GENERAL CHEMISTRY 1

Quarter 1 – Week 1

Part I. What is Matter? – A Brief Overview

Matter, the “stuff” of which the universe is composed, has two characteristics: it has mass and it occupies space.

States of Matter:

State Definition Examples

Solid Rigid; has a fixed shape and volume Ice cube, diamond, iron bar
Liquid Has a definite volume but takes the Gasoline, water, alcohol, blood
shape of its container
Gas Has no fixed shape or volume; takes Air, helium, oxygen
the shape and volume of its
container

Properties of Matter

1. Physical properties are properties that are observed without changing the composition of the substance,
though their form may change. Certain properties such as color, viscosity, transparency, melting point, boiling
point, hardness, density, specific heat, and atomic or molecular diameter are usually referred to as physical
properties. These properties are involved in a physical change.

2. Chemical properties ae observed when matter is involved in a chemical change. This property is related to the
composition of the material. The flammability of gasoline can be determined by burning it, producing carbon
dioxide. When pure water undergoes electrolysis (a process by which electric current passes through water),
water decomposes into hydrogen and oxygen. In these examples, a chemical change takes place to form two
completely different substances. It results in the formation of new chemical substances. A chemical reaction is
usually detected when one of the following is observed: formation of an insoluble product (precipitate), evolution
of gas (bubbles), or change in color.

The table below lists some physical and chemical properties of a substance-lauric acid. How does the physical property
compare with its chemical property?

Physical Properties Chemical Properties

Crystals are colorless needles and melt at 74°C Produces soap when combined with sodium
hydroxide
Insoluble in water but soluble in ethyl alcohol Combines with some medicines for better
Density, 0.883g/Ml absorption by the blood

Other Properties

1. Extensive property is a property that changes when the amount of material changes. Examples are mass,
length, and volume.

2. Intensive property does not depend on the size of the material. Temperature, color, odor, hardness,
density, melting and boiling points, and molecular weight are examples of intensive properties.

3. Intrinsic properties is the characteristics of a substance, regardless of its shape and size, are called Color,
viscosity, taste, and transparency are examples of intrinsic properties that cannot be expressed in numbers.
Intrinsic properties assigned with definite values are boiling point, melting point, density, and refractive
index.

4. Extrinsic properties is the characteristics of a substance which pertain only to its appearance including is
shape, length, mass, and temperature are called.
Elements and Compounds

1. Elements - cannot be broken down into other substances by chemical means. Examples of elements are iron,
aluminum, oxygen, and hydrogen.

2. Compounds are substances formed when two or more elements combine through a chemical change.
Sodium chloride, sugar, and water are examples of compounds. Another feature of a compound is that its
properties are different from the properties of its compound elements.

Mixture and Pure Substances

1. Mixture consists of two or more substances (elements and/or compounds) that are mixed together. For
example, wood is a mixture (its composition varies greatly depending on the tree from which it originates);
wine is a mixture (it can be red or pale yellow, sweet or dry); coffee is a mixture (it can be strong, weak, or
bitter); and, although it looks very pure, water pumped from deep in the earth is a mixture (it contains
dissolved minerals and gases).

• Homogeneous mixture is the same throughout. For example, when we dissolve some salt in water and
stir well, all regions of the resulting mixture have the same properties. A homogeneous mixture is also
called a solution.

• Heterogeneous mixture contains regions that have different properties from those of other regions. For
example, when we pour sand into water, the resulting mixture has one region containing water and
another, very different region containing mostly sand.

2. Pure substance, on the other hand, will always have the same composition. Pure substances are either
elements or compounds. For example, pure water is a compound containing individual H2O molecules.

Part II. Separation of Mixtures

Knowing about a material’s physical and chemical property in order to correctly choose the most efficient separation
technique. Mixtures are physical combinations of two or more substances. They can be separated by physical
processes. The method of separating a mixture into its components depends primarily on the properties of each of the
components.

Separating Heterogeneous Mixtures

1. Decanting involves separating a dense, insoluble substance from a heterogeneous mixture. For example, if we
mixed sand with water in a beaker, the sand would not dissolve, but would settle to the bottom, forming a
sediment layer. By gently pouring off the water (the supernatant), we could separate the sand from it.
2. Sieving involves separating a mixture based on different sizes of components. For example, small rocks can
be separated from sand by sieving the mixture. The smaller sand grains will pass through the holes in the sieve,
whereas the rocks will not pass through.
3. Filtration is a special form of sieving that separates very fine solid particles from liquid or gas mixtures. Filter
paper (or a similar substance with very fine pores) is used as a sieve. For example, air and water filters are
used in a variety of applications to keep air and water free from minute dust and other particles.
4. Separating funnel can be used to separate a mixture of two non-miscible liquids – that is, liquids that do not
mix together to form a homogeneous solution. When such a mixture is allowed to settle, the less dense liquid
will form a layer on top of the more dense liquid.
5. Centrifugation involves spinning tubes of heterogeneous mixtures at very high speeds, which forces part of
the mixture to settle at the bottom of the tube. It can be used for separating solid particles from liquids, or for
separating non-miscible liquids.
6. Magnetic separation is a specialized method specifically used for separating magnetic materials, such as iron,
from non-magnetic materials, such as soil and plastic.

