Chemistry NCERT Compilation

Contents

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1. Matter ............................................................................................................................................................. 3

1.1 Elements ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 4

1.2 Compound .................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
1.3 Atoms and Molecules ............................................................................................................................................................... 7
1.4 Structure of The Atom ........................................................................................................................................................... 13
1.5 Valency......................................................................................................................................................................................... 20
1.6 Summary ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 22

2. Chemical Changes ........................................................................................................................................ 24

2.1 Crystallisation – Physical Change....................................................................................................................................... 24

2.2 Rusting of iron – Chemical Change .................................................................................................................................. 25
2.3 Questions .................................................................................................................................................................................... 25

3. Chemical Equations...................................................................................................................................... 26

3.1 Types of chemical reactions................................................................................................................................................. 27

3.2 Electric Current & Chemical Reactions ............................................................................................................................ 32
3.3 Summary ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 33
3.4 Questions .................................................................................................................................................................................... 34

4. Acids, Bases and Salts .................................................................................................................................. 35

4.1 Acid rain ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 36

4.2 Indicators .................................................................................................................................................................................... 37
4.3 How do Acids React with Metals? ..................................................................................................................................... 38
4.4 How do Metal Carbonates & Metal Hydrogen carbonates React with Acids? ................................................ 38
4.5 Reaction of Metallic Oxides with Acids ........................................................................................................................... 40
4.6 How do acids react with bases (Neutralisation)? ......................................................................................................... 40
4.7 What do all acids and all bases have in common? ..................................................................................................... 42
4.8 What Happens to an Acid or a Base in a Water Solution? ....................................................................................... 42
4.9 How strong are acid or base solutions? .......................................................................................................................... 43
 4.10 Importance of pH in Everyday ............................................................................................................................................ 44
4.11 More about salts ...................................................................................................................................................................... 45
4.12 Summary ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 49
4.13 Questions .................................................................................................................................................................................... 50
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5. Metals and Non-metals ............................................................................................................................... 52

5.1 Chemical properties of metals ............................................................................................................................................ 53

5.2 Occurrence of metals ............................................................................................................................................................. 58
5.3 Corrosion .................................................................................................................................................................................... 62
5.4 Summary ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 64
5.5 Questions .................................................................................................................................................................................... 65

6. Carbon and its Compounds ........................................................................................................................ 65

6.1 Bonding in carbon – the covalent bond ......................................................................................................................... 66

6.2 Allotropes of carbon ............................................................................................................................................................... 69
6.3 Versatile nature of carbon .................................................................................................................................................... 70
6.4 Organic compounds ............................................................................................................................................................... 71
6.5 Saturated and Unsaturated Carbon Compounds ........................................................................................................ 71
6.6 Chains, Branches and Rings ................................................................................................................................................. 73
6.7 Functional groups .................................................................................................................................................................... 76
6.8 Homologous Series ................................................................................................................................................................. 76
6.9 Nomenclature of Carbon Compounds ............................................................................................................................ 77
6.10 Combustion of Carbon .......................................................................................................................................................... 79
6.11 Formation of coal and petroleum ..................................................................................................................................... 80
6.12 Reactions in Carbon Compounds ...................................................................................................................................... 81
6.13 Some important carbon compounds – ethanol and ethanoic acid ...................................................................... 82
6.14 Soaps and detergents ............................................................................................................................................................ 84
6.15 Summary ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 86
6.16 Questions .................................................................................................................................................................................... 86

7. Chemistry in everyday life .......................................................................................................................... 87

7.1 Classification of Drugs ........................................................................................................................................................... 87

7.2 Chemicals in Foods ................................................................................................................................................................. 92
 7.3 Soaps and detergents ............................................................................................................................................................ 93

8. Periodic Table ............................................................................................................................................... 95

8.1 Mendeléev’s Periodic Table ................................................................................................................................................. 95

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8.2 Modern Periodic Table .......................................................................................................................................................... 97
8.3 Trends in the Modern Periodic Table ............................................................................................................................... 99
8.4 Metallic and Non-metallic Properties .............................................................................................................................. 99
8.5 Summary ................................................................................................................................................................................... 100
8.6 Questions .................................................................................................................................................................................. 100

9. Misc. Topics ................................................................................................................................................ 101

9.1 Combustion and flame ........................................................................................................................................................ 101

9.2 Fossil Fuels................................................................................................................................................................................ 104
9.3 Important alloys and their contents ............................................................................................................................... 106
9.4 Synthetic materials ................................................................................................................................................................ 107
9.5 Properties of a solution ....................................................................................................................................................... 110

1. Matter

• Atoms of most elements are not able to exist independently.

• Atoms form molecules and ions.
• These molecules or ions aggregate in large numbers to form matter.

1.1 Elements

• Robert Boyle was the first scientist to use the term element in 1661.
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• Antoine Lavoisier (1743-94) was the first to establish an experimentally useful definition of an element.
• He defined an element as a basic form of matter that cannot be broken down into simpler substances
by chemical reactions.
• Element: A chemical element is a pure chemical substance consisting of a single type of atom distinguished
by its atomic number, which is the number of protons in its atomic nucleus.
• If a substance cannot be broken down further by chemical reactions, by cooling, heating, or by electrolysis,
it is called ‘element’. Sulphur is an element. So is iron. Carbon, too, is an element.
• Elements are divided into metals, metalloids, and non-metals.
• Pure substances can be elements or compounds.
• In the beginning, the names of elements were derived from the name of the place where they were found
for the first time. For example, the name copper was taken from Cyprus.
• Some names were taken from specific colours. E.g. gold was taken from the English word meaning yellow.
• Now-a-days, IUPAC (International Union of Pure And Applied Chemistry) approves names of elements.
• Many of the symbols are the first one or two letters of the element’s name in English.
• The first letter of a symbol is always written as an uppercase and the second letter as a lowercase.

1.1.1 Some facts

• The number of elements known at present are more than 100.

• Ninety-two elements are naturally occurring, and the rest are manmade.
• Majority of the elements are solid.
• Eleven elements are in gaseous state at room temperature.
• Two elements are liquid at room temperature–mercury and bromine.
• Elements, gallium and cesium become liquid at a temperature slightly above room temperature (303 k).
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1.1.2 Metals

• They have a lustre (shine).

• They have silvery-grey or golden-yellow colour.
• They conduct heat and electricity.
• They are ductile (can be drawn into wires).
• They are malleable (can be hammered into thin sheets).
• They are sonorous (make a ringing sound when hit)
• Examples of metals are gold, silver, copper, iron, sodium, potassium etc.
• Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature

1.1.3 Non-metals

• They display a variety of colours.

• They are poor conductors of heat and electricity.
• They are not lustrous, sonorous or malleable.
• Examples of non-metals are hydrogen, oxygen, iodine, carbon (coal, coke), bromine, chlorine etc.

1.1.4 Metalloids
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• Some elements have intermediate properties between those of metals and non-metals, they are called
metalloids. The six commonly recognised metalloids are:
1) Boron
2) Silicon
3) Germanium
4) Arsenic
5) Antimony
6) Tellurium

1.2 Compound

• A compound is a substance formed when two or more chemical elements are chemically bonded together.

• Two types of chemical bonds common in compounds are covalent bonds and ionic bonds.
• The elements in any compound are always present in fixed ratios.
• A chemical compound can be separated into simpler substances by chemical reactions.
• On heating the two elements strongly we get a compound, which has totally different properties compared
to the combining elements.
• The composition, texture and the colour of the compound are the same throughout.
• Properties of a compound are different from its constituent elements, whereas a mixture shows the proper-
ties of its constituting elements or compounds.

1.2.1 Mixtures vs Compounds

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• Mixtures are constituted by more than one kind of pure form of matter, known as a substance.
• A substance cannot be separated into other kinds of matter by any physical process.

Mixtures Compounds

1. Elements or compounds just mix together to form 1. Elements react to form new compounds.
a mixture and no new compound is formed. 2. The composition of each new substance is always
2. A mixture has a variable composition. fixed.
3. A mixture shows the properties of the constituent 3. The new substance has totally different proper-
substances. ties.
4. The constituents can be separated fairly easily by 4. The constituents can be separated only by chemi-
physical methods. cal or electrochemical reactions.

• Differences between homogeneous and heterogeneous mixtures

Homogeneous mixtures Heterogeneous mixtures

1. Homogeneous mixtures have uniform compo- 1) Heterogeneous mixtures have non uniform composi-
sition. tion

2. It has no visible boundaries of separation be- 2) It has visible boundaries of separation between its
tween its constituents. constituents.

3. Some examples of homogeneous mixtures are: 3) Some examples of heterogeneous mixtures are: wa-
salt in water, sugar in water. ter and sand, oil and water.

1.3 Atoms and Molecules

• A molecule is a group of atoms that are chemically bonded together (held together by attractive forces).
• A molecule can be defined as the smallest particle of an element or a compound that is capable of an
independent existence and shows all the properties of that substance.
• Atoms of the same element or of different elements can join together to form molecules.
• Law of conservation of mass: Law of conservation of mass states that mass can neither be created nor
destroyed in a chemical reaction.
• Law of constant proportions: Many compounds are composed of two or more elements and each such
compound has the same elements in the same proportions, irrespective of where the compound came from.
• In a compound such as water, the ratio of the mass of hydrogen to the mass of oxygen is always 1:8.
• Thus, if 9 g of water is decomposed, 1 g of hydrogen and 8 g of oxygen are always obtained.
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• Law of constant proportions is also known as the law of definite proportions (in a chemical substance the
elements are always present in definite proportions by mass).

1.3.1 John Dalton’s Atomic Theory

• The problem faced by scientists was to give appropriate explanations to the above laws.
• British chemist John Dalton provided the basic theory about the nature of matter.
• He said that the smallest particles of matter are atoms (At present, Quarks are the smallest particles we
know).
 A quark is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter.
 Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and
neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei.
• His theory was based on the laws of chemical combination.
• It provided an explanation for the law of conservation of mass and the law of definite proportions.
• In 1808, he presented his atomic theory which was a turning point in the study of matter.
• According to Dalton’s atomic theory, all matter, whether an element, a compound or a mixture is composed
of small particles called atoms.

The postulates of John Dalton’s Atomic Theory

1. All matter is made of very tiny particles called atoms.

2. Atoms are indivisible particles, which cannot be created or destroyed in a chemical reaction.
3. Atoms of a given element are identical in mass and chemical properties.
4. Atoms of different elements have different masses and chemical properties.
5. Atoms combine in the ratio of small whole numbers to form compounds
6. The relative number and kinds of atoms are constant in a given compound.

1.3.2 Molecules of Elements and Compounds

• Molecules of elements: The molecules of an element are constituted by the same type of atoms. E.g. O2
• Molecules of many elements, such as Argon (Ar), Helium (He) etc. are made up of only one atom of that
element. But this is not the case with most of the non-metals.
• E.g. a molecule of oxygen consists of two atoms of oxygen and hence it is known as a diatomic molecule.
• If 3 atoms of oxygen unite into a molecule, instead of the usual 2, we get ozone.
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• The number of atoms constituting a molecule is known as its atomicity.

• Molecules of metals and some other elements, such as carbon, do not have a simple structure but consist of
a very large and indefinite number of atoms bonded together.

• Molecules of compounds: Atoms of different elements join together in definite proportions to form mol-
ecules of compounds. E.g. H2O, CO2, etc.
  Molecule is the general term used to describe any atoms that are connected by chemical bonds.
 A compound is a molecule made of atoms from different elements.
 All compounds are molecules, but not all molecules are compounds.
 E.g. Hydrogen gas (H2) is a molecule, but not a compound because it is made of only one element.
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1.3.3 What is an Ion?

• Compounds composed of metals and non-metals contain charged species known as ions.
• An ion is a charged particle and can be negatively or positively charged.
• A negatively charged ion is called an ‘anion’ and the positively charged ion, a ‘cation’.
• E.g. The constituent particles of sodium chloride (NaCl) are positively charged sodium ions (na+) and nega-
tively charged chloride ions (cl-).
• Ions mainly consist of a single charged atom or a group of atoms that have a net charge on them.
• A group of atoms carrying a charge is known as a polyatomic ion.

1.3.4 Writing chemical formulae

• The chemical formula of a compound is a symbolic representation of its composition.

• The combining power (or capacity) of an element is known as its valency.
• Valency can be used to find out how the atoms of an element will combine with the atom(s) of another
element to form a chemical compound.
• The valency of the atom of an element can be thought of as hands or arms of that atom.

The rules that you have to follow while writing a chemical formula are as follows: 11

• The valencies or charges on the ion must balance.

• When a compound consists of a metal and a non-metal, the name or symbol of the metal is written first.
• For example: calcium oxide (CaO), sodium chloride (NaCl), iron sulphide (FeS), copper oxide (CuO) etc.
• In compounds formed with polyatomic ions, the ion is enclosed in a bracket before writing the number to
indicate the ratio. E.g. Calcium hydroxide is Ca(Oh)2 and not CaOh2.
• We use brackets when we have two or more of the same ions in the formula.
• Here, the bracket around oh with a subscript 2 indicates that there are two hydroxyl (Oh) groups joined to
one calcium atom.
• In other words, there are two atoms each of oxygen and hydrogen in calcium hydroxide.

1.3.5 Atomic mass, Molecular mass and Formula unit mass

• The most remarkable concept that Dalton’s Atomic Theory proposed was that of the atomic mass.
• According to him, each element had a characteristic atomic mass.
• One atomic mass unit (amu) is a mass unit equal to exactly 1/12th the mass of one atom of carbon-12.
• The relative atomic masses of all elements have been found with respect to an atom of carbon-12.
• The molecular mass of a substance is the sum of the atomic masses of all the atoms in a molecule of the
substance. It is therefore the relative mass of a molecule expressed in atomic mass units(u).
• The formula unit mass of a substance is a sum of the atomic masses of all atoms in a formula unit of a
compound.
• Formula unit mass is calculated in the same manner as we calculate the molecular mass. The only difference
is that we use the word formula unit for those substances whose constituent particles are ions.
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1.3.6 Mole concept

• The quantity of a substance can be characterized by its mass or the number of molecules.
• But a chemical reaction equation indicates the number of atoms or molecules taking part in the reaction.
• Therefore, it is more convenient to refer to the quantity of a substance in terms of the number of its mol-
ecules or atoms, rather than their masses. So, a new unit “mole” was introduced.
• One mole of any species (atoms, molecules, ions or particles) is that quantity in number having a mass equal
to its atomic or molecular mass in grams.
• The number of particles (atoms, molecules or ions) present in 1 mole of any substance is fixed, with a value
of 6.022 ×1023. This is an experimentally obtained value.
• Scientists use the relative atomic mass scale to compare the masses of different atoms of elements.
• Atoms of carbon-12 isotopes are assigned a relative atomic mass of 12 and the relative masses of all other
atoms are obtained by comparison with the mass of a carbon-12 atom.
• The Avogadro Constant 6.022 ×1023 is defined as the number of atoms in exactly 12 g of carbon-12.
• This number is called the Avogadro Constant or Avogadro Number.
 1 Mole of Carbon = Number of atoms in 12 u of Carbon = 6.022 ×1023 Carbon Atoms
 1 Mole of Carbon-12 = Number of atoms in 12 u of Carbon-12 = 6.022 ×1023 Carbon-12 Atoms
 1 Mole of Oxygen = Number of atoms in 16 u of Oxygen = 6.022 ×1023 Oxygen Atoms
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1.4 Structure of The Atom

• It was known by 1900 that the atom was not a simple, indivisible particle but contained at least one sub-
atomic particle – the electron identified by J.J. Thomson.
• Even before the electron was identified, E. Goldstein discovered the presence protons which were positively
charged.
• Protons had a charge, equal in magnitude but opposite in sign to that of the electron.
• Its mass was approximately 2000 times as that of the electron.
• The mass of an electron is considered to be negligible and its charge is minus one.
• It seemed likely that an atom was composed of protons and electrons, mutually balancing their charges.
• It also appeared that the protons were in the interior of the atom, for whereas electrons could easily be
peeled off but not protons.
• Dalton’s atomic theory suggested that the atom was indivisible and indestructible.
• But the discovery of two fundamental particles (electrons and protons) inside the atom, led to the failure of
this aspect of Dalton’s Atomic Theory.
• It was then considered necessary to know how electrons and protons are arranged within an atom.
• For explaining this, many scientists proposed various atomic models.
• J.J. Thomson was the first one to propose a model for the structure of an atom

1.4.1 Thomson’s Model of an Atom

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• J.J. Thomson (1856-1940), was awarded the Nobel prize in physics for his work on the discovery of electrons.
• Thomson proposed the model of an atom to be similar to that of a watermelon.
• The positive charge in the atom is spread all over like the red edible part of the watermelon, while the elec-
trons are studded in the positively charged sphere, like the seeds in the watermelon

Thomson proposed that:

1. An atom consists of a positively charged sphere and the electrons are embedded in it.
2. The negative and positive charges are equal in magnitude. So, the atom as a whole is electrically neutral.
• Although Thomson’s model explained that atoms are electrically neutral, the results of experiments carried
out by other scientists could not be explained by this model, as we will see below.

1.4.2 Rutherford’s Model of an Atom

• E. Rutherford was known as the ‘father’ of nuclear physics.

• He is famous for his work on radioactivity and the discovery of the nucleus of an atom with the gold foil
experiment. He got the Nobel prize in chemistry in 1908.
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• Ernest Rutherford was interested in knowing how the electrons are arranged within an atom.
• Rutherford designed an experiment for this.
• In this experiment, fast moving alpha (α)-particles were made to fall on a thin gold foil.
• (α)-particles are doubly-charged helium ions.
• Since they have a mass of 4 u, the fast-moving α-particles have a considerable amount of energy.
• It was expected that α-particles would be deflected by the sub-atomic particles in the gold atoms.
• Since the α-particles were much heavier than the protons, he did not expect to see large deflections.
• But, the α-particle scattering experiment gave totally unexpected results.
• The following observations were made:
1. Most of the fast moving α-particles passed straight through the gold foil.
2. Some of the α-particles were deflected by the foil by small angles.
3. Surprisingly one out of every 12000 particles appeared to rebound.
• In the words of Rutherford, “this result was almost as incredible as if you fire a 15-inch shell at a piece of
tissue paper and it comes back and hits you”.

Conclusions drawn from the α-particle scattering experiment

• Most of the space inside the atom is empty because most of the α-particles passed through the gold foil
without getting deflected.
• Very few particles were deflected from their path, indicating that the positive charge of the atom occupies
very little space.
• A very small fraction of α-particles were deflected indicating that all the positive charge and mass of the
gold atom were concentrated in a very small volume within the atom.
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• From the data he also calculated that the radius of the nucleus is about 105 times less than the radius of
the atom.
• On the basis of his experiment, Rutherford put forward the nuclear model of an atom, which had the follow-
ing features:
1. There is a positively charged centre in an atom called the nucleus.
2. Nearly all the mass of an atom resides in the nucleus.
3. The electrons revolve around the nucleus in well-defined orbits.
4. The size of the nucleus is very small as compared to the size of the atom.

Drawbacks of Rutherford’s model of the atom

• The orbital revolution of the electron is not expected to be stable.

• Any particle in a circular orbit would undergo acceleration. During acceleration, charged particles would ra-
diate energy.
• Thus, the revolving electron would lose energy and finally fall into the nucleus.
• If this were so, the atom should be highly unstable and hence matter would not exist in the form that we
know. We know that atoms are quite stable.

Neutrons
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• In 1932, J. Chadwick discovered another subatomic particle which had no charge and a mass nearly equal
to that of a proton. It was eventually named as neutron.
• Neutrons are present in the nucleus of all atoms, except hydrogen.
• In general, a neutron is represented as ‘n’.
• The mass of an atom is therefore given by the sum of the masses of protons and neutrons present in the
nucleus (The mass of electrons is quite negligible).

Electron ➔ J.J. Thomson

Proton ➔ E. Goldstein
Neutron ➔ J. Chadwick
Nucleus ➔ E. Rutherford (father of nuclear physics)

1.4.3 Atomic Number

• We know that protons are present in the nucleus of an atom.

• It is the number of protons of an atom, which determines its atomic number. It is denoted by ‘z’.
• All atoms of an element have the same atomic number, z.
• In fact, elements are defined by the number of protons they possess.
• For hydrogen, z = 1, because in hydrogen atom, only one proton is present in the nucleus.
• Similarly, for carbon, z = 6.
• Therefore, the atomic number is defined as the total number of protons present in the nucleus of an
atom.

1.4.4 Mass Number

• After studying the properties of the subatomic particles of an atom, we can conclude that mass of an atom
is practically due to protons and neutrons alone.
• These are present in the nucleus of an atom. Hence protons and neutrons are also called nucleons.
• Therefore, the mass of an atom resides in its nucleus.
• For example, mass of carbon is 12 u because it has 6 protons and 6 neutrons, 6 u + 6 u = 12 u.
• Similarly, the mass of aluminium is 27 u (13 protons+14 neutrons).
• The mass number is defined as the sum of the total number of protons and neutrons present in the
nucleus of an atom.
• The atomic number, mass number and symbol of the element are to be written as:
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1.4.5 Isotopes

• In nature, a number of atoms of some elements have been identified, which have the same atomic number
but different mass numbers.
• For example, take the case of hydrogen atom, it has three atomic species, namely protium (1H1), deuterium
(2H1) and tritium (3H1).
• The atomic number of each one is 1, but the mass number is 1, 2 and 3, respectively.
• Other such examples are (i) carbon, 12C6 and 14C6 (ii) chlorine, 35Cl17 and 37Cl17, etc.
• On the basis of these examples, isotopes are defined as the atoms of the same element, having the same
atomic number but different mass numbers.
• Therefore, we can say that there are three isotopes of hydrogen atom, namely protium, deuterium and
tritium.
• Each isotope of an element is a pure substance.
• Many elements consist of a mixture of isotopes.
• The chemical properties of isotopes are similar, but their physical properties are different.
• Chlorine occurs in nature in two isotopic forms, with masses 35 u and 37 u in the ratio of 3:1. Obviously, the
question arises: what should we take as the mass of chlorine atom?
• The mass of an atom of any natural element is taken as the average mass of all the naturally occurring
atoms of that element.
• If an element has no isotopes, then the mass of its atom would be the same as the sum of protons and
neutrons in it.
• But if an element occurs in isotopic forms, then we have to know the percentage of each isotopic form and
then the average mass is calculated.
Applications of Isotopes

• Since the chemical properties of all the isotopes of an element are the same, normally we are not concerned
about taking a mixture.
• But some isotopes have special properties which find them useful in various fields. Some of them are: 19
1. An isotope of uranium is used as a fuel in nuclear reactors.
2. An isotope of cobalt is used in the treatment of cancer.
3. An isotope of iodine is used in the treatment of goitre.

1.4.6 Isobars

• Let us consider two elements — calcium, atomic number 20, and argon, atomic number 18.
• The number of electrons in these atoms is different, but the mass number of both these elements is 40.
• That is, the total number of nucleons is the same in the atoms of this pair of elements.
• Atoms of different elements with different atomic numbers, which have the same mass number, are
known as isobars.

1.4.7 Bohr’s Model of Atom

• In order to overcome the objections raised against Rutherford’s model of the atom, Neils Bohr put forward
the following postulates about the model of an atom:
1. Only certain special orbits known as discrete orbits of electrons, are allowed inside the atom
2. While revolving in discrete orbits the electrons do not radiate energy
• These orbits or shells are called energy levels. Energy levels in an atom are shown in figure below.
• These orbits or shells are represented by the letters k,l,m,n,… or the numbers, n=1,2,3,4,….

How are electrons distributed in different orbits (shells)?

• The distribution of electrons into different orbits of an atom was suggested by Bohr and Bury.
• The following rules are followed for writing the number of electrons in different energy levels or shells:
1. the maximum number of electrons present in a shell is given by the formula 2n2, where ‘n’ is the orbit
number or energy level index, 1, 2, 3, ….
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2. Hence the maximum number of electrons in different shells are as follows: first orbit or k-shell will be =
2 ×12 = 2, second orbit or l-shell will be = 2 ×22 = 8, third orbit or m-shell will be = 2 × 32 = 18, fourth
orbit or n-shell will be = 2 ×42 = 32, and so on.
3. The maximum number of electrons that can be accommodated in the outermost orbit is 8.
4. Electrons are not accommodated in a given shell, unless the inner shells are filled. That is, the shells are
filled in a step-wise manner.

1.5 Valency

• The electrons present in the outermost shell of an atom are known as the valence electrons.
• The outermost shell of an atom can accommodate a maximum of 8 electrons.
• It was observed that the atoms of elements, having a completely filled outermost shell show little chemical
activity. In other words, their combining capacity or valency is zero.
• Of these inert elements, the helium atom has two electrons in its outermost shell and all other elements
have atoms with eight electrons in the outermost shell.
• The combining capacity of the atoms of other elements, that is, their tendency to react and form molecules,
was thus explained as an attempt to attain a fully-filled outermost shell.
• An outermost-shell, which had eight electrons was said to possess an octet.
• Atoms would thus react, so as to achieve an octet in the outermost shell.
• This was done by sharing, gaining or losing electrons.
• The number of electrons gained, lost or shared so as to make the octet of electrons in the outermost shell,
gives us directly the combining capacity of the element, that is, the valency.
• For example, hydrogen/lithium/sodium atoms contain one electron each in their outermost shell, therefore
each one of them can lose one electron. So, they are said to have valency of one.
• The valency of magnesium and aluminium is two and three, respectively, because magnesium has two elec-
trons in its outermost shell and aluminium has three electrons in its outermost shell.
• If the number of electrons in the outermost shell of an atom is close to its full capacity, then valency is
determined in a different way.
• For example, the fluorine atom has 7 electrons in the outermost shell, and its valency could be 7.
• But it is easier for fluorine to gain one electron instead of losing seven electrons.
• Hence, its valency is determined by subtracting seven electrons from the octet and this gives you a valency
of one for fluorine.
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• Therefore, an atom of each element has a definite combining capacity, called its valency.
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1.6 Summary

• During a chemical reaction, the sum of the masses of the reactants and products remains unchanged. This is
known as the Law of Conservation of Mass.
• In a pure chemical compound, elements are always present in a definite proportion by mass. This is known
as the Law of Definite Proportions.
• An atom is the smallest particle of the element that can exist independently and retain all its chemical prop-
erties.
• A molecule is the smallest particle of an element or a compound capable of independent existence under
ordinary conditions. It shows all the properties of the substance.
• A chemical formula of a compound shows its constituent elements and the number of atoms of each com-
bining element.
• Clusters of atoms that act as an ion are called polyatomic ions. They carry a fixed charge on them.
• The chemical formula of a molecular compound is determined by the valency of each element.
• In ionic compounds, the charge on each ion is used to determine the chemical formula of the compound.
• Scientists use the relative atomic mass scale to compare the masses of different atoms of elements.
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• Atoms of carbon-12 isotopes are assigned a relative atomic mass of 12 and the relative masses of all other
atoms are obtained by comparison with the mass of a carbon-12 atom.
• The Avogadro constant 6.022 × 1023 is defined as the number of atoms in exactly 12 g of carbon-12.
• The mole is the amount of substance that contains the same number of particles (atoms/ ions/ molecules/
formula units etc.) as there are atoms in exactly 12 g of carbon-12.
• Mass of 1 mole of a substance is called its molar mass.
• Credit for the discovery of electron and proton goes to J.J. Thomson and E. Goldstein, respectively. J.J.
Thomson proposed that electrons are embedded in a positive sphere.
• Rutherford’s alpha-particle scattering experiment led to the discovery of the atomic nucleus.
• Rutherford’s model of the atom proposed that a very tiny nucleus is present inside the atom and electrons
revolve around this nucleus. The stability of the atom could not be explained by this model.
• Neils bohr’s model of the atom was more successful. He proposed that electrons are distributed in different
shells with discrete energy around the nucleus.
• If the atomic shells are complete, then the atom will be stable and less reactive.
• J. Chadwick discovered presence of neutrons in the nucleus of an atom.
• So, the three sub-atomic particles of an atom are: (i) electrons, (ii) protons and (iii) neutrons.
• Electrons are negatively charged; protons are positively charged, and neutrons have no charges.
• The mass of an electron is about 1/2000 times the mass of a hydrogen atom.
• The mass of a proton and a neutron is taken as one unit each.
• Shells of an atom are designated as k,l,m,n,….
• Valency is the combining capacity of an atom.
• The atomic number of an element is the same as the number of protons in the nucleus of its atom.
• The mass number of an atom is equal to the number of nucleons in its nucleus
• Isotopes are atoms of the same element, which have different mass numbers.
• Isobars are atoms having the same mass number but different atomic numbers.
• Elements are defined by the number of protons they possess.
 2. Chemical Changes

• Properties such as shape, size, colour and state of a substance are called its physical properties.
• A change in which a substance undergoes a change in its physical properties is called a physical change.
24
• A physical change is generally reversible. In such a change no new substance is formed.
• A change in which one or more new substances are formed is called a chemical change.
• A chemical change is also called a chemical reaction.
• All new substances are formed as a result of chemical changes. For example, if a metal is to be extracted from
an ore, such as iron from iron ore, we need to carry out a series of chemical changes.
• Useful new materials, such as plastics and detergents, are produced by chemical reactions.
• When carbon dioxide is passed through lime water, calcium carbonate is formed, which makes lime water
milky. The turning of lime water into milky is a standard test of carbon dioxide.

Carbon dioxide (CO 2) + Lime water [Ca(OH)2] → Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3) + Water (H2O)

• We have seen that one or more new substances are produce in a chemical change. In addition to new prod-
ucts, the following may accompany a chemical change:
✓ Heat, light or any other radiation (ultraviolet, for example) may be given off or absorbed.
✓ Sound may be produced.
✓ A change in smell may take place or a new smell may be given off.
✓ A colour change may take place.
✓ A gas may be formed.

