Chemistry Students’ life

Proton number
The number of protons in the nucleus of an atom.

Nucleon number
The sum of the number of protons and the number of neutrons in the nucleus of
an atom.

Isotopes
Isotopes are the atoms of the same elements with the same proton number but
different nucleon number.

Relative isotopic mass

1
The ratio of the mass of the average mass of one atom of the element to 12 of the
mass of a carbon-12 atom.

Relative molecular mass

1
The ratio of the average mass of one molecule of the substance to of the mass
12
of an atom of carbon-12.

Mass spectrometer
The mass spectrometer is an instrument used to determine the relative atomic
mass of elements, determine the isotopic composition and identify unknown
molecules.

Empirical formula
Empirical formula is a chemical formula that shows the simplest ratio of all
elements in a molecule.

Molecular formula
Molecular formula is a formula that show the actual number of atoms of each
element in a molecule.

Molarity
The number of moles of solute per cubic decimetre (dm3) or litre (L) of solution.
Molality
The number of moles of solute dissolved in 1 kg of solvent.

Mole fraction
The ratio of the number of moles of one component to the total number of moles
of all component present.

Percentage by mass
The percentage of the mass of solute per mass of solution.

Percentage by volume
The percentage of volume of solute in milliliter per volume of solution per
milliliter.

Limiting reactant-reagent
Limiting reactant is the reactant that is completely consumed in a reaction and
limits the amount of products formed.

Limiting excess
Excess reactant is the reactant that is not completely consumed in a reaction and
remains at the end of the reaction.

Percentage yield
The percentage yield is the ratio of the actual yield (obtained from experiment) to
the theoretical yield (obtained from stoichiometry calculation) multiply by 100%

Bohr’s postulates
1. Electron moves in circular orbits about the nucleus. In moving in the orbit,
the electron does not radiate any energy and does not absorb any energy.
2. The energy of an electron in a hydrogen atom is quantised (specific E), that
is, the electron has only a fixed set of allowed orbits, called stationary
states.
3. At ordinary conditions the electron is at the ground state (lowest level). If
energy is supplied, electron absorbed the energy and is promoted from a
lower energy level to a higher ones. (Electron is excited)
4. Electron at its excited states is unstable. It will fall back to lower energy
level and released a specific amount of energy in the form of light. The
 energy of the photon equals to the energy difference between the levels.
Electron at its excited states is unstable. It will fall back to lower energy
level and released a specific amount of energy in the form of light. The
energy of the photon equals to the energy difference between the levels.

Ground state
The state in which the electrons have their lowest energy.

Excited state
The state in which the electrons have shifted from a lower energy level to a higher
energy level.

Energy level
Energy associated with a specific orbit or state.

Bohr’s weakness
1. Did not account for the emission spectra of atom containing more than one
electron.
2. Did not explain why extra lines appear in the hydrogen emission spectrum
when magnetic field is applied.
3. An electrons are wavelike. We cannot define the precise location of a wave
because a wave extends in space.

Orbital
A region in space around the nucleus where there is a high probability (99%) of
finding an electron.

Aufbau’s principle
States that the order of electrons filling the subshells always begins from the
orbital which has the lowest energy.

Hund’s rule
States that when electrons are placed in the degenerate orbitals (have the same
energy level), the electrons must occupy them in parallel spins before they can
occupy the orbitals in pairs.
Pauli Exclusion principles
States that no two è in an atom can have the = four quantum numbers.

Lewis symbol
A Lewis symbol is the symbol of an element with one or more dots around it.
These dots represent the number of valence electrons in an atom of the element.

Valence electrons
Electrons in the outermost shell of an atom.

Octet rule
The tendency of an atom to achieve a configuration where its valence shell
contains eight electrons.

Coordinate covalent bond

A covalent bond formed when a pair of electrons is contributed by the only one of
the bonded atoms.

Resonance structures
Lewis structures having the same arrangement of atoms but differ from one
another in the position of their electrons.

Resonance hybrid
A single structure which represents the actual contribution of resonance
structures.

How is an ionic bond formed?