Separating Homogeneous Mixtures

1. Evaporation is used for recovering dissolved solids from solutions. The solution is either boiled or simply left
uncovered, resulting in the evaporation of water and the crystallization of solutes.
 2. Distillation is similar to evaporation, except that the evaporated substance, known as the distillate, is collected.
The evaporated substance is passed through a tube known as a condenser, which is surrounded by cold water.
The evaporated substance is cooled, causing it to condense back to a liquid so that it can be collected.
3. Chromatography is used to separate liquid or gas mixtures. It uses very small quantities as its purpose is
primarily for identifying and analyzing substances within a mixture, rather than separating mixtures to recover
large amounts of their components.

Part III. Chemical Formula of Common Chemical Substances

This was prepared to direct you on how to interpret the meaning of a given chemical formula as well as to become
familiar with the chemical formula of common chemical substances. Knowing the chemical formula of a certain
substance, we could explain the composition and the characteristics of that substance.

Chemical Formula - If we are to study the meaning of chemical formula, two words are involved namely chemical and
formula. Chemical refers to a compound or substance while formula refers to the symbolic expression. Thus, a
chemical formula is a symbolic expression of a compound or substance. It is also described as shorthand of
expressing the types and the number of atoms in a substance.

For example, CO2 is the chemical formula of a substance known as carbon dioxide. In this substance based from its
formula of CO2, the said substance is made up of two types of atoms, these are carbon and oxygen. This is because
the formula has two different letters that are written in capital form; C and O. The capital letter is known as chemical
symbol that represents a certain substance known as element.

Molecular structure of CO2

The chemical formula also tells the number of each type of atom and the central atom of the molecule specifically if it
is not a diatomic molecule. The first chemical symbol written at the right side of the formula tells us that it is the central
atom, or the atom located at the center of the molecule. So, for CO 2, since C is the first letter of the chemical formula,
the C which is the carbon atom is the central atom.

If the letter is the chemical symbol that represents an element, the subscript represents the number of atom in the
chemical formula. In CO2, the subscript of oxygen is 2 while carbon is 1. Even though there is no number 1 indicated
after letter C in CO2, it is presumed that there is one. So the number after the letter refers to its number of atoms.

The following table shows some of the very common chemicals in our surroundings with their corresponding chemical
names and chemical formulas.

Common Name Chemical Name Chemical Formula

Baking soda Sodium bicarbonate NaHCO3
Borax Sodium tetraborate decahydrate Na2B4O7 •10H2O
Caustic soda Sodium hydroxide NaOH
Chalk Calcium carbonate CaCO3
Marble Calcium carbonate CaCO3
Plaster of Paris Calcium sulfate CaSO4
Quick lime Calcium oxide CaO
Table salt Sodium chloride NaCl
Table sugar Sucrose C12H22O11
Vetsin / MSG Monosodium glutamate C5H8NO4Na
Part IV. Consumer Products

Consumer products are something that we cannot live without. Every activity we do such as taking a bath, cooking our
favorite dishes, driving our cars or monitoring and maintaining our good health condition, there will always be a
consumer product that is involved. Those consumer products were made possible because of the interactions of
Science, Technology and Society. Now, how Science, Technology and Society became involved in the creation of
those consumer products is something it will be discuss in this module.

Consumer product is the final good that is bought by individuals or households for personal use. In other words,
consumer products are goods that are bought for consumption by the average consumer.

There are many consumer products available in the market because of their usefulness. However, the same
consumer products may post danger to anyone. Now, when is a consumer product may cause danger if it is very
useful to us? A consumer product may cause harm to us for two reasons. First is when we abuse or misuse such
product. A good example of this would be the solvent like rugby that was invented to use as an adhesive material. But
for some instances, the same solvent is being used by drug dependent. And secondly is if a consumer product was
made intended to cause harm such as gun powder and poisons.

Let us analyze the table below that shows information of bath soap in terms of its some chemical components, use,
safeness, and cost.

Based from the table, some of the chemical components used to make bath soap are glycerine, sodium hydroxide and
titanium dioxide. Glycerine is added to soap as emollient and texture enhancer while sodium hydroxide is added to
bath soap to as main ingredient. Titanium dioxide is added to make the bath soap opaque while Triclosan is added as
the active anti-bacterial ingredient.