Chemistry and all other sciences are based on facts established through experimentation. A scientific law is a condensed statement of facts which has been discovered by experiment.

There are three basic laws that apply to chemical reactions. They are the Law of Conservation of Mass, the Law of Definite Proportions, and the Law of Multiple Proportions. These laws are described here to help the reader in understanding the reasons elements and compounds behave as they do.

1.The Law of Conservation of Mass

This law states that in a chemical reaction the total mass of the products equals the total mass of the reactants. Antoine Lavoisier, a French chemist, discovered that when tin reacts with air in a closed vessel, the weight of the vessel and its contents is the same after the reaction as it was before. Scientists later discovered that whenever energy (heat, light, radiation) is liberated during a reaction, a very small change in mass does occur, but this change is insignificant in ordinary chemical reactions.

2.The Law of Definite Proportions

This law states that no matter how a given chemical compound is prepared, it always contains the same elements in the same proportions by mass. John Dalton, an English physicist, discovered that when various metals are burned or oxidized in air, they always combine in definite proportions by weight.

For example, one part by weight of oxygen always combines with 1.52 parts by weight of magnesium or 37.1 parts by weight of tin. This law results from the fact that a compound is formed by the combination of a definite number of atoms of one element with a definite number of atoms of another.

3.The Law of Multiple Proportions

This law states that if two elements combine to form more than one compound, the masses of one of the elements combining with a fixed mass of the other are in a simple ratio to one another. For example, carbon forms two common compounds with oxygen; carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. With carbon monoxide (CO), 1.33 grams of oxygen are combined with 1 gram of carbon. With carbon dioxide (CO₂), 2.67 grams of oxygen are combined with 1 gram of carbon. Therefore, the masses of oxygen combining with a fixed mass of carbon are in the ratio 2:1.

Combining Elements

The Laws of Definite Proportions and Multiple Proportions and the related portions of atomic theory form the bases for most quantitative calculations involving chemical reactions. Applying the basic chemical laws to chemical bonding will help the reader to understand the probability and proportions involved in chemical reactions. Regardless of the type of bond (ionic, covalent, coordinate covalent, or metallic), specific amounts of one element will react with specific amounts of the element(s) with which it is combined.

If two substances are placed together in a container, in any ratio, the result is a mixture. When a teaspoon of sugar is added to a glass of water, it will slowly dissolve into the water and disappear from view. As a result, the molecules of sugar are evenly distributed throughout the water and become mixed with the water molecules. Because the sugar and water mixture is uniform throughout, it is said to be homogeneous. A homogeneous mixture of two or more substances is called a solution. The reason solutions are classified as mixtures rather than as compounds is because the composition is not of fixed proportion.

All solutions consist of a solvent and one or more solutes. The solvent is the material that dissolves the other substance(s). It is the dissolving medium. In the water-sugar solution, the water is the solvent. The substances that dissolve in the solution are called solutes. In the water-sugar solution, sugar is the solute. It is not always easy to identify which is the solvent and which is the solute (for example, a solution of half water and half alcohol).

Solutions can exist in any of the three states of matter, solid, liquid, or gas. The earth's atmosphere is a gaseous solution of nitrogen, oxygen, and lesser amounts of other gases. Wine (water and alcohol) and beer (water, alcohol, and CO₂) are examples of liquid solutions. Metal alloys are solid solutions (14-karat gold is gold combined with silver or copper).

One factor that determines the degree and/or rate at which a reaction takes place is solubility. Solubility is defined as the maximum amount of a substance that can dissolve in a given amount of solvent at a specific temperature. At this point, the solution is said to be saturated. A solution is saturated when equilibrium is established between the solute and the solvent at a particular temperature. Equilibrium is the point at which the rates of the forward and reverse reactions are exactly equal for a chemical reaction if the conditions of reaction are constant.

Kinetics is the study of the factors which affect the rates of chemical reactions. There are five principle factors to consider: concentration, temperature, pressure, the nature of the reactants, and the catalyst.

Summary

The important information in this chapter is summarized below.

Chemical Bonding Summary

The following terms are defined in this chapter:

An ionic bond occurs where one or more electrons are wholly transferred from one element to another, and the elements are held together by the force of attraction due to the opposite polarity of the charge.

The van der Waals forces are attractions between the molecules of nonpolar covalent substances. These forces are generally believed to be caused by a temporary dipole, or unequal charge distribution, as electrons constantly move about in an atom, ion, or molecule.

A covalent bond is a bond in which one or more electrons from an atom pair off with one or more electrons from another atom and form overlapping electron shells in which both atoms share the paired electrons.

Metallic bonds are bonds where the atoms achieve a more stable configuration by sharing the electrons in their outer shell with many other atoms.

A mixture is defined as two substances placed together in a container, in any ratio and the composition is not of fixed proportion.

A solution is a homogeneous mixture of two or more substances.

A solute is defined as the substance that dissolves in a solution.

A solvent is defined as the material that dissolves the other substance(s) in a solution. It is the dissolving medium.

Solubility is defined as the maximum amount of a substance which will dissolve in a given amount of solvent at a specific temperature.

When the shared pair of electrons which are forming the bond in a molecule are not shared equally, the resulting molecule will have a positive end and a negative end. This type of bond is a polar covalent bond. The molecules are called dipolar or polar molecules.

In general, the fewer electrons an element must lose, gain, or share to reach a stable shell structure, the more chemically active the element is. The likelihood of elements forming compounds is strongly influenced by the valence shell and on the stability of the resulting molecule. The more stable the molecules are, the more likely these molecules are to form.

Elements combine in specific ratios, regardless of the type of bond, to form molecules.

The three basic laws of chemical reactions are discussed:

The Law of Conservation of Mass - "In a chemical reaction the total mass of the products equal the total mass of the reactants."

(2) The Law of Definite Proportions - "No matter how a given chemical compound is prepared, it always contains the same elements in the same proportions by mass."

(3) The Law of Multiple Proportions - "If two elements combine together to form more than one compound, then the masses of one of these elements combining with a fixed mass of the other are in a simple ratio to one another."

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CHEMICAL EQUATIONS

This chapter will discuss the method of qualifying solutions. The balancing of the chemical equations will also be explained in this chapter.

EO 2.7 STATE Le Chatelier's principle.

EO 2.8 DEFINE the following terms:

a. ppm c. Density

b. Molarity d. Normality

EO 2.9 BALANCE chemical equations that combine element and/or compounds.