2.1 Crystallisation – Physical Change

• Take a cupful of water in a beaker and add a few drops of dilute sulphuric acid. Heat the water.
• When it starts boiling add copper sulphate powder slowly while stirring continuously.
• Continue adding copper sulphate powder till no more powder can be dissolved. Filter the solution. Allow it
to cool. Do not disturb the solution when it is cooling. Look at the solution after some time.
• Large crystals of pure substances can be formed from their solutions. The process is called crystallisation. It
is an example of a physical change.

UPSC CSE Prelims 2014: Which of the following is/are the example/examples of chemical change?

1. Crystallization of sodium chloride

2. Melting of ice
3. Souring of milk

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

25
1) 1 and 2 only
2) 3 only
3) 1, 2 and 3
4) None

2.2 Rusting of iron – Chemical Change

• The process of rusting of iron can be represented by the following equation:

Iron (Fe) + Oxygen (O2, from the air) + water (H2O) → rust (iron oxide Fe2O3)

• For rusting, the presence of both oxygen and water (or water vapour) is essential.
• In fact, if the content of moisture in air is high, which means if it is more humid, rusting becomes faster.
• So, how do we prevent rusting? Prevent iron articles from coming in contact with oxygen, or water, or both.
• One simple way is to apply a coat of paint or grease.
• Another way is to deposit a layer of a metal like chromium or zinc on iron.
• This process of depositing a layer of zinc on iron is called galvanisation.
• The iron pipes we use in our homes to carry water are galvanised to prevent rusting.
• The saltwater makes the process of rust formation faster. Therefore, ships suffer a lot of damage from
rusting in spite of being painted.
• Stainless steel is made by mixing iron with carbon and metals like chromium, nickel and manganese. It
does not rust.

2.3 Questions

• Classify the changes involved in the following processes as physical or chemical changes: (a) Photosynthesis
(b) Dissolving sugar in water (c) Burning of coal (d) Melting of wax (e) Beating aluminium to make aluminium
foil (f) Digestion of food.
• State whether the following statements are true or false. In case a statement is false, write the corrected
statement in your notebook.
 ✓ Formation of manure from leaves is a physical change. (True/False)
✓ Iron pipes coated with zinc do not get rusted easily. (True/False)
✓ Condensation of steam is not a chemical change. (True/False)
• When baking soda is mixed with lemon juice, bubbles are formed with the evolution of a gas. What type of
26
change is it?
• When a candle burns, both physical and chemical changes take place. Identify these changes. Give another
example of a familiar process in which both the chemical and physical changes take place.
• How would you show that setting of curd is a chemical change?
• Explain how painting of an iron gate prevents it from rusting.
• Explain why rusting of iron objects is faster in coastal areas than in deserts

3. Chemical Equations

• Mass can neither be created nor destroyed in a chemical reaction.

• That is, the total mass of the elements present in the products of a chemical reaction has to be equal
to the total mass of the elements present in the reactants.
• In other words, the number of atoms of each element remains the same, before and after a chemical
reaction.
• A skeletal chemical equation for a reaction is unbalanced because the mass is not the same on both sides
of the equation.

Zinc + Sulphuric acid → Zinc sulphate + Hydrogen

• The above word-equation may be represented by the following chemical equation –

Zn + H2SO4 → ZnSO4 + H2
• As the number of atoms of each element is the same on both sides of the arrow, Eq. is a balanced
chemical equation.
• To make a chemical equation more informative, the physical states of the reactants and products are men-
tioned along with their chemical formulae.
27
• The gaseous, liquid, aqueous and solid states of reactants and products are represented by the notations (g),
(l), (aq) and (s), respectively.
• The word aqueous (aq) is written if the reactant or product is present as a solution in water.
• Sometimes the reaction conditions, such as temperature, pressure, catalyst, etc., for the reaction are indicated
above and/or below the arrow in the equation. For example –

3.1 Types of chemical reactions

• During a chemical reaction, atoms of one element do not change into those of another element.
• Nor do atoms disappear from the mixture or appear from elsewhere.
• Actually, chemical reactions involve the breaking and making of bonds between atoms to produce new
substances.

3.1.1 Combination Reaction

• Calcium oxide reacts vigorously with water to produce slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) releasing a large
amount of heat.

CaO(s) (Quick lime) + H2O(l) → Ca(OH)2(aq) (Slaked lime) + Heat

• In this reaction, calcium oxide and water combine to form a single product, calcium hydroxide.
• Such a reaction in which a single product is formed from two or more reactants is known as a combi-
nation reaction.
• Reactions in which heat is released along with the formation of products are called exothermic chemical
reactions.
• Examples of exothermic reactions are – Burning of natural gas CH 4(g) + 2O2 (g) → CO2 (g) + 2H2O (g),
Respiration and Decomposition of vegetable matter into compost.
3.1.2 Decomposition Reaction

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• In this reaction you can observe that a single reactant breaks down to give simpler products. This is a
decomposition reaction.
• Decomposition of calcium carbonate to calcium oxide and carbon dioxide on heating is an important de-
composition reaction used in various industries.
• Calcium oxide is called lime or quick lime. It has many uses – one is in the manufacture of cement.
• When a decomposition reaction is carried out by heating, it is called thermal decomposition.

• White silver chloride turns grey in sunlight. This is due to the decomposition of silver chloride into silver and
chlorine by light.
• Silver bromide also behaves in the same way.

• The above reactions are used in black and white photography.

• We have seen that the decomposition reactions require energy either in the form of heat, light or electricity
for breaking down the reactants. Reactions in which energy is absorbed are known as endothermic reac-
tions.
• The temperature of water decreases when Urea is added to water. The process is endothermic.
29

3.1.3 Displacement Reaction

• Why does the iron nail become brownish in colour and the blue colour of copper sulphate solution fade?
• The following chemical reaction takes place –

• In this reaction, iron has displaced or removed another element, copper, from copper sulphate solution. This
reaction is known as displacement reaction.
• Other examples of displacement reactions are
• Zinc and lead are more reactive elements than copper. They displace copper from its compounds.
30
3.1.4 Double Displacement Reaction

• Take about 3 mL of sodium sulphate solution in a test tube.

• In another test tube, take about 3 mL of barium chloride solution. Mix the two solutions.
• You will observe that a white substance, which is insoluble in water, is formed.
• This insoluble substance formed is known as a precipitate.
• Any reaction that produces a precipitate can be called a precipitation reaction.

• What causes this? The white precipitate of BaSO4 is formed by the reaction of 2–SO4 and Ba2+.
• The other product formed is sodium chloride which remains in the solution.
• Such reactions in which there is an exchange of ions between the reactants are called double displace-
ment reactions.

3.1.5 Oxidation and Reduction

• Heat a china dish containing about 1 g copper powder

• The surface of copper powder becomes coated with black copper(II) oxide.
• This is because oxygen is added to copper and copper oxide is formed.

• If hydrogen gas is passed over this heated material (CuO), the black coating on the surface turns brown as
the reverse reaction takes place and copper is obtained.

• If a substance gains oxygen during a reaction, it is said to be oxidised.

• If a substance loses oxygen during a reaction, it is said to be reduced.
• During this reaction, the copper(II) oxide is losing oxygen and is being reduced. The hydrogen is gaining
oxygen and is being oxidised.
• In other words, one reactant gets oxidised while the other gets reduced during a reaction. Such reactions
are called oxidation-reduction reactions or redox reactions.
31

• Some other examples of redox reactions are:

• In reaction above, carbon is oxidised to CO and ZnO is reduced to Zn.

• In reaction above, HCl is oxidised to Cl2 whereas MnO2 is reduced to MnCl2.

• From the above examples we can say that if a substance gains oxygen or loses hydrogen during a reaction,
it is oxidised. If a substance loses oxygen or gains hydrogen during a reaction, it is reduced.

The effects of oxidation reactions in everyday life

Corrosion

• When a metal is attacked by substances around it such as moisture, acids, etc., it is said to corrode, and this
process is called corrosion.
• The black coating on silver and the green coating on copper are other examples of corrosion.
• Corrosion causes damage to car bodies, bridges, iron railings, ships and to all objects made of metals, espe-
cially those of iron. Corrosion of iron is a serious problem.

Rancidity

• Have you ever tasted or smelt the fat/oil containing food materials left for a long time?
• When fats and oils are oxidised, they become rancid and their smell and taste change.
• Usually substances which prevent oxidation (antioxidants) are added to foods containing fats and oil.
• Keeping food in airtight containers helps to slow down oxidation.
• Do you know that chips manufacturers usually flush bags of chips with gas such as nitrogen to prevent the
chips from getting oxidised?

3.2 Electric Current & Chemical Reactions

32
• In 1800, a British chemist, William Nicholson (1753–1815), had shown that if electrodes were immersed in
water, and a current was passed, bubbles of oxygen and hydrogen were produced.
• Oxygen bubbles formed on the electrode connected to the positive terminal of the battery and hydrogen
bubbles formed on the other electrode.

Positive Terminal → Anode → Oxygen

Negative Terminal → Cathode → Hydrogen

• The passage of an electric current through a conducting solution causes chemical reactions.
• As a result, bubbles of a gas may be formed on the electrodes.
• Deposits of metal may be seen on electrodes.
• Changes of colour of solutions may occur.
• The reaction would depend on what solution and electrodes are used.
• These are some of the chemical effects of the electric current.

• When electric current is passed through the copper sulphate solution, copper sulphate dissociates into cop-
per and sulphate.
• The free copper gets drawn to the electrode connected to the negative terminal of the battery and gets
deposited on it. But what about the loss of copper from the solution?
• From the other electrode, a copper plate, an equal amount of copper gets dissolved in the solution.
• Thus, the loss of copper from the solution is restored and the process keeps going. This means that copper
gets transferred from one electrode to the other.
• The process of depositing a layer of any desired metal on another material by means of electricity is called
electroplating.
33
• It is one of the most common applications of chemical effects of electric current.
• Electroplating is a very useful process. It is widely used in industry for coating metal objects with a thin layer
of a different metal.
• The layer of metal deposited has some desired property, which the metal of the object lacks.
• For example, chromium plating is done on many objects such as car parts, bath taps, kitchen gas burners,
bicycle handlebars, wheel rims and many others.
• Chromium has a shiny appearance. It does not corrode. It resists scratches.
• However, chromium is expensive, and it may not be economical to make the whole object out of chromium.
• So, the object is made from a cheaper metal and only a coating of chromium over it is deposited.
• Jewellery makers electroplate silver and gold on less expensive metals. These ornaments have the appearance
of silver or gold but are much less expensive.
• Tin cans, used for storing food, are made by electroplating tin onto iron. Tin is less reactive than iron.
• Thus, food does not come into contact with iron and is protected from getting spoilt
• Iron is used in bridges and automobiles to provide strength. However, iron tends to corrode and rust.
• So, a coating of zinc is deposited on iron to protect it from corrosion and formation of rust.
• In the electroplating factories the disposal of the used conducting solution is a major concern.

3.3 Summary

• A complete chemical equation represents the reactants, products and their physical states symbolically.
• A chemical equation is balanced so that the numbers of atoms of each type involved in a chemical reaction
are the same on the reactant and product sides of the equation. Equations must always be balanced.
• In a combination reaction two or more substances combine to form a new single substance.
• Decomposition reactions are opposite to combination reactions.
• In a decomposition reaction, a single substance decomposes to give two or more substances.
• Reactions in which heat is given out along with the products are called exothermic reactions.
• Reactions in which energy is absorbed are known as endothermic reactions.
• When an element displaces another element from its compound, a displacement reaction occurs.
• Two different atoms or groups of atoms (ions) are exchanged in double displacement reactions.
• Precipitation reactions produce insoluble salts.
• Reactions also involve the gain or loss of oxygen or hydrogen by substances.
• Oxidation is the gain of oxygen or loss of hydrogen.
34
• Reduction is the loss of oxygen or gain of hydrogen.

3.4 Questions

• Which of the statements about the reaction below are incorrect? 2PbO(s) + C(s) → 2Pb(s) + CO2(g)
a) Lead is getting reduced.
b) Carbon dioxide is getting oxidised.
c) Carbon is getting oxidised.
d) Lead oxide is getting reduced.

(i) (a) and (b) (ii) (a) and (c) (iii) (a), (b) and (c) (iv) all

• Fe2O3 + 2Al → Al2O3 + 2Fe. The reaction is an example of a

a) combination reaction.
b) double displacement reaction.
c) decomposition reaction.
d) displacement reaction.
• What happens when dilute hydrochloric acid is added to iron fillings? Tick the correct answer.
a) Hydrogen gas and iron chloride are produced.
b) Chlorine gas and iron hydroxide are produced.
c) No reaction takes place.
d) Iron salt and water are produced
• Translate the following statements into chemical equations and then balance them.
a) Hydrogen gas combines with nitrogen to form ammonia.
b) Hydrogen sulphide gas burns in air to give water and sulphur dioxide
c) Barium chloride reacts with aluminium sulphate to give aluminium chloride and a precipitate of barium
sulphate.
d) Potassium metal reacts with water to give potassium hydroxide and hydrogen gas.
• Hydrogen, it is colourless, odourless and combustible. The gas obtained by GROUP II is hydrogen
sulphide. It is a colourless gas with the smell of rotten eggs.
• What does one mean by exothermic and endothermic reactions? Give examples.
• Why is respiration considered an exothermic reaction? Explain.
35
• Why are decomposition reactions called the opposite of combination reactions? Write equations for these
reactions.
• Write one equation each for decomposition reactions where energy is supplied in the form of heat, light or
electricity.
• What is the difference between displacement and double displacement reactions? Write equations for these
reactions.
• What do you mean by a precipitation reaction? Explain by giving examples.
• Explain the following in terms of gain or loss of oxygen with two examples each. (a) Oxidation (b) Reduction
• Why do we apply paint on iron articles?
• Oil and fat containing food items are flushed with nitrogen. Why?
• Explain the following terms with one example each. (a) Corrosion (b) Rancidity

4. Acids, Bases and Salts

• Curd, lemon juice, vinegar, etc. taste sour because they contain acids. The chemical nature of such substances
is acidic.
• Each cell in our body contains an acid, the deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA. It controls every feature of the body
such as our looks, colour of our eyes, our height etc.
• Proteins that build part of our cells are also made of amino acids. The fats in our body contain fatty acids.
 36

• Acids in other planets: The atmosphere of Venus is made up of thick white and yellowish clouds of sulphuric
acid.
• Baking soda does not taste sour as it has no acids in it. It is bitter in taste. Substances like these which are
bitter in taste and feel soapy on touching are known as bases. The nature of such substances is basic.

4.1 Acid rain

• When pH of rainwater is less than 5.6, it is called acid rain.

