Chem 6A Studyguide

Introductory Material
Qualitative Data: Consisting of descriptive observations

Goal or Question

Quantitative Data: Consisting of numbers obtained through measurements

Hypothesis: A proposition put forth as the possible explanation for, or prediction of,
an observation or a phenomenon.

Qualitative and
Quantitative Data

Hypothesis

Experiments: The way in which we test hypotheses.

Experiments

Law of Nature or Scientific Law: a pattern in the form of a constant relationship

among phenomena under the same conditions. A law summarizes the relationship
but does not explain it.
Theory: A unifying principle that explains the law based on the experimental
observations.

Results with consistent

Hypothesis

Law

Theory

Scientific Notation: the expression of a number as multiplied by a power of 10.

Theory Modified by
Further Experimentation

SI Units:

SI Prefixes:

What is
Measured
Length
Mass
Temperature
Time
Amount of
Substance

Unit of
Measurement
meter
kilogram
kelvin
second
mole

Symbol
m
kg
K
s
mol

Prefix
giga
mega
kilo
centi
milli
micro
nano
pico
femto
atto

Temperature Conversions:
(

Densitys Relationship:

( ) (

Symbol
G
M
k
c
m

n
p
f
a

Multiple
109
106
103
10-2
10-3
10-6
10-9
10-12
10-15
10-18

Energy:
-

Kinetic Energy: the energy associated with a moving object.

Potential Energy: the energy of an object due to its location relative to a reference point.
(

Accuracy, Precision, and Percentage Error:

-

Accuracy: how close our result is to the actual value

Precision: conveys how well repeated measurements of a quantity gives results that agree with
one another and how sensitive a measuring tool was used.
Percentage Error:

Significant Figure Rules:

-

All nonzero digits and zeros between nonzero digits are significant
Zeros used to position the decimal point are not significant
Numerical results ending in one or more zeros to the right of the decimal place are significant
Numerical results in ending in one or more zeros that are not to the right of the decimal place
are not significant.
Exact numbers have no limit to their number of significant figures.
In multiplication and division, the calculated result should not be expressed to more significant
figures than the factor in the calculation with the least number of significant figures.
In addition and subtraction, the calculated result should have no more figures after the decimal
than the least amount of figures after the decimal point in any of the numbers that re being
added or subtracted.

Dimensional Analysis:
-

Dimensional analysis is a mathematical system using conversion factors to move from one unit
of measurement to a different unit of measurement.

Guggenheim Notation:
-

name or symbol of the quantity/symbol for the units

Example: Time/10-5 s

Atoms and Molecules

Element: Any substance that cannot be broken down into simpler substances and only consists of atoms
with the same nuclear charge.
Compound: A substance that can be broken down into two or more elements.
Molecule: A unit consisting of two or more atoms that are joined together.

Elements that exist in diatomic molecules:

-

Hydrogen (H2), Oxygen (O2), Nitrogen (N2), Fluorine(F2), Chlorine (Cl2), Bromine (Br2),and
Iodine(I2)

States of Matter:
-

Liquid: a substance with definite volume, but not a specific

shape.
Gas: a substance that fills the entire volume of its container
and thus has no definite shape.
Solid: a substance with definite shape and volume.

Mixtures and their Properties:

-

Mixture: when components exist together without

combining chemically.
Heterogeneous Mixtures: A mixture that is not uniform
from point to point
Homogeneous Mixtures: A mixture of two or more
components that is uniform from point to point. One
example is a solution.

Molecules:
-

Definition: Molecules are groups of atoms join together.

Daltons Atomic Theory:
o 1. Matter is composed of small, indivisible particles called atoms
o 2. Atoms of a given element have the same mass, and are exactly
the same, including chemical behavior.
o 3. Atoms of different elements differ in mass and chemical
behavior.
o 4. Compounds are composed of two or more atoms of different elements. This is called
a molecule.
o 5. No atoms are created or destroyed and the atoms themselves are not changed.
Molecular Mass:
o The sum of the atomic masses of the atoms in a molecule is called the molecular mass of
the substance.
Example:
Molecular Mass of H2O = 2 (atomic mass of H) + 1 (atomic mass of O)

The Law of Constant Composition:

o Definition: The relative amount of each element in a particular compound is always the
same, regardless of the source of the compound or how the compound was prepared.
The Law of Multiple Proportions:

Mass Percentage:

The Discovery of Subatomic Particles:

-

Thompsons Experiment:
o Thompson shoots a cathode ray through a tube, and he
postulated that they were negatively charged because
there was a deflection when he introduced electric and
magnetic fields.
o He also postulated that the mass of an electron is less
than 1/1000 of a proton.
o He also measured the ratio between the mass of an electron and the charge of an
electron.
Millikans Oil Drop Experiment:
o Millikan dropped oil droplets until they hit the positively
charged plate. He uses an X-ray beam to allow electrons to
cling to the oil drops. Then, by using the electric field, he
was able to manipulate the rate in which the droplet fell,
reaching to a point where they were stationary. From
there, he noticed that the droplets had a negative charge in
the multiple of e. With the charge of the electron
discovered, he was then able to use that to calculate the
mass of a single electron.
Thompsons Plum Pudding Model of the Atom:
o Thompson, before the discovery of the nucleus, believed that
the atom is composed of electrons surrounded by a soup of
positive charge to balance out the charges.
Rutherfords Scattering Experiment:
o Rutherford expected the results from the plum pudding model, meaning that there
would be limited deflection when he shot alpha
particles at the gold foil. However, he saw major
deflections, which suggests that there is a solid block in
the center and disproving the plum
pudding model. He conducted the
experiment by shooting particles
(He2+) to a gold foil. He observed the deflections by looking at the
flashes of light when the particle stuck a zinc sulfide screen. This
basically meant that there was a large mass concentrated in the center of the atom,
called the nucleus.
Protons: The positively charged particles found in the atomic nucleus.
Neutron: The particle that has a slightly greater mass than a proton and has a neutral charge.
Atomic Number: The number of protons in an atom.

Isotopes:
-

Many elements consist of two or more isotopes, which are atoms of one element that contain
the same number of protons but different number of neutrons. The number of protons
characterizes the particular element, but the nuclei could have different amounts of neutrons.

Nomenclature: