Properties of Water

Water (chemical formula: H2O) - a transparent fluid which forms the world's streams, lakes, oceans and
rain, and is the major constituent of the fluids of organisms. As a chemical compound, a water molecule
contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms that are connected by covalent bonds.
Properties:
1. Surface Tension
• Measure of the elastic force in the surface of a liquid.
• Amount of energy required to stretch or increase the surface of a liquid by a unit area.
• Molecules at the surface are pulled downward and sideways by other molecules. These
intermolecular forces tend to pull the molecules into the liquid and cause the surface to tighten like
an elastic film or “skin”.
2. Capillary action
• It is the tendency of a liquid to rise in narrow tubes or be drawn into small openings such as those
between grains of a rock. (Cohesion and Adhesion)
3. Viscosity (0.890 cP at about 25 °C)
• Measure of a fluid’s resistance to flow.
• The greater the viscosity, the slower the liquid flows.
• Expressed in units of centipoise.
• Substances with lower viscosities include carbon tetrachloride and benzene. Glycerol has a resistance
to flow of more than a thousand times greater than water.
4. Vapor Pressure
• The greater the number of gaseous particles, the greater the pressure exerted by the gas.
• As the temperature increases, the vapor pressure of water also increases.
• When temperature is high, more molecules have enough energy to escape from the liquid.
• At a lower temperature, fewer molecules have sufficient energy to escape from the liquid.
5. Boiling Point
• The boiling point of a liquid is the temperature at which the liquid converts into a gas.
• The boiling point is related to molar heat of vaporization: the higher the molar heat of vaporization,
the higher the boiling point.
6. Molar Heat of Vaporization
• Energy required to vaporize 1 mole of a liquid at a given temperature.
• May be considered a measure of the strength of intermolecular forces in a liquid. If the
intermolecular attraction is strong, it takes a lot of energy to free the molecules from the liquid
phase and the heat of vaporization will be high.
• 40.7 kJ/mol

Crystalline Solids and Amorphous Solids

• Crystalline Solids – has particles that are arranged in a regular, symmetrical structure. Ex. NaCl,
sugar, quartz
• Amorphous Solids – particles have no repeating structure and the particles do not have a geometric
pattern.
 Criteria Crystalline Solid Amorphous Solid
Shape Definite and geometrical form No definite geometrical form
Melting point Well-defined melting point Melt over a wide range of temperatures

Compressibility Rigid and cannot be compressed Some are soft like graphite

Cleavage Perfect cleavage when broken into pieces Irregular cleavage when broken into
on plane surfaces pieces on plane surfaces
Concentration of Solutions
• Solution - a homogeneous mixture made up of atoms, ions, or molecules.
• Saturated solution - solution contains the maximum amount of solute that could be dissolved at a
specific temperature with a given solvent.
• Unsaturated solution - solution that has less solute that its capacity to be dissolved.
• Concentration – amount of solute present in a given amount of solvent.
• Concentrated – contains greater amount of solute compared to the solvent.
• Dilute – contains a greater amount of solvent compared to the solute.
Percent by Mass – the mass of solute per 100g of solution.
% by mass solute = Mass solute x 100
Mass of solution
Mass solution = mass solute + mass of solvent

Parts per Million (ppm) Parts per million = Mass of solute x 1, 000, 000
Mass solution
Example:
What is the % by mass and ppm of 30 g of Nacl and 105 g of water?
Solution: Mass of solute – 30.0 g NaCl
Mass of solution – 30 g NaCl + 105 g of water = 135 g
% by mass solute = 30 g NaCl x 100 = 22.2%
135 g solution
ppm = 30 g NaCl x 1, 000, 000 = 222222 ppm
135 g solution

Mole fraction (X) – ratio of the number of moles of one component to the total number of moles in a
solution.
Mole Fraction (X) = Moles solute Mole Fraction (X) = Moles solute
Moles solution 9 Moles solution
Number of moles solution = number of moles solute + number of moles solvent
Mole fraction of solute + Mole Fraction of Solvent = 1

Example:
A solution is made by dissolving 1.25 g Na₂SO₄ and the solvent is 65.0 g water. Calculate the mole fraction
of the solute and the solvent.
Solution:
Step 1: Get the number of moles of solute (Na₂SO₄)
nNa₂SO₄ = mass of Na₂SO₄ = 1.25 g Na₂SO₄ = 0.0088 mole
molar mass of Na₂SO₄ 142 g/n Na₂SO₄

Step 2: Get the number of moles of the solvent (H₂O)

n H₂O = mass of H₂O = 65.0 g H₂O = 3.61 mole
molar mass of H₂O 18 g/mole H₂O
Step 3: Get the total number of moles
 n total = n solute + n solvent
n solution = n Na₂SO₄ + n H₂O
= 0. 0018 + 3.61 = 3.62 moles
Step 4: Get the mole fraction of solute and solvent
Mole fraction = n solute
n solution
n (mole) = mass in grams Check your answer:
Molar mass X solute + X solvent = 1
X solute = 0. 0088 moles = 0.0024 0.0024 + 0.997 = 0.999 = 1
3.62 moles
X solvent = 3.61 moles = 0.997
3.62 moles
Molarity – ratio of the number of moles of solute per liter of solution which is mathematically expressed as:
Molarity = Number of moles solute
Liter of solution