• The rain becomes acidic because
1. carbon dioxide,
2. sulphur dioxide [released by the combustion of coal or diesel] and
 3. nitrogen dioxide [released by the combustion of petrol] (which are released into the air as pollutants)
• dissolve in rain drops to form
1. carbonic acid,
2. sulphuric acid and
37
3. nitric acid respectively.
• Acid rain can cause damage to buildings, historical monuments, plants and animals.

4.2 Indicators

• Indicators are special type of substances used to test whether a substance is acidic or basic.
• Turmeric, litmus, red cabbage leaves, China rose petals (Gudhal), etc., are some of the naturally occurring
indicators.

Litmus: A natural dye

• The most commonly used natural indicator is litmus. It is extracted from lichens.
• A lichen is a composite organism that emerges from algae or cyanobacteria (or both) living among fila-
ments of a fungus in a mutually beneficial (symbiotic) relationship.
• Litmus solution has a mauve (purple) colour in distilled water. When added to an acidic solution, it turns
red and when added to a basic solution, it turns blue.

Acidic ➔ Litmus solution turns RED

Basic ➔ Litmus solution turns BLUE

• Acids change the colour of blue litmus to red, whereas, bases change the colour of the red litmus to blue.

Acidic ➔ Blue Litmus turns RED

Basic ➔ Red Litmus turns BLUE
• The solutions which do not change the colour of either red or blue litmus are known as neutral solutions.

Phenolpthalein

• Phenolpthalein and methyl orange are synthetic indicators.

38
• When the solution is basic, phenolphthalein gives a pink colour. On the other hand, when the solution
is acidic, it remains colourless.

Acidic ➔ Phenolphthalein gives No Colour

Basic ➔ Phenolphthalein gives PINK Colour

4.3 How do Acids React with Metals?

• The metal in the above reactions displaces hydrogen from the acids. This is seen as hydrogen gas.
• The metal combines with the remaining part of the acid and forms a compound called a salt.
• Thus, the reaction of a metal with an acid can be summarised as

Acid + Metal → Salt + Hydrogen gas

4.4 How do Metal Carbonates & Metal Hydrogen carbonates React with
Acids?
 39

• Limestone, chalk and marble are different forms of calcium carbonate.

• All metal carbonates and hydrogen carbonates react with acids to give a corresponding salt, carbon dioxide
and water.
• Thus, the reaction can be summarised as –

Metal carbonate/Metal hydrogen carbonate + Acid → Salt + Carbon dioxide + Water

Preparing a soda-acid fire extinguisher

• The reaction of acids with metal hydrogen carbonates is used in the fire extinguishers which produce carbon
dioxide.
 40

4.5 Reaction of Metallic Oxides with Acids

• Take a small amount of copper oxide in a beaker and add dilute hydrochloric acid slowly while stirring.
• You will notice that the colour of the solution becomes blue-green and the copper oxide dissolves.
• The blue-green colour of the solution is due to the formation of copper(II) chloride in the reaction.
• The general reaction between a metal oxide and an acid can be written as –

Metal oxide + Acid → Salt + Water

4.6 How do acids react with bases (Neutralisation)?

• When an acid solution and a base solution are mixed in suitable amounts, both the acidic nature of the acid
and the basic nature of the base are destroyed. The resulting solution is neither acidic nor basic.
• In neutralization reaction, heat is always produced. The evolved heat raises the temperature of the reaction
mixture. (Exothermic Reaction)
• In neutralization reaction a new substance is formed. This is called salt. Salt may be acidic, basic or neutral
in nature.

Thus, neutralisation can be defined as follows:

• The reaction between an acid and a base is known as neutralisation. Salt and water are produced in this
process with the evolution of heat.
• Example: Hydrochloric acid (HCl) + Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) ⟶ Sodium chloride (NaCl) + Water (H2O)
 NaOH(aq) + HCl(aq) → NaCl(aq) + H2O(l)

• In the above reaction, we see that the effect of a base is nullified by an acid and vice-versa.
• In general, a neutralisation reaction can be written as –
41
Base + Acid → Salt + Water

Reaction of a Non-metallic Oxide with Base

• Calcium hydroxide, which is a base, reacts with carbon dioxide to produce a salt and water.
• Since this is similar to the reaction between a base and an acid, we can conclude that non-metallic oxides
are acidic in nature.

4.6.2 Uses of Neutralization

Indigestion

• Our stomach contains hydrochloric acid. It helps us to digest food.

• But too much of acid in the stomach causes indigestion.
• To relieve indigestion, we take an antacid (base) such as milk of magnesia, which contains magnesium
hydroxide. It neutralizes the effect of excessive acid.

Ant sting

• The sting of an ant contains formic acid.

• When an ant bites, it injects the acidic liquid into the skin.
• The effect of the sting can be neutralized by rubbing moist baking soda (sodium hydrogen carbonate;
baking soda → Sodium bicarbonate) or calamine solution, which contains zinc carbonate.

Soil treatment

• Excessive use of chemical fertilizers makes the soil acidic.

• Plants do not grow well when the soil is either too acidic or too basic.
• The pH range of 5.5 to 7.0 is highly suitable for plant growth.
• When the soil is too acidic, it is treated with bases like quick lime (calcium oxide) or slaked lime (calcium
hydroxide).
• If the soil is basic, organic matter is added to it.
• Organic matter releases acids which neutralises the basic nature of the soil.

4.7 What do all acids and all bases have in common?

42

• Glucose and alcohol solutions do not conduct electricity.

• But the bulb will start glowing in the case of acids, as shown in Fig. 2.3.
• Glowing of the bulb indicates that there is a flow of electric current through the solution.
• The electric current is carried through the solution by ions.
• Since the cation present in acids is H+, this suggests that acids produce hydrogen ions, H+(aq), in solu-
tion, which are responsible for their acidic properties.

4.8 What Happens to an Acid or a Base in a Water Solution?

• Hydrogen ions in HCl are produced in the presence of water.

• The separation of H+ ion from HCl molecules cannot occur in the absence of water.

• Hydrogen ions cannot exist alone, but they exist after combining with water molecules.
• Thus, hydrogen ions must always be shown as H+(aq) or hydronium ion (H3O+).
• We have seen that acids give H3O+ or H+(aq) ion in water.
• Let us see what happens when a base is dissolved in water. 43

• Bases generate hydroxide (OH–) ions in water. Bases which are soluble in water are called alkalis.
• All bases do not dissolve in water. An alkali is a base that dissolves in water.
• Alkalis are soapy to touch, bitter and corrosive.
• Now as we have identified that all acids generate H+(aq) and all bases generate OH–(aq), we can view the
neutralisation reaction as follows –

• The process of dissolving an acid or a base in water is a highly exothermic one.

• Care must be taken while mixing concentrated nitric acid or sulphuric acid with water.
• The acid must always be added slowly to water with constant stirring.
• Mixing an acid or base with water results in decrease in the concentration of ions (H3O+/OH–) per unit volume.
• Such a process is called dilution and the acid, or the base is said to be diluted.

4.9 How strong are acid or base solutions?

• The strength of acids and bases depends on the number of H+ ions and OH– ions produced, respectively.
• If we take hydrochloric acid and acetic acid of the same concentration, say one molar, then these produce
different amounts of hydrogen ions.
• Acids that give rise to more H+ ions are said to be strong acids, and acids that give less H+ ions are said to
be weak acids.
• The universal indicator shows different colours at different concentrations of hydrogen ions in a solution.
• A scale for measuring hydrogen ion concentration in a solution, called pH scale has been developed.
• The p in pH stands for ‘potenz’ in German, meaning power.
• On the pH scale we can measure pH from 0 (very acidic) to 14 (very alkaline).
• pH should be thought of simply as a number which indicates the acidic or basic nature of a solution.
44
• Higher the hydronium ion concentration, lower is the pH value.
• The pH of a neutral solution is 7.
• Values less than 7 on the pH scale represent an acidic solution.
• As the pH value increases from 7 to 14, it represents an increase in OH– ion concentration in the solution,
that is, increase in the strength of alkali.
• Generally, paper impregnated with the universal indicator is used for measuring pH.

4.10 Importance of pH in Everyday

• Our body works within the pH range of 7.0 to 7.8.

• Living organisms can survive only in a narrow range of pH change.
• When pH of rainwater is less than 5.6, it is called acid rain.
• When acid rain flows into the rivers, it lowers the pH of the river water.
• The survival of aquatic life in such rivers becomes difficult.

pH in our digestive system

• It is very interesting to note that our stomach produces hydrochloric acid.

45
• It helps in the digestion of food without harming the stomach.
• During indigestion the stomach produces too much acid and this causes pain and irritation.
• To get rid of this pain, people use bases called antacids.
• These antacids neutralise the excess acid.
• Magnesium hydroxide (Milk of magnesia), a mild base, is often used for this purpose.

pH change as the cause of tooth decay

• Tooth decay starts when the pH of the mouth is lower than 5.5.
• Tooth enamel made up of calcium phosphate is the hardest substance in the body.
• It does not dissolve in water but is corroded when the pH in the mouth is below 5.5.
• Bacteria present in the mouth produce acids by degradation of sugar and food particles remaining in the
mouth after eating.
• The best way to prevent this is to clean the mouth after eating food.
• Using toothpastes, which are generally basic, for cleaning the teeth can neutralise the excess acid and prevent
tooth decay.

Self-defence by animals and plants through chemical warfare

• Have you ever been stung by a honey-bee? Bee-sting leaves an acid which causes pain and irritation.
• Use of a mild base like baking soda on the stung area gives relief.
• Stinging hair of nettle leaves inject methanoic acid causing burning pain.

Nature provides neutralisation options

• Nettle is a herbaceous plant which grows in the wild. Its leaves have stinging hair, which cause painful stings
when touched accidentally. This is due to the methanoic acid secreted by them.
• A traditional remedy is rubbing the area with the leaf of the dock plant, which often grows beside the nettle
in the wild.

4.11 More about salts

• Potassium sulphate, sodium sulphate, calcium sulphate, magnesium sulphate, copper sulphate, sodium chlo-
ride, sodium nitrate, sodium carbonate and ammonium chloride are examples for salts.
• Salts having the same positive or negative radicals are said to belong to a family.
• For example, NaCl and Na2SO4 belong to the family of sodium salts.
46
• Similarly, NaCl and KCl belong to the family of chloride salts.

4.11.1 pH of Salts

• Salts of a strong acid and a strong base are neutral with pH value of 7.
• On the other hand,
✓ salts of a strong acid and weak base are acidic with pH value less than 7 and
✓ those of a strong base and weak acid are basic in nature, with pH value more than 7.

4.11.2 Common Salt

• The combination of hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide solution is called sodium chloride.
• Seawater contains many salts dissolved in it. Sodium chloride is separated from these salts.
• Deposits of solid salt are also found in several parts of the world. These large crystals are often brown due to
impurities. This is called rock salt.
• Beds of rock salt were formed when seas of bygone ages dried up. Rock salt is mined like coal.
• The common salt thus obtained is an important raw material for various materials of daily use, such as sodium
hydroxide, baking soda, washing soda, bleaching powder and many more.
• Let us see how one substance is used for making all these different substances.

Sodium hydroxide

• When electricity is passed through an aqueous solution of sodium chloride (called brine), it decomposes to
form sodium hydroxide.
• The process is called the chlor-alkali process because of the products formed– chlor for chlorine and alkali
for sodium hydroxide.

2NaCl(aq) + 2H2O(l) → 2NaOH(aq) + Cl2(g) + H2(g)

• Chlorine gas is given off at the anode, and hydrogen gas at the cathode.
• Sodium hydroxide solution is formed near the cathode.
• The three products produced in this process are all useful.

47

Bleaching powder (Calcium hypochlorite)

• You have already come to know that chlorine is produced during the electrolysis of aqueous sodium chloride.
• This chlorine gas is used for the manufacture of bleaching powder.
• Bleaching powder is produced by the action of chlorine on dry slaked lime [Ca(OH)2].
• Bleaching powder is represented as CaOCl2, though the actual composition is quite complex.

Ca(OH)2 + Cl2 → CaOCl2 + H2O

• Bleaching powder is used – (i) for bleaching cotton and linen in the textile industry, for bleaching wood pulp
in paper factories and for bleaching washed clothes in laundry; (ii) as an oxidising agent in many chemical
industries; and (iii) for disinfecting drinking water to make it free of germs.
Baking soda (Sodium hydrogen carbonate)

• The soda commonly used in the kitchen for making tasty crispy pakoras is baking soda.
• Sometimes it is added for faster cooking.
• The chemical name of the compound is sodium hydrogen carbonate (NaHCO3). 48
• It is produced using sodium chloride as one of the raw materials.
• It is a mild non-corrosive base.

Uses of sodium hydrogen carbonate (NaHCO3)

• Baking powder is a mixture of baking soda and a mild edible acid such as tartaric acid.
• When baking powder is heated or mixed in water, the following reaction takes place –

• Carbon dioxide produced during the reaction causes bread or cake to rise making them soft and spongy.
• Sodium hydrogen carbonate is also an ingredient in antacids. Being alkaline, it neutralises excess acid in the
stomach and provides relief.
• It is also used in soda-acid fire extinguishers.

Washing soda (Sodium carbonate)

• Another chemical that can be obtained from sodium chloride is Na2CO3.10H2O (washing soda).
• Sodium carbonate can be obtained by heating baking soda; recrystallisation of sodium carbonate gives wash-
ing soda. It is also a basic salt.

Uses of washing soda

• Sodium carbonate and sodium hydrogen carbonate are useful chemicals for many industrial processes.
• Sodium carbonate (washing soda) is used in glass, soap and paper industries.
• It is used in the manufacture of sodium compounds such as borax.
• Sodium carbonate can be used as a cleaning agent for domestic purposes.
• It is used for removing permanent hardness of water.

4.11.3 Are the crystals of salt really dry?

• Copper sulphate crystals which seem to be dry contain water of crystallisation.

• When we heat the crystals, this water is removed, and the salt turns white.
• If you moisten the crystals again with water, you will find that blue colour of the crystals reappears.
• Chemical formula for hydrated copper sulphate is Cu SO4. 5H2O.
• Similarly, the molecule of Na2CO3.10H2O is wet.
49
• One other salt, which possesses water of crystallisation is gypsum.
• It has two water molecules as water of crystallisation.
• Let us look into the use of this salt.

Plaster of Paris

• On heating gypsum at 373 K, it loses water molecules and becomes calcium sulphate hemihydrate.
• This is called Plaster of Paris, the substance which doctors use as plaster for supporting fractured bones in
the right position.
• Plaster of Paris is a white powder and on mixing with water, it changes to gypsum once again giving a hard
solid mass.