The transfer of electrons from an atom to an electronegative atom forms cations
and anions. The electrostatic force of attraction between these oppositely
charged ions produces an ionic bond.

Valence-shell electron-pair repulsion, VSEPR theory

The electron-pairs around the central atom are oriented as far apart as possible to
minimize the repulsion among them.
Dipole moment
A quantitative measure of the polarity of a bond that can only be measured
experiment.
>A polar molecule has µ ≠ 0
>Non-polar molecule has µ = 0

Hybridisation
The mixing of different types of atomic orbitals to produce a set of equivalent
hybrid orbitals.

How are pi-bond and sigma-bond formed?

Pi-bond
Formed by sideways overlapping of p atomic orbitals.
Sigma-bond
Formed by the head-on overlapping of atomic orbitals.

Hydrogen bond
Hydrogen bond is a strong permanent dipole-dipole attraction between the
positively charged H atom of a molecule and the negatively charged small and
highly electronegative atom (such as F, O and N atom) of another molecule.

Metallic bond
A metallic bond can be defined as the electrostatic force between the positively
charged metal ions and the ‘sea’ of delocalised electrons.

Boyle’s law
Boyle’s law states that, at a constant temperature, the volume of a fixed mass of
an ideal gas is inversely proportional to its pressure.

Charles’ law
For a fixed amount of gas at a constant pressure, the gas volume is directly
proportional to the absolute temperature (in Kelvin).

Avogadro’s law
At constant pressure and temperature, the volume of a gas is directly
proportional to the number of moles of the gas present.
Dalton’s law
The total pressure of a mixture of non-reacting gases at constant temperature is
the sum of the partial pressures exerted by each of the constituents gases in the
mixture.

Vapour pressure
Pressure exerted by the vapour molecules above the surface of the liquid in
closed container.

Boiling point
The temperature at which the vapour pressure of liquid is equal to the external
atmospheric pressure.

Phase diagram
A graph shows under what condition of temperature and pressure that a
substance exist as a solid, liquid or gas.

Phase
A homogeneous part of a system which are separated by a distinct boundary.

Triple point
Temperature and pressure at which the solid, liquid and gas phase of a substance
coexist in equilibrium.

Critical point
Temperature and pressure at which the liquid and gas phase of a substance are
indistinguishable.

Dynamic equilibrium (Reversible reaction)

The condition at which the forward and reverse reactions occur at the same rate,
so there is no net change in the amounts of reactants or products.

Law of mass action (equilibrium law)

States that when a system reaches equilibrium at a given temperature, the ration
of quantities that make up the reaction quotient has a constant numerical value.
Heterogeneous equilibrium
Those in which reactants and products are present in more than one phase, for
example, a solid in equilibrium with a gas, or a solid in equilibrium with its
aqueous solution.

Le Chatelier’s principle
States that if a system in a state of equilibrium is disturbed, it will undergo a
change that shifts its equilibrium position in a direction that reduces the effect of
the disturbance.

Arrhenius theory
> An acid is a compound that dissociates in water to produce 𝐻 + .
> A base is a compound that dissociates in water to produce 𝑂𝐻 − .

Bronsted-Lowry theory
> An acid is a proton donor and forms a conjugate base.
> A base is a proton acceptor and forms a conjugate acid.

pH
Defined as the negative logarithm of the hydrogen ion concentration.
pH = -log[𝐻 + ]

pOH
Defined as the negative logarithm of the Hydroxide ion concentration.
pOH = -log[𝑂𝐻 − ]

Strong acid
Dissociates completely in water.

Weak acid
Dissociates partially in water.

Buffer solution
A solution that undergoes a limited change in pH upon addition of a small amount
of acid or base.
Solubility
Solubility is the maximum amount of solute that dissolve in a fixed quantity of
solvent at a specific temperature.

Solubility product constant, 𝑲𝒔𝒑

An equilibrium constant for the dissolving of a slightly soluble ionic compound in
water.

Ideal gas
A gas that obeys all the gas laws. Intermolecular forces of attraction do not exist
between the gas molecules and the gas particles have negligible volume.