Introduction to

Study of Chemistry
Prepared by:
Ma’am Bel

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 Keys to the Study of Chemistry

1.1 Some Fundamental Definitions

1.2 Chemical Arts and the Origins of Modern Chemistry
1.3 The Scientific Approach: Developing a Model
1.4 Chemical Problem Solving
1.5 Measurement in Scientific Study
1.6 Uncertainty in Measurement: Significant Figures

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 CHEMISTRY
is the study of matter, its
properties, the changes that
matter undergoes, and the
energy associated with these
changes.
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 Definitions

Matter anything that has mass and volume -the “stuff” of the
universe: books, planets, trees, professors, students

Composition the types and amounts of simpler substances that

make up a sample of matter

Properties the characteristics that give each substance a unique

identity

Physical Properties Chemical Properties

Those which the substance
shows by itself without
interacting with another
substance (such as color,
melting point, boiling point,
density)
Those which the substance shows
as it interacts with, or transforms
into, other substances (such as
flammability, corrosiveness)

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 Sample Problem 1.1 Distinguishing Between Physical and
Chemical Change

PROBLEM: Decide whether each of the following processes is primarily a

physical or a chemical change and explain briefly.
(a) Frost forms as the temperature drops on a humid winter night.
(b) A cornstalk grows from a seed that is watered and fertilized.
(c) Dynamite explodes to form a mixture of gases.
(d) Perspiration evaporates when you relax after jogging.
(e) A silver fork tarnishes in air.

PLAN: Does the substance change composition or just change form?

SOLUTION:
(a) physical change (b) chemical change (c) chemical change

(d) physical change (e) chemical change

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 The Physical States of Matter

Figure 1.2

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 Energy is the capacity to do work.

Potential Energy
energy due to the position of the
object or energy from a chemical
reaction

Kinetic Energy
energy due to the motion of the
object

Figure 1.3

Potential and kinetic energy

can be interconverted.

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Figure 1.3(continued) Energy is the capacity to do work.

Potential Energy
energy due to the position of the
object or energy from a chemical
reaction

Kinetic Energy
energy due to the motion of the
object

Potential and kinetic energy

can be interconverted.

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 Scientific Approach: Developing a Model

Natural phenomena and measured events;

Observations :
universally consistent ones can be stated as a
natural law

Hypothesis: Tentative proposal that explains observations

revised if
experiments do
not support it
Experiment: Procedure to test hypothesis; measures one
variable at a time

Set of conceptual assumptions that explains

Model (Theory):
data from accumulated experiments; predicts
altered if
related phenomena predictions do
not support it
Further Experiment: Tests predictions based on model

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 Sample Problem 1.2 Converting Units of Length

PROBLEM: What is the price of a piece of copper wire 325 centimeters (cm)
long that sells for $0.15/ft?

PLAN: Know length (in cm) of wire and cost per length (in ft)
Need to convert cm to inches and inches to ft followed by finding
the cost for the length in ft.
SOLUTION:
length (cm) of wire
Length (in) = length (cm) x conversion factor
2.54 cm = 1 in
= 325 cm x in = 128 in
length (in) of wire
2.54 cm
12 in = 1 ft Length (ft) = length (in) x conversion factor
length (ft) of wire = 128 in x ft = 10.7 ft
1 ft = $0.15 12 in
Price ($) = length (ft) x conversion factor
Price ($) of wire
= 10.7 ft x $0.15 = $1.60
ft
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 Table 1. 2 SI - Base Units

Physical Quantity Unit Name Abbreviation

mass kilogram kg

length meter m

time second s
temperature kelvin K

electric current ampere A

amount of substance mole mol

luminous intensity candela cd

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 Table 1.3 Common Decimal Prefixes Used with SI Units

Prefix Prefix Number Word Exponential

Symbol Notation

tera T 1,000,000,000,000 trillion 1012

giga G 1,000,000,000 billion 109
mega M 1,000,000 million 106
kilo k 1,000 thousand 103
hecto h 100 hundred 102
deka da 10 ten 101
----- ---- 1 one 100
deci d 0.1 tenth 10-1
centi c 0.01 hundredth 10-2
milli m 0.001 thousandth 10-3
micro  0.000001 millionth 10-6
nano n 0.000000001 billionth 10-9
pico p 0.000000000001 trillionth 10-12
femto f 0.000000000000001 quadrillionth 10-15

