INTRODUCTION

Prepared by:
R.C.PAVIA
 I. THE SIGNIFICANCE and
RELEVANCE of CHEMISTRY
What is Chemistry?
Chemistry is the study of the composition,
structure, properties, and changes of matter.
• The composition of matter relates to the kinds
of elements it contains.
• The structure of matter relates to the ways
the atoms of these elements are arranged.
• A molecule is an entity composed of two or
more atoms with the atoms attached to one
another in a specific way.
•  
 Why study Chemistry?
• Chemistry provides an important understanding to our world and
how it works.
• It is an extremely practical science that greatly impacts our daily
living.
• Chemistry lies near the heart of many matters of public concern:
- improvement of health care
- conservation of natural resources
- protection of the environment
- provision of our everyday needs for food
clothing and shelter
 Why study Chemistry?

•Using chemistry, pharmaceutical chemicals that enhance health

and prolong lives were discovered
• Increased food production through the development of fertilizers
and pesticides.
• Plastics and other materials that are used in almost every facet of
our lives were developed
•Unfortunately, some chemicals also have the potential to harm our
health or the environment. It is in our best interest as educated
citizens and consumers to understand the profound effects, both
positive and negative, that chemicals have on our lives and to
strike an informed balanced about their uses.
II. LABORATORY SAFETY MEASURES
• What are the general hazards in a
laboratory?
• Fire
• Breakage of glassware
• Sharps
• Spillages
• Pressure equipment & gas
cylinders
• Extremes of heat & cold
• Chemical hazards
• Biological hazards
• Radiation
 Laboratory hygiene
• Never eat, drink or
smoke in a laboratory
• Never apply cosmetics
• Never touch your face,
mouth or eyes
• Never suck pens or chew
pencils
• Always wash your hands
before you leave and
especially before eating
Protecting yourself
• Wear the clothing and
protective wear
identified in your risk
assessment
• Laboratory coats must
be kept fastened
• Don’t wear sandals or
open shoes
• Long hair must be tied
back
 Protecting yourself - gloves
• There are many different types of
protective glove
• Use the correct ones for the job
you will be doing
• Remember that you need to
select chemical protection gloves
according to the materials and/or
substances with which you will be
working
• Remove your gloves before using
instruments, telephone, and
leaving the laboratory
 Glassware
• Use correct techniques for the
insertion of tubing onto
glassware
• Never use glassware under
pressure or vacuum unless it is
designed for the job and suitably
shielded
• Dispose of chipped or broken
glassware – it is a risk to you and
others
• Always dispose of broken glass
in a glass bin or sharps bin and
not in a general waste bin
 Spillages
• Clear up spillage promptly
• You will already have
determined how to do this
as part of your risk
assessment
• Dispose of any hazardous
material as toxic waste
Messy workers are usually
poor workers!!
 Electrical Equipment
• Always do a visual check
on electrical equipment
before use, looking for
obvious wear or defects
• All portable electrical
equipment must have a
current “PAT test” sticker
• NEVER use defective
equipment
 General Tidiness
• Keep your workplace
tidy
• Clear up waste, deal with
washing up and put
things away as you finish
with them
• Make sure everything is
safe before you leave
things unattended
• A tidy laboratory avoids
accidents to everyone
 First Aid
• All laboratory workers
should undergo simple first
aid training
• For ALL chemical
splashes, wash with
plenty of water for 10
minutes
• Control bleeding with
direct pressure, avoiding
any foreign bodies such
as glass
• Report all accidents to your
teacher or laboratory
personnel
 Waste Materials
• Part of your risk assessment will
be to determine how to dispose
of waste lab materials safely
• Solvents and oils must be
segregated into the correct
waste bottle or drum
• Your department will help you
determine what to do with
chemical or biological
materials
• Do not put materials down the
drain or in with normal waste
unless authorised to do so
 When in doubt – ASK!!!
• Do not carry out a new
or unfamiliar procedure
until you have been fully
trained & understand
the precautions
necessary for safe
working
• DO NOT GUESS!!!!
III. LABORATORY APPARATUS and
EQUIPMENT
 Beaker

Beakers hold solids

or liquids that will
not release gases
when reacted or are
unlikely to splatter if
stirred or heated.
Beaker Tongs

