Chemistry is defined as the systematic investigation of the properties, structure, and behavior of matter and the changes matter undergoes. This general definition raises many questions. These questions are answered in the study of chemistry. Terms and basic concepts that help in understanding chemistry will be discussed in this chapter.

1.1 DEFINE the following terms:

a.States of matter d.Mole

b.Atomic weight e.Gram atomic weight

c.Molecular weight f. Gram molecular weight

EO 1.2 LIST the components of an atom, their relative sizes, and charges.

EO 1.3 STATE the criterion used to classify an atom chemically.

Characteristics of Matter

The term states of matter refers to the physical forms in which matter exists: solid, liquid, and gas. Solids are characterized as having both a definite shape and a definite volume. In a solid, the forces that keep the molecules or atoms together are strong. Therefore, a solid does not require outside support to maintain its shape.

Liquids have definite volumes but indefinite shapes and are slightly compressible. Liquids take the shape of their containers. The forces that keep a liquid's molecules or atoms together are weaker than in the solids.

Gases are readily compressible and capable of infinite expansion. They have indefinite shape and indefinite volume. Of the three states, gases have the weakest forces holding their molecules or atoms together.

The different states of matter have one thing in common; they can all be broken down into fundamental units called atoms.

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The Atom Structure

All matter is composed of atoms, existing individually or in combination with each other. An atom is an extremely small electrically-neutral particle. It is the smallest unit involved in the chemical change of matter. Atoms can be treated as distinct particles because they behave as such chemically, but atoms themselves are composed of even smaller subparts. Understanding these atomic subparticles is important in understanding chemistry.

An atom is composed of a positively-charged nucleus orbited by one or more negatively-charged particles called electrons. A simplified schematic representation of this arrangement is illustrated in Figure 1. The nucleus is the core of an atom. It has a positive charge because it usually consists of two particles, the neutron and the proton (hydrogen is the exception with only a proton in the nucleus). The neutrons are electrically neutral, and the protons are electrically positive. A nucleus with one proton has a charge of +1 (or simply 1), and a nucleus with two protons has a +2 charge. Together the neutrons and protons give the nucleus its mass, but the proton alone gives the nucleus its positive charge.

Neutrons and protons are relatively massive and are essentially equal in mass.

Figure 1 Schematic of a Simple Atom (Helium)

The particles that orbit the nucleus are electrons. They are very small, with a mass only 1/1835 the mass of a proton or neutron. Each electron is negatively charged, and the charge of one electron is equal in magnitude (but opposite in sign) to the charge of one proton. The number of electrons orbiting a nucleus is exactly equal to the number of protons contained in that nucleus. The equal and opposite charges cancel each other, and the atom as a whole is neutral. The electrons are bound in the atom by electrostatic attraction. The atom remains neutral unless some external force causes a change in the number of electrons.

The diameter of the atom is determined by the range of the electrons in their travels around the nucleus and is approximately 10^-8 cm. The diameter of the nucleus is roughly 10,000 times smaller, approximately 10^-13 to 10¹² cm. Because the nucleus is composed of neutrons and protons that are about 1835 times heavier than an electron, the nucleus contains practically all the mass of the atom, but constitutes a very small fraction of the volume. Although electrons are individually very small, the space in which they orbit the nucleus constitutes the largest part of the atomic volume.

Figure 1 illustrates these size relationships, but not to scale. If the nucleus were the size shown, the electrons would be several hundred feet away.

Some of the properties of the atom and its component parts are summarized in Table 1. The masses listed in Table 1 are measured in atomic mass units (amu), which is a relative scale in which the mass of a proton is about 1.0.