4.12 Summary

• Acids are sour in taste. Bases are bitter in taste and soapy to touch.
• Acid turns blue litmus red. Bases turn red litmus blue.
• Substances which are neither acidic nor basic are called neutral.
• Mixing concentrated acids or bases with water is a highly exothermic process.
• Acids and bases neutralise each other to form corresponding salts and water.
• A salt may be acidic, basic or neutral in nature.
• Acid-base indicators are dyes or mixtures of dyes which are used to indicate the presence of acids and bases.
• Acidic nature of a substance is due to the formation of H+(aq) ions in solution.
• Formation of OH–(aq) ions in solution is responsible for the basic nature of a substance.
• When an acid reacts with a metal, hydrogen gas is evolved, and a corresponding salt is formed.
• When a base reacts with a metal, along with the evolution of hydrogen gas a salt is formed which has a
negative ion composed of the metal and oxygen.
• When an acid reacts with a metal carbonate or metal hydrogen carbonate, it gives the corresponding salt,
carbon dioxide gas and water.
• Acidic and basic solutions in water conduct electricity because they produce hydrogen and hydroxide
ions respectively.
• The strength of an acid or an alkali can be tested by using a scale called the pH scale (0-14) which gives the
measure of hydrogen ion concentration in a solution.
50
• A neutral solution has a pH of exactly 7, while an acidic solution has a pH less than 7 and a basic
solution a pH more than 7.
• Water of crystallisation is the fixed number of water molecules chemically attached to each formula unit of a
salt in its crystalline form.

4.13 Questions

• Mark ‘T’ if the statement is true and ‘F’ if it is false:

1. Nitric acid turns red litmus blue. (T/F)
2. Sodium hydroxide turns blue litmus red. (T/F)
3. Sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid neutralise each other and form salt and water. (T/F)
4. Indicator is a substance which shows different colours in acidic and basic solutions. (T/F)
5. Tooth decay is caused by the presence of a base. (T/F)
• Ammonia is found in many household products, such as window cleaners. It turns red litmus blue. What is its
nature?
• Explain why:
1. An antacid tablet is taken when you suffer from acidity.
2. Calamine solution is applied on the skin when an ant bites.
3. Factory waste is neutralised before disposing it into the water bodies.
• Blue litmus paper is dipped in a solution. It remains blue. What is the nature of the solution?

Consider the following statements:

a) Both acids and bases change colour of all indicators.

b) If an indicator gives a colour change with an acid, it does not give a change with a base.
c) If an indicator changes colour with a base, it does not change colour with an acid.
d) Change of colour in an acid and a base depends on the type of the indicator.

Which of these statements are correct?

(i) All four (ii) a and d (iii) b and c (iv) only d
• Why do HCl, HNO3, etc., show acidic characters in aqueous solutions while solutions of compounds like
alcohol and glucose do not show acidic character?
• Why does an aqueous solution of an acid conduct electricity?
• While diluting an acid, why is it recommended that the acid should be added to water and not water to the
51
acid?
• How is the concentration of hydronium ions (H3O+) affected when a solution of an acid is diluted?
• How is the concentration of hydroxide ions (OH–) affected when excess base is dissolved in a solution of
sodium hydroxide?
• Why should curd and sour substances not be kept in brass and copper vessels?
• Which gas is usually liberated when an acid reacts with a metal?
• You have two solutions, A and B. The pH of solution A is 6 and pH of solution B is 8. Which solution has more
hydrogen ion concentration? Which of this is acidic and which one is basic?
• What effect does the concentration of H+(aq) ions have on the nature of the solution?
• Do basic solutions also have H+(aq) ions? If yes, then why are these basic?
• Under what soil condition do you think a farmer would treat the soil of his fields with quick lime (calcium
oxide) or slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) or chalk (calcium carbonate)?
• A solution turns red litmus blue, its pH is likely to be (a) 1 (b) 4 (c) 5 (d) 10
• A solution reacts with crushed egg-shells to give a gas that turns lime-water milky. The solution contains (a)
NaCl (b) HCl (c) LiCl (d) KCl
• Which one of the following types of medicines is used for treating indigestion? (a) Antibiotic (b) Analgesic (c)
Antacid (d) Antiseptic
• Compounds such as alcohols and glucose also contain hydrogen but are not categorised as acids. Why?
• Why does distilled water not conduct electricity, whereas rainwater does?
• Why do acids not show acidic behaviour in the absence of water?
• Five solutions A,B,C,D and E when tested with universal indicator showed pH as 4,1,11,7 and 9, respectively.
Which solution is (a) neutral? (b) strongly alkaline? (c) strongly acidic? (d) weakly acidic? (e) weakly alkaline?
• Fresh milk has a pH of 6. How do you think the pH will change as it turns into curd? Explain your answer.
• A milkman adds a very small amount of baking soda to fresh milk. (a) Why does he shift the pH of the fresh
milk from 6 to slightly alkaline? (b) Why does this milk take a long time to set as curd?
• Plaster of Paris should be stored in a moisture-proof container. Explain why?
 5. Metals and Non-metals

• There are no more than 92 naturally occurring elements.

• An important classification of elements is in terms of metals and non-metals.
52
• Most of the elements are metals. Less than 20 are non-metals.
• A few are metalloids which possess characters of both metals and non-metals.
• The property of metals by which they can be beaten into thin sheets is called malleability.
• The property of metal by which it can be drawn into wires is called ductility.
• Gold is the most ductile metal. A wire of about 2 km length can be drawn from one gram of gold.
• It is because of their malleability and ductility that metals can be given different shapes.
• Since metals produce ringing sounds, they are said to be sonorous.
• Sodium metal is very reactive. It reacts vigorously with oxygen and water. A lot of heat is generated in the
reaction. It is, therefore, stored in kerosene.
• Generally, non-metals do not react with water though they may be very reactive in air.
• Such non-metals are stored in water. For example, phosphorus is a very reactive non-metal. It catches fire
if exposed to air. To prevent the contact of phosphorus with atmospheric oxygen, it is stored in water.
• Non-metals generally do not react with acids, but metals react with acids and produce hydrogen gas that
burns with a ‘pop’ sound.
• On burning, metals react with oxygen to produce metal oxides which are basic in nature.
• Non-metals react with oxygen to produce non-metallic oxides which are acidic in nature.
• Most non-metals produce acidic oxides when dissolve in water.
• On the other hand, most metals, give rise to basic oxides.
• Metals are good conductors of heat and have high melting points.
• The best conductors of heat are silver and copper.
• Lead and mercury are comparatively poor conductors of heat.
• Metals have high melting points, but gallium and caesium have very low melting points.
• These two metals will melt if you keep them on your palm.
• Alkali metals (lithium, sodium, potassium) are so soft that they can be cut with a knife. They have low
densities and low melting points.
• Mercury is the only metal which is found in liquid state at room temperature. These are exceptions.
• Iodine is a non-metal, but it is lustrous.
5.1 Chemical properties of metals

5.1.1 What happens when Metals are burnt in Air?

• Almost all metals combine with oxygen to form metal oxides.

53

Metal + Oxygen → Metal oxide

• For example, when copper is heated in air, it combines with oxygen to form copper(II) oxide, a black oxide.

2Cu + O 2 → 2CuO (Copper) (Copper(II) oxide)

• Metal oxides are basic in nature.

• But some metal oxides, such as aluminium oxide, zinc oxide, etc., show both acidic as well as basic behaviour.
• Such metal oxides which react with both acids as well as bases to produce salts and water are known as
amphoteric oxides.
• Most metal oxides are insoluble in water but some of these dissolve in water to form alkalis.
• All metals do not react with oxygen at the same rate.
• Metals such as potassium and sodium react so vigorously that they catch fire if kept in the open.
• Hence, to protect them and to prevent accidental fires, they are kept immersed in kerosene oil.
• At ordinary temperature, the surfaces of metals such as magnesium, aluminium, zinc, lead, etc., are covered
with a thin layer of oxide. The protective oxide layer prevents the metal from further oxidation.
• Iron does not burn on heating, but iron filings burn vigorously when sprinkled in the flame of the burner.
• Silver and gold do not react with oxygen even at high temperatures.
• Anodising is a process of forming a thick oxide layer of aluminium.
• This aluminium oxide coat makes it resistant to further corrosion.
• During anodising, a clean aluminium article is made the anode and is electrolysed with dilute sulphuric acid.
• The oxygen gas evolved at the anode reacts with aluminium to make a thicker protective oxide layer.
• This oxide layer can be dyed easily to give aluminium articles an attractive finish.

5.1.2 What happens when Metals react with Water?

• Metals react with water and produce a metal oxide and hydrogen gas.
• Metal oxides that are soluble in water dissolve in it to further form metal hydroxide.
• But all metals do not react with water.
 Metal + Water → Metal oxide + Hydrogen
Metal oxide + Water → Metal hydroxide

• In case of sodium and potassium, the reaction is so violent and exothermic that the evolved hydrogen
immediately catches fire. 54

• The reaction of calcium with water is less violent. The heat evolved is not sufficient for the hydrogen to catch
fire.
• Calcium starts floating because the bubbles of hydrogen gas formed stick to the surface of the metal.
• Magnesium does not react with cold water. It reacts with hot water to form magnesium hydroxide and hy-
drogen. It also starts floating due to the bubbles of hydrogen gas sticking to its surface.
• Metals like aluminium, iron and zinc do not react either with cold or hot water.
• But they react with steam to form the metal oxide and hydrogen.
• Metals such as lead, copper, silver and gold do not react with water at all.

5.1.3 What happens when Metals react with Acids?

• Metals react with acids and produce metal salts and hydrogen gas.

Metal + Dilute acid → Salt + Hydrogen

• Hydrogen gas is not evolved when a metal reacts with nitric acid.
• It is because HNO3 is a strong oxidising agent.
• It oxidises the H2 produced to water and itself gets reduced to any of the nitrogen oxides.
• But magnesium (Mg) and manganese (Mn) react with very dilute HNO3 to evolve H2 gas.
• The reactivity decreases in the order Mg > Al > Zn > Fe.
• Aqua regia, (Latin for ‘royal water’) is a freshly prepared mixture of concentrated hydrochloric acid and
concentrated nitric acid in the ratio of 3:1.
• It can dissolve gold, even though neither of these acids can do so alone.
• Aqua regia is a highly corrosive, fuming liquid. It is one of the few reagents that is able to dissolve gold and
platinum.

5.1.4 How do Metals react with Solutions of other Metal Salts?

• Reactive metals can displace less reactive metals from their compounds in solution or molten form.
• All metals are not equally reactive.
• Displacement reactions studied earlier give better evidence about the reactivity of metals.
• It is simple and easy if metal A displaces metal B from its solution, it is more reactive than B

Metal A + Salt solution of B → Salt solution of A + Metal B

55
The Reactivity Series

• The reactivity series is a list of metals arranged in the order of their decreasing activities.
• After performing displacement experiments, the following series, known as the reactivity or activity series has
been developed.

5.1.5 How do metals and non-metals react?

• We learnt that noble gases, which have a completely filled valence shell, show little chemical activity.
• We, therefore, explain the reactivity of elements as a tendency to attain a completely filled valence shell.
 56

• Sodium and chloride ions, being oppositely charged, attract each other and are held by strong electrostatic
forces of attraction to exist as sodium chloride (NaCl).
• Sodium chloride does not exist as molecules but aggregates of oppositely charged ions.
• The compounds formed in this manner by the transfer of electrons from a metal to a non-metal are
known as ionic compounds or electrovalent compounds.
 57

Properties of Ionic Compounds

Physical nature

• Ionic compounds are solids and are somewhat hard because of the strong force of attraction between the
positive and negative ions.
• These compounds are generally brittle and break into pieces when pressure is applied.

Melting and Boiling points

• Ionic compounds have high melting and boiling points.

• This is because a considerable amount of energy is required to break the strong inter-ionic attraction.

Solubility

• Electrovalent compounds are generally soluble in water and insoluble in solvents such as kerosene, petrol,
etc.

Conduction of Electricity

• The conduction of electricity through a solution involves the movement of charged particles.
• A solution of an ionic compound in water contains ions, which move to the opposite electrodes when elec-
tricity is passed through the solution.
• Ionic compounds in the solid state do not conduct electricity because movement of ions in the solid
is not possible due to their rigid structure.
• But ionic compounds conduct electricity in the molten state.
• This is possible in the molten state since the electrostatic forces of attraction between the oppositely charged
ions are overcome due to the heat. Thus, the ions move freely and conduct electricity.

5.2 Occurrence of metals

58
• The elements or compounds, which occur naturally in the earth’s crust, are known as minerals.
• At some places, minerals contain a very high percentage of a particular metal and the metal can be profitably
extracted from it. These minerals are called ores.

5.2.1 Extraction of Metals

• Some metals are found in the earth’s crust in the free state.
• Some are found in the form of their compounds.
• The metals at the bottom of the activity series are the least reactive. They are often found in a free state.
• For example, gold, silver, platinum and copper are found in the free state.
• Copper and silver are also found in the combined state as their sulphide or oxide ores.
• The metals at the top of the activity series (K, Na, Ca, Mg and Al) are so reactive that they are never found
in nature as free elements.
• The metals in the middle of the activity series (Zn, Fe, Pb, etc.) are moderately reactive.
• They are found in the earth’s crust mainly as oxides, sulphides or carbonates.
• You will find that the ores of many metals are oxides. This is because oxygen is a very reactive element and
is very abundant on the earth.
• Thus, on the basis of reactivity, we can group the metals into the following three categories (Fig. 3.9) – (i)
Metals of low reactivity; (ii) Metals of medium reactivity; (iii) Metals of high reactivity.
59
Enrichment of Ores

• Ores mined from the earth are usually contaminated with large amounts of impurities such as soil, sand, etc.,
called gangue.
• The impurities must be removed from the ore prior to the extraction of the metal. 60
• The processes used for removing the gangue from the ore are based on the differences between the physical
or chemical properties of the gangue and the ore.

Extracting Metals Low in the Activity Series

• Metals low in the activity series are very unreactive.

• The oxides of these metals can be reduced to metals by heating alone.
• For example, cinnabar (HgS) is an ore of mercury.
• When it is heated in air, it is first converted into mercuric oxide (HgO).
• Mercuric oxide is then reduced to mercury on further heating
• Similarly, copper which is found as Cu2S in nature can be obtained from its ore by just heating in air.

Extracting Metals in the Middle of the Activity Series

• The metals in the middle of the activity series such as iron, zinc, lead, copper, etc., are moderately reactive.
• These are usually present as sulphides or carbonates in nature.
• It is easier to obtain a metal from its oxide, as compared to its sulphides and carbonates.
• Therefore, prior to reduction, the metal sulphides and carbonates must be converted into metal oxides.
• The sulphide ores are converted into oxides by heating strongly in the presence of excess air.This process is
known as roasting.
• The carbonate ores are changed into oxides by heating strongly in limited air. This process is known as cal-
cination.
• The metal oxides are then reduced to the corresponding metals by using suitable reducing agents such as
carbon. For example, when zinc oxide is heated with carbon, it is reduced to metallic zinc.
• Besides using carbon (coke) to reduce metal oxides to metals, sometimes displacement reactions can also
be used.
• The highly reactive metals such as sodium, calcium, aluminium, etc., are used as reducing agents because
they can displace metals of lower reactivity from their compounds.
• These displacement reactions are highly exothermic.
• The amount of heat evolved is so large that the metals are produced in the molten state.
• In fact, the reaction of iron(III) oxide (Fe2O3) with aluminium is used to join railway tracks or cracked machine
parts. This reaction is known as the thermite reaction.

