GENERAL

CHEMISTRY
LECTURE
 Chapter I- INTRODUCTION:
GENERAL CHEMISTRY
Learning Objectives:
• 1. Recall concepts in chemistry
• 2. Understand the role of significant figures in
measurements
• 3. Express data in Scientific notations
• 4. Apply dimensional analysis in the
conversion of measurements from one unit to
another.
 What is CHEMISTRY?

• It is the study of matter – its

composition, properties, and
transformations.
 Matter can either be:
• 1. Naturally-occurring – these
are substances produced by nature
without human intervention
• Examples: Carbon, oxygen,
blood, trees, rocks, water
 Matter can either be:
• 2. Synthetic – these are substances
made by humans with methods that
involve combining different
substances, or simply compounds
and materials that are prepared in
the laboratory.
• Examples: plastics, synthetic fiber,
Kevlar, artificial sweetener
 What is CHEMISTRY?

• Basically, chemistry is
everywhere. Chemistry and
chemicals seem an integral part of
life.
 Five Main Branches Of Chemistry
1. Inorganic Chemistry – is the study of
chemicals that generally do not contain
carbon.
2. Organic Chemistry – is the study of
carbon-containing compounds.
3. Analytical Chemistry – is the area of
chemistry that deals with the
composition of matter.
 Five Main Branches Of Chemistry
4. Physical Chemistry – is the branch of
chemistry that focuses on the properties
on the macroscopic and molecular level,
as well as phenomena in chemical
systems.
5. Biochemistry – is the study of chemical
processes in biochemical systems, such
as that of plants and animals.
 PROPERTIES AND
CLASSIFICATION OF MATTER

physical properties
and
chemical properties.
 PROPERTIES AND
CLASSIFICATION OF MATTER

• The physical properties of a

material characterize a material’s
state.
 PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
• Physical properties of materials
include:
• 1. Color and Shape
• 2. Malleability – ability to be
hammered into thin sheets
• 3. Ductility – ability to be drawn into
a fine wire
 PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
• Physical properties of materials
include:
• 4. Boiling point
• 5. Melting point
• 6. Freezing point
• 7. Brittleness
 PHYSICAL CHANGES

• Changes in the physical

appearance of a sample of
matter.
 Characteristics of physical changes:
• 1. easily reversible
• 2. no new products formed
• 3. often just a state change
a. Melting – solid to liquid
b. Freezing – liquid to solid
c. Condensation – gas to liquid
d. Evaporation – liquid to gas
e. Sublimation – solid to gas
f. Deposition – gas to solid
PHYSICAL CHANGES
 CHEMICAL PROPERTIES AND
CHEMICAL CHANGES
• changes in their compositions
These include:
• 1. Flammability – ability of a material to burn
or ignite
• 2. Toxicity – the degree to which a substance
can damage an organism
• 3. Corrosion – degradation of a material due
to its environment (rusting of iron)
• 4. Chemical reactivity
 CHEMICAL CHANGES

• changes involve:
1. reactions that are not easily reversed
2. new product/s formed
3. reactants used up
4. often heat, light, sound, or fizzing
occurs
5. electricity may be produced
 CHEMICAL CHANGES

• EXAMPLE: burning a paper

PAPER ASH + CARBON DIOXIDE
combustion Water (steam)

ASH + CARBON DIOXIDE Cannot

PAPER
be
Water (steam)
CLASSIFICATION OF MATTER
CLASSIFICATION OF MATTER

• Pure substances- the

composition and properties of an
element or a compound are
uniform throughout a given
sample and from one sample to
another.
CLASSIFICATION OF MATTER

• Element is made up of different

types of atom. (International
union of Pure and Applied
Chemistry- 118 elements)
CLASSIFICATION OF MATTER

• Compounds, are substances

constituting atoms of two or more
elements combined together.
– Molecule is a group of two or more atoms
joined by a covalent bond.
– (note: all compounds are molecules, but not
all molecules are compounds.)
CLASSIFICATION OF MATTER

• Mixture- consists of two or more

pure substances, it can vary in
composition and properties, but
retains the individual
characteristics of their
components.
 CLASSIFICATION OF
MIXTURE
• 1. Homogeneous mixture – also
called as solution, is the type of
mixture that is uniform in
composition and properties
throughout. Examples: solution
of sucrose in water, seawater
 CLASSIFICATION OF
MIXTURE
• 2. Heterogeneous mixture – the
components separate into distinct
regions. The composition and
physical properties vary from one
part of the mixture to another.
Examples: salad, mixture of sand
and water
STATES OF MATTER
 STATES OF MATTER
• Solid- the atoms or molecules are arranged in
a closely-packed manner. It has a definite
shape.
• Liquid- the atoms or molecules are separated
by a distance. Has the ability to flow – which
lead to its assumption of the shape of its
container.
• Gas- the distance between atoms or
molecules are much greater than in a liquid.
A gas always expands to fill its container.
 STATES OF MATTER
• There have been other states of matter that
are discovered.
• Plasma– made up of atoms in which some
or all of the electrons have been stripped
away and positively charged nuclei, called
ions, roam freely
• Bose-Einstein condensate- atoms are hardly
moving relative to each other; they have
almost no free energy to do so
 MEASUREMENT

• A measurement is expressed as
the product of a number and a
unit.
 Accuracy and Precision

