotropes of Carbon – Diamond, graphite, fullerenes.
Oxidation States of Nitrogen, Oxygen, and Halogens – Vary due to electronic
configurations.
12. Organic Chemistry – Some Basic Principles and Techniques
Homologous Series – "A series of organic compounds with the same functional
group and a difference of -CH₂- unit."
Functional Group – "An atom or group of atoms responsible for the characteristic
chemical reactions of a compound."
13. Hydrocarbons
Alkanes – "Saturated hydrocarbons containing only single bonds."
Alkenes – "Unsaturated hydrocarbons with at least one double bond."
Alkynes – "Unsaturated hydrocarbons with at least one triple bond."
Markovnikov’s Rule – "In the addition of HX to an unsymmetrical alkene, the
hydrogen attaches to the carbon with more hydrogen atoms."
