F.

WONG

HKDSE F.3 Chemistry

Introductory summer course to Chemistry

Introduction to Chemistry as Science

Science is a subject that explains and predicts the universe.
Branch of science: Physics, Chemistry, Biology
 Physics is the study of motion of matters in space and time
 Biology is the study of living organisms

1. What is Chemistry?
Chemistry studies
 the composition, structure, properties and changes of substances
 how and when substances change, and
 what is the new substance made during the change.

2. What kinds of change are there?

physical change
 during a physical change, NO new substance is formed
 usually the change is reversible
 e.g. freezing of water (waterice)
melting of ice (icewater)

chemical change
 during a chemical change, a new substance is formed
 usually the change is irreversible
 e.g. burning a piece of paper (papercarbon dioxide)
photosynthesis (carbon dioxide and water  food and oxygen)

 the adjective NEW here is describing nature of the substance in molecular level
(whether the H2O molecule is still stay as H2O after the change)
NOT just the appearance
(say appearance of ice is different from water)

3. What kinds of properties are there?

physical properties
 they are the properties that do not change after observation is made.
 e.g. colour, physical state (solid, liquid or gas), melting point boiling point, etc

chemical properties
 they are the properties that can only be observed during a change.
 e.g. reactivity of metals (how fast a metal reacts with water)
acidic or alkaline properties (can only be tested with an alkali or acid respectively)

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The particulate nature of matters

 We see iPhones as a block shape, a basketball as a sphere, a chalk as a cylinder….
The shapes we perceive by our eyes are the macroscopic level of matters.
In studying Science, in order to predict and explain the matters in universe, we need to study the
matters in a microscopic level, or what we called a molecular level.

 Scientists have proved that, all matters (iPhone, a basketball, a chalk, a dog, human beings…) are
actually particulate in nature. This is actually what the Kinetic theory of matters state:

All materials are made up of small particles that are moving about.

This is proved by diffusion of gas experiment:

After 24 hours

Under Kinetic theory, the three physical states of matters: solid, liquid and gas are described as:
physical particulate macroscopic
arrangement of particles movement of particles
state illustration appearance

 vibrate about a fixed

position slightly  fixed shape
solid  packed very close together
 cannot move from place to  fixed volume
place

 vibrate about a fixed

position  no fixed shape
liquid  packed close together
 can move from place to  fixed volume
place

 vibrate vigorously
 no fixed shape
gas  far away from each other  can move from place to
 no fixed volume
place

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The particulate nature of matters

 The three physical states are interchangeable as follow:

SOLID
ice
H2O(s)

LIQUID GAS
water steam
H2O(l) H2O(g)

 The temperature at which a solid changes to a liquid is called the melting point
The temperature at which a liquid changes to a gas is called the boiling point
The processes of melting and boiling both take in heat energy to break the attraction between
particles.

 The temperature at which a gas changes to a liquid is called the condensation point
The temperature at which a liquid changes to a solid is called the freezing point
The processes of condensation and freezing both gives out heat energy to form the attraction
between particles.

 Numerically, melting point equals freezing point, and boiling point equals condensation point.

 The temperature at which a gas changes to a solid and vice versa is called sublimation point.