Extracting Metals towards the Top of the Activity Series 61

• The metals high up in the reactivity series are very reactive.

• They cannot be obtained from their compounds by heating with carbon.
• For example, carbon cannot reduce the oxides of sodium, magnesium, calcium, aluminium, etc., to the re-
spective metals. This is because these metals have more affinity for oxygen than carbon.
• These metals are obtained by electrolytic reduction.
• For example, sodium, magnesium and calcium are obtained by the electrolysis of their molten chlorides.
• The metals are deposited at the cathode (the negatively charged electrode), whereas, chlorine is liberated at
the anode (the positively charged electrode).
• Similarly, aluminium is obtained by the electrolytic reduction of aluminium oxide.

5.2.2 Refining of Metals

• The metals produced by various reduction processes described above are not very pure.
• They contain impurities, which must be removed to obtain pure metals.
• The most widely used method for refining impure metals is electrolytic refining.

Electrolytic Refining

• Many metals, such as copper, zinc, tin, nickel, silver, gold, etc., are refined electrolytically.
• In this process, the impure metal is made the anode and a thin strip of pure metal is made the cathode.
• A solution of the metal salt is used as an electrolyte.
• On passing the current through the electrolyte, the pure metal from the anode dissolves into the electrolyte.
• An equivalent amount of pure metal from the electrolyte is deposited on the cathode.
62
• The soluble impurities go into the solution, whereas, the insoluble impurities settle down at the bottom of
the anode and are known as anode mud.

5.3 Corrosion

• Silver articles become black after some time when exposed to air. This is because it reacts with sulphur in the
air to form a coating of silver sulphide.
• When a copper vessel is exposed to moist air for long, it acquires a dull green coating. The green material is
a mixture of copper hydroxide (Cu(OH)2) and copper carbonate (CuCO3).
• Iron when exposed to moist air for a long time acquires a coating of a brown flaky substance called rust.
 63

• In the test tube A, the nails are exposed to both air and water. In the test tube B, the nails are exposed to
only water, and the nails in test tube C are exposed to dry air.
• You will observe that iron nails rust in test tube A, but they do not rust in test tubes B and C.

5.3.1 Prevention of Corrosion

• The rusting of iron can be prevented by painting, oiling, greasing, galvanising, chrome plating, anodising
or making alloys.
• Galvanisation is a method of protecting steel and iron from rusting by coating them with a thin layer of zinc.
• The galvanised article is protected against rusting even if the zinc coating is broken.
• Alloying is a very good method of improving the properties of a metal. We can get the desired properties by
this method.
• For example, iron is the most widely used metal. But it is never used in its pure state. This is because pure
iron is very soft and stretches easily when hot.
• But, if it is mixed with a small amount of carbon (about 0.05 %), it becomes hard and strong.
• When iron is mixed with nickel and chromium, we get stainless steel, which is hard and does not rust.
• An alloy is a homogeneous mixture of two or more metals, or a metal and a non-metal.
• It is prepared by first melting the primary metal, and then, dissolving the other elements in it in definite
proportions. It is then cooled to room temperature.
64
• Pure gold, known as 24 carat gold, is very soft. It is, therefore, not suitable for making jewellery.
• It is alloyed with either silver or copper to make it hard.
• Generally, in India, 22 carat gold is used for making ornaments. It means that 22 parts of pure gold is alloyed
with 2 parts of either copper or silver.
• If one of the metals is mercury, then the alloy is known as an amalgam.
• The electrical conductivity and melting point of an alloy is less than that of pure metals.
• For example, brass, an alloy of copper and zinc (Cu and Zn), and bronze, an alloy of copper and tin (Cu
and Sn), are not good conductors of electricity whereas copper is used for making electrical circuits.
• Solder, an alloy of lead and tin (Pb and Sn), has a low melting point and is used for welding electrical wires
together.

The wonder of ancient Indian metallurgy

• The iron pillar near the Qutub Minar in Delhi was made around 400 BC by the iron workers of India.
• They had developed a process which prevented wrought iron from rusting.
• This is likely because of formation of a thin film of magnetic oxide (Fe3O4) on the surface, as a result of
finishing treatment given to the pillar, painting it with a mixture of different salts, then heating and quenching.

5.4 Summary

• Elements can be classified as metals and non-metals.

• Metals are lustrous, malleable, ductile and are good conductors of heat and electricity. They are solids at
room temperature, except mercury which is a liquid.
• Metals can form positive ions by losing electrons to non-metals.
• Metals combine with oxygen to form basic oxides. Aluminium oxide and zinc oxide show the properties of
both basic as well as acidic oxides. These oxides are known as amphoteric oxides.
• Different metals have different reactivities with water and dilute acids.
• A list of common metals arranged in order of their decreasing reactivity is known as an activity series.
• Metals above hydrogen in the Activity series can displace hydrogen from dilute acids.
• A more reactive metal displaces a less reactive metal from its salt solution.
• Metals occur in nature as free elements or in the form of their compounds.
• The extraction of metals from their ores and then refining them for use is known as metallurgy.
• An alloy is a homogeneous mixture of two or more metals, or a metal and a non-metal.
65
• The surface of some metals, such as iron, is corroded when they are exposed to moist air for a long period
of time. This phenomenon is known as corrosion.
• Non-metals have properties opposite to that of metals. They are neither malleable nor ductile. They are bad
conductors of heat and electricity, except for graphite, which conducts electricity.
• Non-metals form negatively charged ions by gaining electrons when reacting with metals.
• Non-metals form oxides which are either acidic or neutral.
• Non-metals do not displace hydrogen from dilute acids. They react with hydrogen to form hydrides.

5.5 Questions

• Which of the following pairs will give displacement reactions? (a) NaCl solution and copper metal (b) MgCl2
solution and aluminium metal (c) FeSO4 solution and silver metal (d) AgNO3 solution and copper metal.
• Which of the following methods is suitable for preventing an iron frying pan from rusting? (a) Applying grease
(b) Applying paint (c) Applying a coating of zinc (d) All of the above.
• An element reacts with oxygen to give a compound with a high melting point. This compound is also soluble
in water. The element is likely to be (a) calcium (b) carbon (c) silicon (d) iron.
• Food cans are coated with tin and not with zinc because (a) zinc is costlier than tin. (b) zinc has a higher
melting point than tin. (c) zinc is more reactive than tin. (d) zinc is less reactive than tin.
• What are amphoteric oxides? Give two examples of amphoteric oxides.
• In the electrolytic refining of a metal M, what would you take as the anode, the cathode and the electrolyte?
• Give reasons (a) Platinum, gold and silver are used to make jewellery. (b) Sodium, potassium and lithium are
stored under oil. (c) Aluminium is a highly reactive metal, yet it is used to make utensils for cooking. (d)
Carbonate and sulphide ores are usually converted into oxides during the process of extraction.
• You must have seen tarnished copper vessels being cleaned with lemon or tamarind juice. Explain why these
sour substances are effective in cleaning the vessels.
• Give reasons why copper is used to make hot water tanks and not steel (an alloy of iron).

6. Carbon and its Compounds

• The amount of carbon present in the earth’s crust and in the atmosphere is quite meagre.
• The earth’s crust has only 0.02% carbon in the form of minerals (like carbonates, hydrogen carbonates,
coal and petroleum) and the atmosphere has 0.03% of carbon dioxide.

66
6.1 Bonding in carbon – the covalent bond

• Ionic compounds have high melting and boiling points and conduct electricity in solution or in the
molten state.
• Most carbon compounds are poor conductors of electricity.

• From the data on the boiling and melting points of the above compounds, we can conclude that the forces
of attraction between these molecules are not very strong.
• Since these compounds are largely non-conductors of electricity, we can conclude that the bonding in these
compounds does not give rise to any ions.
• The combining capacity of various elements and how it depends on the number of valence electrons.
• The atomic number of carbon is 6.
• We know that the reactivity of elements is explained as their tendency to attain a completely filled outer shell,
that is, attain noble gas configuration.
• Elements forming ionic compounds achieve this by either gaining or losing electrons from the outermost
shell.
• In the case of carbon, it has four electrons in its outermost shell and needs to gain or lose four electrons
to attain noble gas configuration. If it were to gain or lose electrons –
1. It could gain four electrons forming C4– anion. But it would be difficult for the nucleus with six protons to
hold on to ten electrons, that is, four extra electrons.
 2. It could lose four electrons forming C4+ cation. But it would require a large amount of energy to remove
four electrons leaving behind a carbon cation with six protons in its nucleus holding on to just two elec-
trons.
• Carbon overcomes this problem by sharing its valence electrons with other atoms of carbon or with
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atoms of other elements.
• Not just carbon, but many other elements form molecules by sharing electrons in this manner.
• The shared electrons ‘belong’ to the outer shells of both the atoms and lead to both atoms attaining the
noble gas configuration.
• Before going on to compounds of carbon, let us look at some simple molecules formed by the sharing of
valence electrons.
• The simplest molecule formed in this manner is that of hydrogen.

• The atomic number of hydrogen is 1.

• Hence hydrogen has one electron in its K shell and it requires one more electron to fill the K shell.
• So two hydrogen atoms share their electrons to form a molecule of hydrogen, H2.
• This allows each hydrogen atom to attain the electronic configuration of the nearest noble gas, helium.
• The shared pair of electrons is said to constitute a single bond between the two hydrogen atoms.
• A single bond is also represented by a line between the two atoms.
• In the case of oxygen, we see the formation of a double bond between two oxygen atoms.
• This is because an oxygen atom has six electrons in L shell and it requires two electrons to complete its octet.
 68

• The two electrons contributed by each oxygen atom give rise to two shared pairs of electrons. This is said to
constitute a double bond between the two atoms.
• Nitrogen has the atomic number 7. In order to attain an octet, each nitrogen atom in a molecule of nitrogen
contributes three electrons giving rise to three shared pairs of electrons.
• This is said to constitute a triple bond between the two atoms.
• Methane has a formula CH4. Hydrogen has a valency of 1. Carbon is tetravalent.
• In order to achieve noble gas configuration, carbon shares these electrons with four atoms of hydrogen.
 69

• Such bonds which are formed by the sharing of an electron pair between two atoms are known as
covalent bonds.
• Covalently bonded molecules are seen to have strong bonds within the molecule, but intermolecular
forces are small. This gives rise to the low melting and boiling points of these compounds.
• Since the electrons are shared between atoms and no charged particles are formed, such covalent com-
pounds are generally poor conductors of electricity.

6.2 Allotropes of carbon

• The element carbon occurs in different forms in nature with widely varying physical properties.
• Both diamond and graphite are formed by carbon atoms, the difference lies in the manner in which the
carbon atoms are bonded to one another.
• In diamond, each carbon atom is bonded to four other carbon atoms forming a rigid three-dimensional
structure.
• In graphite, each carbon atom is bonded to three other carbon atoms in the same plane giving a hexagonal
array.
• One of these bonds is a double-bond, and thus the valency of carbon is satisfied.
• Graphite structure is formed by the hexagonal arrays being placed in layers one above the other.
 70

• These two different structures result in diamond and graphite having very different physical properties
even though their chemical properties are the same.
• Diamond is the hardest substance known while graphite is smooth and slippery.
• Graphite is also a very good conductor of electricity unlike other non-metals.
• Diamonds can be synthesised by subjecting pure carbon to very high pressure and temperature.
• These synthetic diamonds are small but are otherwise indistinguishable from natural diamonds.
• Fullerenes form another class of carbon allotropes.
• The first one to be identified was C-60 which has carbon atoms arranged in the shape of a football.

6.3 Versatile nature of carbon

• The numbers of carbon compounds whose formulae are known was estimated to be about three million!
• This outnumbers by a large margin the compounds formed by all the other elements put together.
• The nature of the covalent bond enables carbon to form a large number of compounds.

6.3.1 Catenation

• Carbon has the unique ability to form bonds with other atoms of carbon, giving rise to large molecules.
• This property is called catenation.
• These compounds may have long chains of carbon, branched chains of carbon or even carbon atoms ar-
ranged in rings. In addition, carbon atoms may be linked by single, double or triple bonds.
• Compounds of carbon, which are linked by only single bonds between the carbon atoms are called satu-
rated compounds.
• Compounds of carbon having double or triple bonds between their carbon atoms are called unsaturated
compounds.
• No other element exhibits the property of catenation to the extent seen in carbon compounds.
• Silicon forms compounds with hydrogen which have chains of upto seven or eight atoms, but these com-
pounds are very reactive.
• The carbon-carbon bond is very strong and hence stable.
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• This gives us the large number of compounds with many carbon atoms linked to each other.

6.3.2 Tetravalency

• Since carbon has a valency of four, it is capable of bonding with four other atoms of carbon or atoms of some
other mono-valent element.
• Compounds of carbon are formed with oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur, chlorine, etc. giving rise to com-
pounds with specific properties which depend on the elements other than carbon present in the molecule.
• Again, the bonds that carbon forms with most other elements are very strong making these compounds
exceptionally stable.
• One reason for the formation of strong bonds by carbon is its small size. This enables the nucleus to
hold on to the shared pairs of electrons strongly.
• The bonds formed by elements having larger atoms are much weaker.

6.4 Organic compounds

• The two characteristic features seen in carbon, that is, tetravalency and catenation, put together give rise
to a large number of compounds.
• Many have the same non-carbon atom or group of atoms attached to different carbon chains.
• These compounds were initially extracted from natural substances and it was thought that these carbon
compounds or organic compounds could only be formed within a living system.
• Friedrich Wöhler disproved this in 1828 by preparing urea from ammonium cyanate.
• But carbon compounds, except for oxides of carbon, carbonate and hydrogen carbonate salts continue to be
studied under organic chemistry.

6.5 Saturated and Unsaturated Carbon Compounds

• In order to arrive at the structure of simple carbon compounds, the first step is to link the carbon atoms
together with a single bond and then use the hydrogen atoms to satisfy the remaining valencies of carbon.
• For example, the structure of ethane is arrived in the following steps
• Figure 4.6 (a) Carbon atoms linked together with a single bond Three valencies of each carbon atom remain
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unsatisfied, so each is bonded to three hydrogen atoms giving:

• You will see that the valencies of all the atoms are satisfied by single bonds between them.
• Such carbon compounds are called saturated compounds.
• These compounds are normally not very reactive.
• However, another compound of carbon and hydrogen has the formula C2H4 and is called ethene.
• How can this molecule be depicted? We follow the same step-wise approach as above.
• Each carbon atom gets two hydrogen atoms to give – We see that one valency per carbon atom remains
unsatisfied. This can be satisfied only if there is a double bond between the two carbons giving us –
 73

• Yet another compound of hydrogen and carbon has the formula C2H2 and is called ethyne.

• Such compounds of carbon having double or triple bonds between the carbon atoms are known as unsatu-
rated carbon compounds and they are more reactive than the saturated carbon compounds.