• Accuracy is the measure of how

close a measurement is to the true
value of the quantity being
measured.
• Precision is the measure of how
close a set of measurements are to
one another.
Accuracy and Precision
• Low accuracy and Low
precision. All the darts
are far from each other
and are also far from the
bulls eye. In this set, the
measurements are neither
accurate nor precise.
 Accuracy and Precision
• Low accuracy and high
precision. The darts are
close to one another, but
landed far from the bulls
eye. In this set, the
measurements are
precise, but not accurate.
(repeated mistakes)
Accuracy and Precision
• High accuracy and Low
precision. All the darts
are near the bullseye, but
are somehow far from
one another. This
demonstrates accurate,
but not precise
measurements.
 Accuracy and Precision
•High accuracy and High
precision. All the darts
landed on the bullseye. This
shows that the measurements
are both accurate and precise.
In the laboratory, it is
imperative for the researchers
to achieve both in their
measurements.
 MEASUREMENT
• SI Units
– The International System of Units
(Système International d’Unités), is the
scientific system of measurement.
– There are 7 fundamental quantities in
the SI system and each of them has a
base unit.
SI Units
SI Units
 MEASUREMENT AND
CALCULATIONS
• Dimensional analysis- a method
use in cases where we have to
convert one unit to another, we
can use a conversion factor or a
series of conversion factors and
apply.
 MEASUREMENT AND
CALCULATIONS
• However, temperature conversions
are made in a straightforward way by
using the algebraic equations.

.15
MEASUREMENT AND CALCULATIONS
Examples:
Convert 100 °C to °F 

˚F = 1.8 (100) + 32
˚F = 180 + 32
˚F = 212
 MEASUREMENT AND CALCULATIONS
Examples:
Convert 63 ˚F to Kelvin

.15
˚F ˚C 17.22 ˚C K
˚C = (63-32) /1.8 K= 17.22 + 273.15
˚C = 31 /1.8 K= 290.37
˚C = 17.22 290.37 K
 Conversion Factors and
Dimensional Analysis
• These are fractions in which the
numerator and denominator are equal
quantities but are expressed in a
different unit.

Original quantity x conversion factor =

quantity in desired unit
SI Units
 Conversion Factors and
Dimensional Analysis
• EXAMPLE: (one-step conversion)
Convert 17542 grams to milligrams
10³ milligrams
17542 grams x
1 grams

= 17,542,000 milligrams (mg)

 Conversion Factors and
Dimensional Analysis
• EXAMPLE: (two-step conversion)
Convert 234 kilograms to milligrams
1. kg g 2. 234000g mg
10³ g 10³ mg
234 kg x 234000 g x
1 kg 1g

= 234,000 g = 234,000,000 mg
Self-check: Convert the following

• 1. 0.00023 µL → L
• 2. 0.421 km → mm (Two-step
conversion)
Self-check: Convert the following
• 1. 0.00023 µL → L

1L
0.00023 µL x
10^6 µL

= 2.3x10 ̄ ¹º µL
 Self-check: Convert the following
• 2. 0.421 km → mm (Two-step
conversion)
10³ m 10³ mm
0.421 km x 421 m x
1 km 1m

= 421 m = 421,000 mm
 Significant Figures
• All the digits in a measured
number including one estimated
digit.
(Exact numbers result from counting,
while inexact numbers result from
measurement or observations and contain
some uncertainty.)
 Significant Figures
RULES
• 1. All nonzero digits are always
significant
• Examples: 3.6g – 2 SF
623 mL – 3 SF
• 2. Zeros:
– Middle zero- all zeros in between two significant
figures are significant.
• Examples: 305 – 3 SF
103502 – 6 SF
 Significant Figures
RULES
– Leading zeros- zero at the beginning of a
value before a decimal point is not
significant. It just shows the position of the
decimal point
• Examples: 0.75 – 2 SF
0.0726 – 3 SF
 Significant Figures
RULES
- Trailing zeros- there are two types of
trailing zeros.
- Trailing zero that indicates a decimal point.
- Examples: 300 – 1 SF
5000 – 1 SF
- Trailing zero after the decimal point.
- Examples: 20.00 g – 4 SF
18.60 mL – 4 SF
 Significant Figures
RULES
3. Exact quantities
– Quantities obtain from counting (determined)
• Examples: 5 mangoes – 5 infinite
8 kittens – 8 infinite
– Integers or pure number
• Examples: 22 – infinite
134 - infinite
Significant Figures
 SELF CHECK:

1. 0.0770 (____
3 significant figures)
2. 201.00 (____significant
5 figures)
 Significant Figures
• In multiplication and division, the
answer should have the same number
of significant figures as the original
number with the FEWEST
significant figures.
• Example: 24 x 3.28 = 78.72 ∼ 79
 Significant Figures
• In addition and subtraction, the
answer should have the same number
of decimal places as the original
number with the FEWEST decimal
places.
• Example: 4.321+ 3.51= 7.831 ∼ 7.83
 Rounding Off
• The rule that we will follow is to
increase the final digit by one
unit if the digit dropped is 5, 6, 7,
8, or 9 and to leave the final digit
unchanged if the digit dropped is
0, 1, 2, 3, or 4.
 SCIENTIFIC NOTATION
• This expresses numbers as powers of
10. It simplifies the calculations as
well as decreases the chance of errors
associated with writing very large or
very small decimal numbers.
𝑦 ×10˟
• where y = coefficient (any number
between 1-10) and x = exponent
 SCIENTIFIC NOTATION
• Examples:
• 1. 0.0000000007321 = 7.321 x 10 ̄ ¹º

• For numbers less than one, move the decimal

point to the right until the decimal point is
placed after the first non-zero digit. The
number of times you have moved the decimal
point is the exponent, but should be negative.
 SCIENTIFIC NOTATION
• Examples:
• 2. 8753630000000 = 8.75363 x 10¹²

• For numbers 10 and above, move the decimal

point to the left until it is placed after the first
digit. The number of time you have moved the
decimal point is the exponent, and this time
should be positive.
END