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 Table 1.4 Common SI-English Equivalent Quantities
English to
Quantity SI Unit SI Equivalent English Equivalent SI Equivalent

Length 1 kilometer (km) 1000 (103) m 0.6214 mi 1 mi = 1.609 km

1 meter (m) 100 (102) cm 1.094 yd 1 yd = 0.9144 m
1000 (103) mm 39.37 in 1 ft = 0.3048 m
1 centimeter (cm) 0.01 (10-2 ) m 0.3937 in 1 in = 2.54 cm
(exactly)

Volume 1 cubic meter (m3) 1,000,000 (106) cm3 35.31 ft3 1 ft3 = 0.02832 m3

1 cubic decimeter 1000 cm3 0.2642 gal 1 gal = 3.785 dm3

(dm3) 1.057 qt 1 qt = 0.9464 dm3

1 cubic 0.001 dm3 0.03381 fluid ounce 1 qt = 946.4 cm3

centimeter (cm3) 1 fluid ounce = 29.57 cm3

Mass 1 kilogram (kg) 1000 g 2,205 lb 1 lb = 0.4536 kg

1 gram (g) 1000 mg 0.03527 oz 1 lb = 453.6 g
1 oz = 28.35 g
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 Figure 1. 10 Some Interesting Quantities

Length Volume Mass

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 Table 1.5 Densities of Some Common Substances

Substance Physical State Density (g/cm3)

Hydrogen Gas 0.000089

Oxygen Gas 0.0014

Grain alcohol Liquid 0. 789

Water Liquid 1.000
Table salt Solid 2.16
Aluminum Solid 2.70

Lead Solid 11.3

Gold Solid 19.3

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 Some
Interesting
Temperatures

Figure 1.11

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 The Freezing and Boiling Points of Water

Figure 1.12

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 Temperature Scales and Interconversions

Kelvin ( K ) - The “absolute temperature scale” begins at

absolute zero and only has positive values.

Celsius ( oC ) - The temperature scale used by science,

formally called centigrade and most commonly used scale around
the world. Water freezes at 0oC and boils at 100oC.

Fahrenheit ( oF ) - Commonly used scale in the US for weather

reports. Water freezes at 32oF and boils at 212oF.

T (in K) = T (in oC) + 273.15 T (in oF) = 9/5 T (in oC) + 32

T (in oC) = T (in K) - 273.15 T (in oC) = [ T (in oF) - 32 ] 5/9

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 Sample Problem 1.6 Converting Units of Temperature

PROBLEM: A child has a body temperature of 38.70C.

(a) If normal body temperature is 98.60F, does the child have a fever?
(b) What is the child’s temperature in kelvins?

PLAN: We have to convert 0C to 0F to find out if the child has a fever

and we use the 0C to kelvin relationship to find the temperature
in kelvins.

SOLUTION:
9
(a) Converting from 0C to 0F (38.70C) + 32 = 101.70F
5

(b) Converting from 0C to K 38.70C + 273.15 = 311.8K

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 The Number of Significant Figures in a Measurement
Depends Upon the Measuring Device

Figure 1.14

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 Rules for Determining Which Digits are Significant

All digits are significant except zeros that are used only to
position the decimal point.
•Make sure that the measured quantity has a decimal point.
•Start at the left of the number and move right until you reach
the first nonzero digit.
•Count that digit and every digit to its right as significant.
Zeros that end a number and lie either after or before the
decimal point are significant; thus 1.030 mL has four
significant figures, and 5300. L has four significant figures
also. Numbers such as 5300 L are assumed to only have 2
significant figures. A terminal decimal point is often used to
clarify the situation, but scientific notation is the best!

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 Rules for Determining Which Digits are Significant

1) All non-zero integers are significant.

Example 1: 412945 has 6 sig figs.