Example:
0. 2 moles NaOH in 100 mL solution
0.2 moles x 1 x 1000 mL = 2 moles
100 mL 1L liter
Molality – the number of moles of solute per kilogram of solvent.
10
Example:
0.5 moles of H₃PO₄ in 250 g of water.
0.5 moles H₃PO₄ x 1 x 1000g
250 g H₂O 1 kg
0.5 moles H₃PO₄ x 1 x 1000 = 2 moles/kg
250 x 1 kg

Colligative properties
Colligative properties include the following: (1) vapor pressure lowering; (2) boiling point elevation; (3)
freezing point depression and (4) Osmosis.
Effect of solute concentration on the colligative properties of solutions
1. Vapor pressure lowering
A pure liquid (solvent) in a closed container will establish equilibrium with its vapor. And when that
equilibrium is reached, the pressure exerted by the vapor is called the vapor pressure. A substance that has no
measurable vapor pressure is nonvolatile, while one that exhibits a vapor pressure is volatile. When a liquid
evaporates easily, it will have many its molecules in the gas phase resulting to a high vapor pressure. Vapor
pressure can be determined using Raoult’s Law which states that: ‘A solution has a lower vapor pressure than
a pure solvent.’
2. Boiling Point Elevation
The addition of a nonvolatile solute lowers the vapor pressure of the solution; consequently the temperature
must be raised to restore the vapor pressure of the solution to the value conforming to the pure solvent.
Specifically, the temperature at which the vapor pressure is 1 atm (standard atmosphere) will be higher than
the normal boiling point by an amount known as the boiling point elevation.
3. Freezing Point Elevation
The freezing point of a substance is the temperature at which the solid and liquid forms can coexist
indefinitely, at equilibrium. Under these conditions molecules pass between the 2 phases at equal rates because
their escaping tendencies from the two phases are identical.
4. Osmosis
It is the movement of solvent through a semipermeable membrane from region of lower concentration to a
region of high concentration. Osmotic pressure is the pressure needed to prevent osmosis. This will be applied
to the more concentrated solution so that the solvent flows from the more concentrated solution to the less
concentrated solution. This is called reverse osmosis which is the process applied in the purification of water.
First Law of Thermodynamics —- Law of Conservation of energy
States that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It can only be transformed from one kind to another.
The energy of the universe is constant.
Thermodynamic systems - Anything, a certain quantity of matter, a certain volume in space, a collection of
matter or space of fixed quantity that is subject to or for a particular study or analysis.

Surrounding – System – space Boundary – separates

space outside inside (a control the system from the
mass) surrounding.

Rate Law
The rate law proposes that for a reaction to occur, the reactants must collide with proper orientation of the
reactants with sufficient energy.
Considering a general equation:
aA + bB products
The rate law for the reaction is
Rate = k[A]ᵐ [B]ⁿ
k is the rate constant, and is dependent on temperature. The exponents m and n indicate the order of the
reaction with respect to the corresponding reactant and are experimentally determined.

Order of Reaction
A. Zero order reaction
The rate of the reaction is not affected by any increase in the concentration of reactants. The rate of
reaction remains the same regardless of an increase in the concentration of reactants. In this case, the rate of
reaction is expressed as:
r = k[A]º
Since a non-zero number raised to the zero power is 1, then the rate of reaction is equal to the rate constant
k.
There are two conditions that can bring about a zero order reaction:
1. The amount of substance that can react is only made up of a very small fraction and these are
continuously being replenished.
2. When two types of reactants are present, one reactant is present in a much greater concentration than the
other.
B. First-order Reaction
The rate of reaction is directly proportional to the product of the concentration of reactants raised to
the first power. For the equation:
A B
The rate of reaction is directly proportional to the concentration of the reactants and is mathematically
express as:
r = k[A]
The order of reaction can be used to determine half-life. A half-life is the time required for one half of the
original material to decay into another element.
C. Second-order reaction
The rate of reaction is directly proportional to the product of the concentration of reactants raised to
the second power.
2A B
The rate equation is expressed as:
r = k[A]²
Factors that Affect the Rates of Reactions
1. Nature of the reactant
The rate of the reaction depends on the reactants. , its complexity of bonds to be broken.
The more complex the bonds to be destroyed, the slower the rate of the reaction.
If the bonds are simple, the reaction will occur faster.
 When the reactants contain many covalent bonds which are to be broken, then the reaction would be
slower.
The reaction between 2 gases would occur faster than the reaction between 2 liquids. The reaction
between 2 liquids would be faster than reaction between 2 solids.
Homogenous reaction = reaction that has the same state of matter for all the reactants
Heterogeneous reaction = reaction that has reactants in different states.
2. Surface Area 11
The increased in surface area, increases the possibility of greater number of collisions.
3. Temperature
At lower temperature, the reaction rate is slower.
At higher temperature, the reaction rate is faster.
4. Catalysts
A substance that speeds up a reaction and does not appear in the overall equation. The presence of
catalyst lowers the activation energy needed to be overcome for the reaction to occur and forms another
activated complex. Examples: Enzymes
Types of Catalysts:
Positive catalysts - decreases the activation energy by accepting an alternative path for the reaction to
occur. As such, the rate of reaction is decreased.
Negative catalysts - decreases or slows down the rate of reaction. It increases the activation energy needed
for the reactions to occur.
Auto-catalysts - when one of the products formed in the reaction acts as a catalyst for the reaction to
proceed.
Induced catalyst - a substance that influences the speed of a reaction which is not possible under ordinary
conditions.
5. Concentration
If the concentration increased, there will be a greater number of particles for a given space. Since the
distance between the particles will be decreased because of an increased number of particles, there will be
greater chances of collision.