6.6 Chains, Branches and Rings

• In the earlier section, we mentioned the carbon compounds methane, ethane and propane, containing re-
spectively 1, 2 and 3 carbon atoms.
• Such ‘chains’ of carbon atoms can contain tens of carbon atoms.
• The names and structures of six of these are given in Table 4.2
 74

• But, let us take another look at butane. If we make the carbon ‘skeleton’ with four carbon atoms, we see that
two different ‘skeletons’ are possible –
 75

• We see that both these structures have the same formula C4H10.
• Such compounds with identical molecular formula but different structures are called structural isomers.
• In addition to straight and branched carbon chains, some compounds have carbon atoms arranged in the
form of a ring. For example, cyclohexane has the formula C6H12 and the following structure –

• Straight chain, branched chain and cyclic carbon compounds, all may be saturated or unsaturated.
• For example, benzene, C6H6, has the following structure –

• All these carbon compounds which contain just carbon and hydrogen are called hydrocarbons.
 Among these, the saturated hydrocarbons are called alkanes.
 The unsaturated hydrocarbons which contain one or more double bonds are called alkenes.
  Those containing one or more triple bonds are called alkynes.

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6.7 Functional groups

• Carbon also forms bonds with other elements such as halogens, oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur.
• In a hydrocarbon chain, one or more hydrogens can be replaced by these elements, such that the valency
of carbon remains satisfied.
• In such compounds, the element replacing hydrogen is referred to as a heteroatom.
• These heteroatoms confer specific properties to the compound, regardless of the length and nature of the
carbon chain and hence are called functional groups.

• Free valency or valencies of the group are shown by the single line.
• The functional group is attached to the carbon chain through this valency by replacing one hydrogen atom
or atoms.

6.8 Homologous Series

• The presence of a functional group such as alcohol dictates the properties of the carbon compound,
regardless of the length of the carbon chain.
• For example, the chemical properties of CH3OH, C2H5OH, C3H7OH and C4H9OH are all very similar.
• Hence, such a series of compounds in which the same functional group substitutes for hydrogen in a carbon
chain is called a homologous series.
• Let us look at the homologous series that we saw earlier in Table 4.2. If we look at the formulae of successive
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compounds, say –

• The difference between the next pair – propane and butane (C4H10) is also a –CH2–unit.
• Similarly, take the homologous series for alkenes. The first member of the series is ethene.
• The succeeding members have the formula C3H6, C4H8 and C5H10. These also differ by a –CH2–unit.
• Hence, the general formula for alkenes can be written as CnH2n, where n = 2, 3, 4.
• Similarly, the general formula for alkanes and alkynes is CnH2n+2 and CnH2n-1, respectively.

• As the molecular mass increases in any homologous series, a gradation in physical properties is seen.
• This is because the melting points and boiling points increase with increasing molecular mass.
• Other physical properties such as solubility in a particular solvent also show a similar gradation.
• But the chemical properties, which are determined solely by the functional group, remain similar in a
homologous series.

6.9 Nomenclature of Carbon Compounds

• The names of compounds in a homologous series are based on the name of the basic carbon chain modified
by a “prefix” “phrase before” or “suffix” “phrase after” indicating the nature of the functional group.
• For example, the names of the alcohols are methanol, ethanol, propanol and butanol.
• Naming a carbon compound can be done by the following method –
1. Identify the number of carbon atoms in the compound. A compound having three carbon atoms would
have the name propane.
2. In case a functional group is present, it is indicated in the name of the compound with either a prefix or
a suffix (as given in Table 4.4).
3. If the name of the functional group is to be given as a suffix, the name of the carbon chain is modified by
deleting the final ‘e’ and adding the appropriate suffix. For example, a three-carbon chain with a ketone
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group would be named in the following manner – Propane – ‘e’ = propan + ‘one’ = propanone.
4. If the carbon chain is unsaturated, then the final ‘ane’ in the name of the carbon chain is substituted by
‘ene’ or ‘yne’ as given in Table 4.4. For example, a three-carbon chain with a double bond would be called
propene and if it has a triple bond, it would be called propyne.
 79

6.10 Combustion of Carbon

• Carbon, in all its allotropic forms, burns in oxygen to give carbon dioxide along with the release of heat and
light.
• Most carbon compounds also release a large amount of heat and light on burning.
• These are the oxidation reactions –

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• Saturated hydrocarbons will generally give a clean flame while unsaturated carbon compounds will
give a yellow flame with lots of black smoke. This results in a sooty deposit on the metal plate.
• However, limiting the supply of air results in incomplete combustion of even saturated hydrocarbons
giving a sooty flame.
• The gas/kerosene stove used at home has inlets for air so that a sufficiently oxygen-rich mixture is burnt to
give a clean blue flame.
• If you observe the bottoms of cooking vessels getting blackened, it means that the air holes are blocked and
fuel is getting wasted.
• Fuels such as coal and petroleum have some amount of nitrogen and sulphur in them.
• Their combustion results in the formation of oxides of sulphur and nitrogen which are major pollutants.

Why do substances burn with or without a flame?

• A candle or the LPG in the gas stove burns with a flame.

• However, coal or charcoal sometimes just glows red and gives out heat without a flame.
• This is because a flame is only produced when gaseous substances burn.
• When charcoal is ignited, the volatile substances present vaporise and burn with a flame in the beginning.
• A luminous flame is seen when the atoms of the gaseous substance are heated and start to glow.
• The colour produced by each element is a characteristic property of that element.

6.11 Formation of coal and petroleum

• Coal and petroleum have been formed from biomass which has been subjected to various biological and
geological processes.
• Coal is the remains of trees, ferns, and other plants that lived millions of years ago.
• These were crushed into the earth, perhaps by earthquakes or volcanic eruptions.
• They were pressed down by layers of earth and rock. They slowly decayed into coal.
• Oil and gas are the remains of millions of tiny plants and animals that lived in the sea.
• When they died, their bodies sank to the seabed and were covered by silt.
• Bacteria attacked the dead remains, turning them into oil and gas under the high pressures they were being
subjected to.
• Meanwhile, the silt was slowly compressed into rock.
• The oil and gas seeped into the porous parts of the rock and got trapped like water in a sponge.
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6.12 Reactions in Carbon Compounds

6.12.1 Oxidation

• Carbon compounds can be easily oxidised on combustion.

• In addition to complete oxidation, we have reactions in which alcohols are converted to carboxylic acids –

• We see that some substances are capable of adding oxygen to others. These substances are known as oxi-
dising agents.
• Alkaline potassium permanganate or acidified potassium dichromate are oxidising alcohols to acids, that is,
adding oxygen to the starting material. Hence, they are known as oxidising agents.

6.12.2 Addition Reaction

• Unsaturated hydrocarbons add hydrogen in the presence of catalysts such as palladium or nickel to give
saturated hydrocarbons.
• Catalysts are substances that cause a reaction to occur or proceed at a different rate without the reaction
itself being affected.
• This reaction is commonly used in the hydrogenation of vegetable oils using a nickel catalyst.
• Vegetable oils generally have long unsaturated carbon chains while animal fats have saturated carbon
chains.
• You must have seen advertisements stating that some vegetable oils are ‘healthy’.
• Animal fats generally contain saturated fatty acids which are said to be harmful for health.
• Oils containing unsaturated fatty acids should be chosen for cooking.

6.12.3 Substitution Reaction

• Saturated hydrocarbons are fairly unreactive and are inert in the presence of most reagents.
• However, in the presence of sunlight, chlorine is added to hydrocarbons in a very fast reaction.
• Chlorine can replace the hydrogen atoms one by one.
• It is called a substitution reaction because one type of atom or a group of atoms takes the place of another.
• A number of products are usually formed with the higher homologues of alkanes.
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6.13 Some important carbon compounds – ethanol and ethanoic acid

• Ethanol is a liquid at room temperature.

• Ethanol is commonly called alcohol and is the active ingredient of all alcoholic drinks.
• In addition, because it is a good solvent, it is also used in medicines such as tincture iodine, cough syrups,
and many tonics.
• Ethanol is also soluble in water in all proportions.
• Consumption of small quantities of dilute ethanol causes drunkenness.
• However, intake of even a small quantity of pure ethanol (called absolute alcohol) can be lethal.

6.13.1 Reactions of Ethanol

Reaction with sodium –

• Alcohols react with sodium leading to the evolution of hydrogen.

• With ethanol, the other product is sodium ethoxide.

Reaction to give unsaturated hydrocarbon

• Heating ethanol at 443 K with excess concentrated sulphuric acid results in the dehydration of ethanol to
give ethene –

• The concentrated sulphuric acid can be regarded as a dehydrating agent which removes water from ethanol.

6.13.2 How do alcohols affect living beings?

• When large quantities of ethanol are consumed, it tends to slow metabolic processes and to depress the
central nervous system.
• This results in lack of coordination, drowsiness, lowering of the normal inhibitions, and finally stupor.
• The individual may feel relaxed but does not realise that his sense of judgement, sense of timing, and mus-
83
cular coordination has been seriously impaired.
• Unlike ethanol, intake of methanol in very small quantities can cause death.
• Methanol is oxidised to methanal in the liver. Methanal reacts rapidly with the components of cells.
• It causes the protoplasm to get coagulated, in much the same way an egg is coagulated by cooking.
• Methanol also affects the optic nerve, causing blindness.
• Ethanol is an important industrial solvent.
• To prevent the misuse of ethanol produced for industrial use, it is made unfit for drinking by adding poison-
ous substances like methanol to it.
• Dyes are also added to colour the alcohol blue so that it can be identified easily. This is called denatured
alcohol.

6.13.3 Alcohol as a fuel

• Sugarcane plants are one of the most efficient convertors of sunlight into chemical energy.
• Sugarcane juice can be used to prepare molasses which is fermented to give alcohol (ethanol).
• Some countries now use alcohol as an additive in petrol since it is a cleaner fuel which gives rise to only
carbon dioxide and water on burning in sufficient air (oxygen).

6.13.4 Properties of Ethanoic Acid

• Ethanoic acid is commonly called acetic acid and belongs to a group of acids called carboxylic acids.
• 5-8% solution of acetic acid in water is called vinegar and is used widely as a preservative in pickles.
• The melting point of pure ethanoic acid is 290 K and hence it often freezes during winter in cold climates.
• This gave rise to its name glacial acetic acid.
• The group of organic compounds called carboxylic acids are obviously characterised by a special acidity.
• However, unlike mineral acids like HCl, which are completely ionised, carboxylic acids are weak acids.

6.13.5 Reactions of ethanoic acid:

Esterification reaction
• Esters are most commonly formed by reaction of an acid and an alcohol.
• Ethanoic acid reacts with absolute ethanol in the presence of an acid catalyst to give an ester –

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• Esters are sweet-smelling substances. These are used in making perfumes and as flavouring agents.
• Esters react in the presence of an acid or a base to give back the alcohol and carboxylic acid. This reaction
is known as saponification because it is used in the preparation of soap.

Reaction with a base

• Like mineral acids, ethanoic acid reacts with a base such as sodium hydroxide to give a salt (sodium ethanoate
or commonly called sodium acetate) and water.

Reaction with carbonates and hydrogen carbonates:

• Ethanoic acid reacts with carbonates and hydrogen carbonates to give rise to a salt, carbon dioxide and water.
• The salt produced is commonly called sodium acetate.

6.14 Soaps and detergents

• Most dirt is oily in nature and as you know, oil does not dissolve in water.
• The molecules of soap are sodium or potassium salts of long-chain carboxylic acids.
• The ionic-end of soap dissolves in water while the carbon chain dissolves in oil.
• The soap molecules, thus form structures called micelles where one end of the molecules is towards the oil
droplet while the ionic-end faces outside. This forms an emulsion in water.
• The soap micelle thus helps in dissolving the dirt in water and we can wash our clothes clean.

6.14.1 How soaps work?

• Soaps are molecules in which the two ends have differing properties, one is hydrophilic, that is, it dissolves
in water, while the other end is hydrophobic, that is, it dissolves in hydrocarbons.
• When soap is at the surface of water, the hydrophobic ‘tail’ of soap will not be soluble in water and the soap
will align along the surface of water with the ionic end in water and the hydrocarbon ‘tail’ protruding out of
water.
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• Inside water these molecules have a unique orientation that keeps the hydrocarbon portion out of the water.
• This is achieved by forming clusters of molecules in which the hydrophobic tails are in the interior of the
cluster and the ionic ends are on the surface of the cluster. This formation is called a micelle.
• Soap is able to clean, since the oily dirt will be collected in the centre of the micelle.
• The micelles stay in solution as a colloid and will not come together to precipitate because of ion-ion repul-
sion. Thus, the dirt suspended in the micelles is also easily rinsed away.
• The soap micelles are large enough to scatter light. Hence a soap solution appears cloudy.

Scum
• Have you ever observed while bathing that foam is formed with difficulty and an insoluble substance (scum)
remains after washing with water?
• This is caused by the reaction of soap with the calcium and magnesium salts, which cause the hardness
of water.
86
• Hence you need to use a larger amount of soap.
• This problem is overcome by using another class of compounds called detergents as cleansing agents.
• Detergents are generally ammonium or sulphonate salts of long chain carboxylic acids.
• The charged ends of these compounds do not form insoluble precipitates with the calcium and magnesium
ions in hard water. Thus, they remain effective in hard water.
• Detergents are usually used to make shampoos and products for cleaning clothes.

6.15 Summary

• Carbon is a versatile element that forms the basis for all living organisms and many of the things we use.
• This large variety of compounds is formed by carbon because of its tetravalency and the property of cate-
nation that it exhibits.
• Covalent bonds are formed by the sharing of electrons between two atoms so that both can achieve a
completely filled outermost shell.
• Carbon forms covalent bonds with itself and other elements such as hydrogen, oxygen, sulphur, nitrogen and
chlorine.
• Carbon also forms compounds containing double and triple bonds between carbon atoms. These carbon
chains may be in the form of straight chains, branched chains or rings.
• The ability of carbon to form chains gives rise to a homologous series of compounds in which the same
functional group is attached to carbon chains of different lengths.
• The functional groups such as alcohols, aldehydes, ketones and carboxylic acids bestow characteristic
properties to the carbon compounds that contain them.
• Carbon and its compounds are some of our major sources of fuels.
• Ethanol and ethanoic acid are carbon compounds of importance in our daily lives.
• The action of soaps and detergents is based on the presence of both hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups in
the molecule and this helps to emulsify the oily dirt and hence its removal.

6.16 Questions
• Ethane, with the molecular formula C2H6 has (a) 6 covalent bonds. (b) 7 covalent bonds. (c) 8 covalent bonds.
(d) 9 covalent bonds
• Butanone is a four-carbon compound with the functional group (a) carboxylic acid. (b) aldehyde. (c) ketone.
(d) alcohol.
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• While cooking, if the bottom of the vessel is getting blackened on the outside, it means that (a) the food is
not cooked completely. (b) the fuel is not burning completely. (c) the fuel is wet. (d) the fuel is burning
completely
• What is an homologous series? Explain with an example.
• How can ethanol and ethanoic acid be differentiated on the basis of their physical and chemical properties?
• What is hydrogenation? What is its industrial application?
• Which of the following hydrocarbons undergo addition reactions: C2H6, C3H8, C3H6, C2H2 and CH4?

