| Terms |
Definitions |
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• aqueous
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dissolved in water
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• structural formula
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See Lewis structure.
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• vaporization
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When you boil a liquid.
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• alkyne
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An organic molecule containing at least one C-C triple bond.
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• semiconductor
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A substance that conducts electricity poorly at room temperature, but has increasing conductivity at higher temperatures. Metalloids are usually good semiconductors.
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• polymer
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A molecule containing many repeating units. Plastics are polymers and are formed by free radical chain reactions.
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• amine
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An organic molecule which consists of an ammonia molecule where one or more of the hydrogen atoms has been replaced by organic groups.
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• beta particle
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A radioactive particle equivalent to an electron.
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• electrolysis
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When electricity is used to break apart a chemical compound.
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• valence electron
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The outermost electrons in an atom.
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• combustion
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When a compound combines with oxygen gas to form water, heat, and carbon dioxide
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• isotonic solutions
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Solutions containing the same osmotic pressure.
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• hydration
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When a molecule has water molecules attached to it.
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• organic compound
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A compound that contains carbon (except carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and carbonates)
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• absolute temperature
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This is a temperature reading made relative to absolute zero. We use the unit of Kelvin for these readings.
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• fission
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A nuclear reaction where a big atom breaks up into little ones. This is what happens in nuclear power plants.
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• electronegativity
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A measurement of how much an atom tends to steal electrons from atoms that it's bonded to. Elements at the top right of the periodic table (excluding the noble gases) are very electronegative while atoms in the bottom left are not very electronegative (a.k.a. "electropositive")
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• free energy
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also called "Gibbs free energy", it's the capacity of a system to do work.
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• exothermic
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When a process gives off energy (gets hot).
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• solvent
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The liquid that dissolves the solid in a solution.
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• solubility product constant
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Abbreviated Ksp, this value indicates the degree to which a compound dissociates in water. The higher the solubility product constant, the more soluble the compound.
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• calorimetry
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The study of heat flow. Usually you'd do calorimetry to find the heat of combustion of a compound or the heat of reaction of two compounds.
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• catalyst
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A substance that speeds up a chemical reaction without being used up by the reaction. Enzymes are catalysts because they allow the reactions that take place in the body to occur fast enough that we can live.
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• intermediate
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A molecule which exists for a short time in a chemical reaction before turning into the product.
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• molarity
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A unit of concentration equal to moles of solute divided by liters of solution.
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• optical isomerism
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Isomerism in which the isomers cause plane polarized light to rotate in different directions.
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• addition reaction
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A reaction where atoms add to a carbon-carbon multiple bond.
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• dilution
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When you add solvent to a solution to make it less concentrated.
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• double-displacement reaction (a.k.a. double replacement reaction)
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When the cations of two ionic compounds switch places.
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• synthesis
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When you make a big molecule from two or more smaller ones.
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• solubility
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A measurement of how much of a solute can dissolve in a liquid.
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• conjugate base
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The compound formed when an acid loses a proton (hydrogen atom).
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• Le Chatlier's Principle
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When you disturb an equilibrium (by adding more chemical, by heating it up, etc.), it will eventually go back into equilibrium under a different set of conditions.
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• orbital
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This is where the electrons in an atom live.
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• acid anhydride
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This is an oxide that forms an acid when you stick it in water. An example is SO3- when you add water it turns into sulfuric acid, H2SO4.
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• hybrid orbital
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An orbital caused by the mixing of s, p, d, and f-orbitals.
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• partial pressure
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The pressure of one gas in a mixture. For example, if you had a 50:50 mix of helium and hydrogen gases and the total pressure was 2 atm, the partial pressure of hydrogen would be 1 atm.
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• law of conservation of energy
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The amount of energy in the universe never changes, ever. It just changes form.
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