Beaker tongs are

used to move
beakers containing
hot liquids
Erlenmeyer Flask

Erlenmeyer flasks hold solids

or liquids that may release
gases during a reaction or that
are likely to splatter if stirred
or heated.
 Florence Flask

Rarely used in first

year chemistry, it is
used for the mixing of
chemicals. Narrow
neck prevents splash
exposure.
 Graduated Cylinder

A graduated
cylinder is used
to measure
volumes of
liquids.
 Test Tubes
13 x 100 mm test tubes

10 x 75 mm test tubes

Ignition
tube
 Test Tube Holder

A test tube
holder is useful
for holding a test
tube which is
too hot to
handle.
 Test Tube Brushes

Test tube brushes are

used to clean test tubes
and graduated cylinders.

Forcing a large brush into a

small test tube will often
break the tube.
Test Tube Racks

Test tube racks are for

holding and organizing test
tubes on the laboratory
counter.
After washing flip test tube
over on wooden peg to dry.
Rubber Stoppers
Rubber stoppers are used to
close containers to avoid
spillage or contamination.

Containers should never be

heated when there is a
stopper in place.
Spot Plates
Spot plates are used when we
want to perform many small
scale reactions at one time.

Glass Stir Rod

A glass rod is used to manually
stir solutions. It can also be
used to transfer a single drop
of a solution.
 Funnel A funnel is used to
aid in the transfer of
liquid from one
vessel to another.

Watch A watch glass is used to hold

a small amount of solid, such
Glass as the product of a reaction.
 A wash bottle has a spout that
Wash delivers a wash solution to a
specific area. Distilled water is
Bottle the only liquid that should be
used in a wash bottle.

WeighingWeighing boats are

used to weigh solids
Boat that will be transferred
to another vessel.
 Bunsen Bunsen burners are used for
the heating of nonvolatile
Burner liquids and solids.

Strikers are used to light

Bunsen burners.
Strikers The flints on strikers are
expensive. Do not operate the
striker repeatedly just to see
the sparks!
EvaporatingThe evaporating dish is
used for the heating of
Dish stable solid compounds
and elements.

Crucibles are used for

Crucible heating certain solids,
particularly metals, to
very high temperatures.
 Clay The clay triangle is used
as a support for porcelein
Triangle crucibles when being
heated over a Bunsen
burner.

CrucibleFor handling hot crucibles; also

used to pick up other hot
Tongs objects. NOT to be used for
picking up beakers!
 Ringstands and their
Components
Ringstands are a safe and
Ringstand convenient way to perform
reactions that require heating
using a Bunsen burner.

Utility clamps are used

to secure test tubes,
Utility distillation columns,
Clamps and burets to the ringstand.
 Ringstands and their
Components
Iron rings connect to a
Iron Ring ringstand and provide a stable,
elevated platform for the
reaction.

Wire Wire gauze sits on the iron ring to

Gauze provide a place to stand a beaker.
 Triangular files are used
Triangular primarily to cut glass rod,
File a skill that your instructor
will share with you when
it becomes useful.

Medicine A medicine dropper is used

to transfer a small volume
Dropper of liquid (less than one
mL).
On top of each medicine dropper is a “rubber bulb”

Mohr Pipet A Mohr pipet measures

and delivers exact
volumes of liquids.
IV. PHYSICAL QUANTITIES and
SYSTEMS of MEASUREMENTS
Physical Quantities
• A physical quantity is a property of a material or system that
can be quantified by measurement.
• A physical quantity can be expressed as the combination of a
numerical value and a unit.
For example, the physical quantity mass can be quantified
as n kg, where n is the numerical value and kg is the unit.

• Measurement is the act of comparing a physical quantity with

its unit. 
Measurement result is the value of a physical
quantity obtained by means of measurement.
•
 BASE UNITS IN THE METRIC SYSTEM

1. Length meter (m)

2. Volume liter (L)
3. Mass gram (g)
4. Time second (s)
5. Temperature Kelvin (K)
6. Energy Joule (J)
7. Amount of a substance mole (mol)
 METRIC and ENGLISH SYSTEMS
• In the United States, most measurements are made with the English
system of units: pounds, miles, gallons, and so on.

• Most countries use the metric system, however few people could tell what a
pound or an inch is. Most countries use the metric system that originated in
France about 1800 and that has since spread throughout the world.

• Around 1960, international scientific organizations adopted another system

called the International System Units ( abbreviated as SI). The SI is based
on the metric system and uses some of the metric unit. The main difference
is that the SI is more restrictive. It discourages the use of certain metric
units and favor others, it also has significant disadvantages. For this reason
US chemist have been very slow to adopt it.
SOME CONVERSION FACTORS
 LENGTH
In the English System we have the foot, the yard, and the mile. If you
want to convert one unit to another, you must memorize or look up to
these conversion factors:
5280 ft.= 1 mile
1760 yards= 1 mile
3 feet= 1 yard
12 inches= 1 foot
 VOLUME
• Volume is space.
• The volume of a liquid, solid or gas is the space
occupied by the substance.
• The base unit of volume in the metric system is
the Liter (L). This unit is a little larger that quart.
The only common metric unit for volume is the
milliliter (mL) which is equal to 10 L.
1 ml =0.001 L
1 L = 1000 ml = 1000 cc (cubic centimeter)
 TIME and TEMPERATURE
Time is the quantity for which the units are the same in all
systems: English, metric, and SI, The base unit is second (s).
60 s = 1 min ; 60 min = 1 h
Temperature is the degree of hotness or coldness measured
on a definite scale.
Most people in the United States are familiar with the
Fahrenheit scale of temperature. The metric system uses the
centigrade, or Celsius , scale. In this scale, the boiling point of
water is set at 100 C and the freezing point in 0 C . We can
convert from one scale to the other by using the following
formulas.
T(°C) = (T(°F) - 32) × 5/9 or T(°C) = (T(°F) - 32) / (9/5) or
T(°C) = (T(°F) - 32) / 1.8
 HOW DO SCIENTISTS REPORT
NUMBERS?
• Because we frequently use very large or very
small numbers, we use powers of 10 to express
these numbers more conveniently, a method
called exponential notation.
• With exponential notation, we no longer have to
keep track of so many zeros, and we have the
added convenience of being able to see which
digits convey information (significant figures) and
which merely indicate the position of the decimal
point.
 HOW TO DETERMINE THE NUMBER OF SIGNIFICANT
FIGURES IN A NUMBER
1. Nonzero digits are significant.
Ex. 233.1 m has four significant figures; 2.3 g has two significant figures
2. Zeros at the beginning of a number are never significant.
Ex. 0.0055 L has two significant figures; 0.3456 has four significant figures
3. Zeros between nonzero digits are always significant.
Ex. 2.045 kcal has four significant figures; 8.0506 g has five significant
figures
4. Zeros at the end of a number that contains a decimal point are always
significant.
Ex. 3.00 L has three significant figures; 0.0450 mm has three significant
figures
5. Zeros at the end of a number that contains a decimal point may or may not
be significant.
 UNIT CONVERSION BY THE FACTOR-LABEL
METHOD (Dimensional Analysis)
One of the most useful ways of approaching
conversions is to ask three questions:
• What information am I given? This is the
starting point.
• What do I want to know? This is the answer
that you want to find.
• What is the connection between the first two?
This is the conversion factor. More than one
conversion factor may be needed for some
problems.
Example 1. Unit conversion : Volume
The label on a container of olive oil says 1.844 gal. How
many milliliters does the container hold in 5 significant
figures?
Strategy: Here we use two conversion factors, rather than a
single one. We will need to keep track of units.
Solution: We use the conversion factor, 1 gal= 3.785 L,
1000 mL=1 L.

1.844 gal x 3.785 L x 1000 mL = 6980.0 mL

1 gal 1L
Example 2. Unit conversion: Multiple Units
The maximum speed limit on many roads in United
States is 65 mi/h. How many meters per second in
four significant figures (m/s) is this speed?
Strategy: We use conversion factors in
succession. It is more important than ever to keep
track of units.
Solution:
65mi x 1.609km x 1000m x 1h x 1min = 29.05 m
h 1 mi 1 km 60min 60 s s