2) All exact numbers have an unlimited number of sig

figs.
Example 2: If you counted the number of people in your
class to be exactly 35, then 35 would have an unlimited
number of sig figs.

Example 3: It has been determined that exactly 60

seconds are in a minute, so 60 has an unlimited number of
sig figs.

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 Rules for Determining Which Digits are Significant

3) Zeros are significant depending on what kind of

zeros they are.

a. Zeros that are between non-zero integers are always significant.

Example 4: The zeros in 100045, 600.4545, and 23.04 are all
significant because they are between non-zero integers.

b. Zeros that come before non-zero integers are never significant.

Example 5: The zeros in 098, 0.3, and 0.000000000389 are not
significant because they are all in front of non-zero integers.

c. If the zeros come after non-zero integers and are followed by a

decimal point, the zeros are significant
Example 6: The zeros in 1000. are significant because they are
followed by a decimal point.

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 Rules for Determining Which Digits are Significant

d. If the zeros come after non-zero integers but are not

followed by a decimal point, the zeros are not significant.
Example 7: The zeros in 1000 are not significant because
they are not followed by a decimal point.

e. If the zeros come after non-zero integers and come after

the decimal point, they are significant.
Example 8: The zeros in 9.89000 are significant because
they come both after non-zero integers and after the
decimal point.

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 Sample Problem 1.7 Determining the Number of Significant Figures

PROBLEM: For each of the following quantities, underline the zeros that are
significant figures(sf), and determine the number of significant
figures in each quantity. For (d) to (f) express each in
exponential notation first.

(a) 0.0030 L (b) 0.1044 g (c) 53.069 mL

(d) 0.00004715 m (e) 57,600. s (f) 0.0000007160 cm3

PLAN: Determine the number of sf by counting digits and paying attention

to the placement of zeros.
SOLUTION:

(a) 0.0030 L 2sf (b) 0.1044 g 4sf (c) 53.069 mL 5sf

(d) 0.00004715 m (e) 57,600. s (f) 0.0000007160 cm3

(d) 4.715x10-5 m 4sf (e) 5.7600x104 s 5sf (f) 7.160x10-7 cm3 4sf

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 Rules for Significant Figures in Answers

1. For addition and subtraction. The answer has the

same number of decimal places as there are in the
measurement with the fewest decimal places.

Example: adding two volumes 83.5 mL

+ 23.28 mL
106.78 mL = 106.8 mL
Example: subtracting two volumes 865.9 mL
- 2.8121
mL
863.0879 mL = 863.1 mL

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 Rules for Significant Figures in Answers

2. For multiplication and division. The number with the least

certainty limits the certainty of the result. Therefore, the answer
contains the same number of significant figures as there are in the
measurement with the fewest significant figures.

Multiply the following numbers:

9.2 cm x 6.8 cm x 0.3744 cm = 23.4225 cm3 = 23 cm3

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 Issues Concerning Significant Figures

Electronic Calculators

be sure to correlate with the problem

FIX function on some calculators

Choice of Measuring Device

graduated cylinder < buret ≤ pipet

Exact Numbers
60 min = 1 hr
numbers with no uncertainty
1000 mg = 1 g

These have as many significant digits as the calculation requires.

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 MEASUREMENTS
Chemists measure the properties of matter and
express these measurements as quantities.

A quantity is an amount of something and

consists of a number and a unit.

The number tells us how many (or how much),

and the unit tells us what the scale of
measurement is (units & numbers).

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 MEASUREMENTS
Accuracy refers to how close a measurement is
to the true or accepted value.

Precision refers to how close measurements of

the same item are to each other.

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 MEASUREMENTS
Examples:
•If the weather temperature reads 28 °C outside and it is 28 °C
outside, then the measurement is said to be accurate. If the
thermometer continuously registers the same temperature for
several days, the measurement is also precise.

•If you take the measurement of the mass of a body of 20 kg and

you get 17.4,17,17.3 and 17.1, your weighing scale is precise
but not very accurate. If your scale gives you values of 19.8,
20.5, 21.0, and 19.6, it is more accurate than the first balance
but not very precise.

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