7. Chemistry in everyday life

• Drugs are chemicals of low molecular masses (~100 – 500u) interact with macromolecular targets and pro-
duce a biological response.
• When the biological response is therapeutic and useful, these chemicals are called medicines and are used
in diagnosis, prevention and treatment of diseases.
• Use of chemicals for therapeutic effect is called chemotherapy.
• If taken in doses higher than those recommended, most of the drugs used as medicines are potential poisons.
• Barium Sulphate is insoluble and can be used as an X-ray contrast medium.
• Barium Sulphite (or Sulphite) on the other hand is water soluble and poisonous.

7.1 Classification of Drugs

On the basis of pharmacological effect

• This classification is based on pharmacological effect of the drugs.

• For example, analgesics have pain killing effect, antiseptics kill or arrest the growth of microorganisms.

On the basis of drug action

• It is based on the action of a drug on a particular biochemical process.

• E.g. All antihistamines inhibit the action of the compound histamine which causes inflammation.
On the basis of chemical structure

• It is based on the chemical structure of the drug.

• Drugs classified in this way share common structural features and often have similar pharmacological activity.

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On the basis of molecular targets

• Drugs usually interact with biomolecules such as carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids.
• These are called target molecules or drug targets.
• Drugs possessing some common structural features may have the same mechanism of action on targets.
• The classification based on molecular targets is the most useful classification for medicinal chemists.

Macromolecules of biological origin perform various functions in the body.

• For example, proteins which perform the role of biological catalysts in the body are called enzymes, those
which are crucial to communication system in the body are called receptors.
• Carrier proteins carry polar molecules across the cell membrane.
• Nucleic acids have coded genetic information for the cell.
• Lipids and carbohydrates are structural parts of the cell membrane.

7.1.2 Antacids

• Over production of acid in the stomach causes irritation and pain.

• In severe cases, ulcers are developed in the stomach.
• Until 1970, only treatment for acidity was administration of antacids, such as sodium hydrogen carbonate
or a mixture of aluminium and magnesium hydroxide.
• However, excessive hydrogen carbonate can make the stomach alkaline and trigger the production of even
more acid.
• Metal hydroxides are better alternatives because of being insoluble, these do not increase the pH above
neutrality.
• These treatments control only symptoms, and not the cause.
• Therefore, with these metal salts, the patients cannot be treated easily.
• In advanced stages, ulcers become life threatening and the affected part of the stomach needs to be removed.

7.1.3 Antihistamines
• A major breakthrough in the treatment of hyperacidity came through the discovery according to which a
chemical, histamine, stimulates the secretion of pepsin and hydrochloric acid in the stomach.
• The drug cimetidine (Tegamet), was designed to prevent the interaction of histamine with the receptors
present in the stomach wall. This resulted in release of lesser amount of acid.
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• The importance of the drug was so much that it remained the largest selling drug in the world until another
drug, ranitidine (Zantac), was discovered.
• Histamine is a potent vasodilator. It has various functions.
• It contracts the smooth muscles in the bronchi and gut and relaxes other muscles, such as those in the walls
of fine blood vessels.
• Histamine is also responsible for the nasal congestion associated with common cold and allergic response
to pollen.
• Synthetic drugs, brompheniramine (Dimetapp) and terfenadine (Seldane), act as antihistamines.

7.1.4 Neurologically Active Drugs: Tranquilizers

• Tranquilizers and analgesics are neurologically active drugs.

• These affect the message transfer mechanism from nerve to receptor.
• Tranquilizers are a class of chemical compounds used for the treatment of stress, and mild or even severe
mental diseases.
• These relieve anxiety, stress, irritability or excitement by inducing a sense of well-being.
• They form an essential component of sleeping pills.
• There are various types of tranquilizers. They function by different mechanisms.
• For example, noradrenaline is one of the neurotransmitters that plays a role in mood changes.
• If the level of noradrenaline is low for some reason, then the signal-sending activity becomes low, and the
person suffers from depression.
• In such situations, antidepressant drugs are required.
• These drugs inhibit the enzymes which catalyse the degradation of noradrenaline.
• If the enzyme is inhibited, this important neurotransmitter is slowly metabolised and can activate its receptor
for longer periods of time, thus counteracting the effect of depression.
• Iproniazid and phenelzine are two such drugs.
• Some tranquilizers namely, chlordiazepoxide and meprobamate, are relatively mild tranquilizers suitable for
relieving tension.
• Equanil is used in controlling depression and hypertension.
• Derivatives of barbituric acid constitute an important class of tranquilizers.
• These derivatives are called barbiturates. Barbiturates are hypnotic, i.e., sleep producing agents.

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7.1.5 Analgesics

• Analgesics reduce or abolish pain without causing impairment of consciousness, mental confusion, inco-
ordination or paralysis or some other disturbances of nervous system.
• These are classified as follows: (i) Non-narcotic (non-addictive) analgesics (ii) Narcotic drugs

Non-narcotic (non-addictive) analgesics

• Aspirin and paracetamol belong to the class of non-narcotic analgesics.

• Aspirin is the most familiar example.
• Aspirin inhibits the synthesis of chemicals known as prostaglandins which stimulate inflammation in the tissue
and cause pain.
• These drugs are effective in relieving skeletal pain such as that due to arthritis.
• These drugs have many other effects such as reducing fever (antipyretic) and preventing platelet coagu-
lation.
• Because of its anti-blood clotting action, aspirin finds use in prevention of heart attacks.

Narcotic analgesics

• Morphine and many of its homologues, when administered in medicinal doses, relieve pain and produce
sleep. In poisonous doses, these produce stupor, coma, convulsions and ultimately death.
• Morphine narcotics are sometimes referred to as opiates, since they are obtained from the opium poppy.
• These analgesics are chiefly used for the relief of postoperative pain, cardiac pain and pains of terminal can-
cer, and in childbirth.

7.1.6 Antimicrobials

• Diseases in human beings and animals may be caused by a variety of microorganisms such as bacteria, virus,
fungi and other pathogens.
• An antimicrobial tends to destroy/prevent development or inhibit the pathogenic action of microbes such as
bacteria (antibacterial drugs), fungi (antifungal agents), virus (antiviral agents), or other parasites (antiparasitic
drugs) selectively.
• Antibiotics, antiseptics and disinfectants are antimicrobial drug
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Antibiotics

• An antibiotic now refers to a substance produced wholly or partly by chemical synthesis, which in low
concentrations inhibits the growth or destroys microbes by intervening in their metabolic processes.
• The real revolution in antibacterial therapy began with the discovery of Alexander Fleming in 1929, of the
antibacterial properties of a Penicillium fungus.
• Isolation and purification of active compound to accumulate sufficient material for clinical trials took thirteen
years.
• Antibiotics have either cidal (killing) effect or a static (inhibitory) effect on microbes.
• A few examples of the two types of antibiotics are as follows:

• Chloramphenicol, isolated in 1947, is a broad spectrum antibiotic.

• It is rapidly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract and hence can be given orally in case of typhoid, dysen-
tery, acute fever, certain form of urinary infections, meningitis and pneumonia.
• Vancomycin and ofloxacin are the other important broad spectrum antibiotics.
• The antibiotic dysidazirine is supposed to be toxic towards certain strains of cancer cells.

7.1.7 Antiseptics and disinfectants

• Antiseptics and disinfectants are also the chemicals which either kill or prevent the growth of microorganisms.
• Antiseptics are applied to the living tissues such as wounds, cuts, ulcers and diseased skin surfaces.
• Examples are furacine, soframicine, etc. These are not ingested like antibiotics.
• Commonly used antiseptic, Dettol is a mixture of chloroxylenol and terpineol.
• Bithionol (the compound is also called bithional) is added to soaps to impart antiseptic properties.
• Iodine is a powerful antiseptic. Its 2-3% solution in alcohol water mixture is known as tincture of iodine.
• It is applied on wounds. Iodoform is also used as an antiseptic for wounds.
• Boric acid in dilute aqueous solution is weak antiseptic for eyes.
• Disinfectants are applied to inanimate objects such as floors, drainage system, instruments, etc.
92
• Same substances can act as an antiseptic as well as disinfectant by varying the concentration.
• For example, 0.2 per cent solution of phenol is an antiseptic while its one percent solution is disinfectant.
• Chlorine in the concentration of 0.2 to 0.4 ppm in aqueous solution and sulphur dioxide in very low concen-
trations, are disinfectants.

7.1.8 Antifertility drugs

• Birth control pills essentially contain a mixture of synthetic estrogen and progesterone derivatives.
• Both of these compounds are hormones. It is known that progesterone suppresses ovulation.
• Synthetic progesterone derivatives are more potent than progesterone.
• Norethindrone is an example of synthetic progesterone derivative most widely used as antifertility drug.
• The estrogen derivative which is used in combination with progesterone derivative is ethynylestradiol
(novestrol).

7.2 Chemicals in Foods

• Chemicals are added to food for (i) their preservation, (ii) enhancing their appeal, and (iii) adding nutritive
value in them.
• Main categories of food additives are as follows: (i) Food colours (ii) Flavours and sweeteners (iii) Fat emulsi-
fiers and stabilising agents (iv) Flour improvers - antistaling agents and bleaches (v) Antioxidants (vi) Preserv-
atives (vii) Nutritional supplements such as minerals, vitamins and amino acids.

7.2.1 Artificial Sweetening Agents

• Natural sweeteners, e.g., sucrose add to calorie intake and therefore many people prefer to use artificial
sweeteners.
• Ortho-sulphobenzimide, also called saccharin, is the first popular artificial sweetening agent.
• Aspartame is the most successful and widely used artificial sweetener.
• It is roughly 100 times as sweet as cane sugar.
• Use of aspartame is limited to cold foods and soft drinks because it is unstable at cooking temperature.
• Alitame is high potency sweetener, although it is more stable than aspartame, the control of sweetness of
food is difficult while using it.
• Sucrolose is trichloro derivative of sucrose. Its appearance and taste are like sugar. It is stable at cooking
temperature. It does not provide calories.
93

7.2.2 Food Preservatives

• Food preservatives prevent spoilage of food due to microbial growth.

• The most commonly used preservatives include table salt, sugar, vegetable oils and sodium benzoate.
• Sodium benzoate is used in limited quantities and is metabolised in the body.
• Salts of sorbic acid and propanoic acid are also used as preservatives.

7.3 Soaps and detergents

• Two types of detergents are used as cleansing agents. These are soaps and synthetic detergents.
• These improve cleansing properties of water. These help in removal of fats which bind other materials to the
fabric or skin.
• Soaps are the detergents used since long. Soaps used for cleaning purpose are sodium or potassium salts
of long chain fatty acids, e.g., stearic, oleic and palmitic acids.
• Soaps containing sodium salts are formed by heating fat with aqueous sodium hydroxide solution. This re-
action is known as saponification.
• In this reaction, esters of fatty acids are hydrolysed and the soap obtained remains in colloidal form.
• It is precipitated from the solution by adding sodium chloride.
• The solution left after removing the soap contains glycerol, which can be recovered by fractional distillation.
• Only sodium and potassium soaps are soluble in water and are used for cleaning purposes.
• Generally, potassium soaps are soft to the skin than sodium soaps.

7.3.1 Soaps

• Basically, all soaps are made by boiling fats or oils with suitable soluble hydroxide.
• Variations are made by using different raw materials.
• Toilet soaps are prepared by using better grades of fats and oils and care is taken to remove excess alkali.
• Colour and perfumes are added to make these more attractive.
• Soaps that float in water are made by beating tiny air bubbles before their hardening.
• Transparent soaps are made by dissolving the soap in ethanol and then evaporating the excess solvent.
• In medicated soaps, substances of medicinal value are added. In some soaps, deodorants are added.
• Shaving soaps contain glycerol to prevent rapid drying.

Why do soaps not work in hard water? 94

• Hard water contains calcium and magnesium ions.

• These ions form insoluble calcium and magnesium soaps respectively when sodium or potassium soaps are
dissolved in hard water.
• These insoluble soaps separate as scum in water and are useless as cleansing agent.
• In fact, these are hinderance to good washing, because the precipitate adheres onto the fibre of the cloth.
• Hair washed with hard water looks dull because of this sticky precipitate.
• Dye does not absorb evenly on cloth washed with soap using hard water, because of this gummy mass.

7.3.2 Synthetic Detergents

• Synthetic detergents are cleansing agents which have all the properties of soaps, but which actually do not
contain any soap.
• These can be used both in soft and hard water as they give foam even in hard water.
• Some of the detergents give foam even in ice cold water.
• Synthetic detergents are mainly classified into three categories:
1. Anionic detergents
2. Cationic detergents and
3. Non-ionic detergents
4. Anionic Detergents

Anionic detergents

• Anionic detergents are sodium salts of sulphonated long chain alcohols or hydrocarbons.
• In anionic detergents, the anionic part of the molecule is involved in the cleansing action.
• Sodium salts of alkylbenzenesulphonates are an important class of anionic detergents.
• They are mostly used for household work. Anionic detergents are also used in toothpastes.

Cationic Detergents

• Cationic part possesses a long hydrocarbon chain and a positive charge on nitrogen atom.
• Hence, these are called cationic detergents.
• Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide is a popular cationic detergent and is used in hair conditioners.
• Cationic detergents have germicidal properties and are expensive, therefore, these are of limited use.

Non-ionic Detergents 95

• Non-ionic detergents do not contain any ion in their constitution.

• One such detergent is formed when stearic acid reacts with polyethyleneglycol.
• Liquid dishwashing detergents are non-ionic type.
• Mechanism of cleansing action of this type of detergents is the same as that of soaps. These also remove
grease and oil by micelle formation.
• Main problem that appears in the use of detergents is that if their hydrocarbon chain is highly branched, then
bacteria cannot degrade this easily.
• Slow degradation of detergents leads to their accumulation.
• Effluents containing such detergents reach the rivers, ponds, etc. These persist in water even after sewage
treatment and cause foaming in rivers, ponds and streams and their water gets polluted.
• These days the branching of the hydrocarbon chain is controlled and kept to the minimum.
• Unbranched chains can be biodegraded more easily and hence pollution is prevented.

8. Periodic Table

8.1 Mendeléev’s Periodic Table

• The main credit for classifying elements goes to Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeléev, a Russian chemist.
• He was the most important contributor to the early development of a Periodic Table of elements wherein the
elements were arranged on the basis of their fundamental property, the atomic mass.
• Mendeléev formulated a Periodic Law, which states that ‘the properties of elements are the periodic func-
tion of their atomic masses’.

8.1.1 Achievements of Mendeléev’s Periodic Table

• Mendeléev boldly predicted the existence of some elements that had not been discovered at that time.
• This provided convincing evidence for both the correctness and usefulness of Mendeléev’s Periodic Table.
• Noble gases like helium (He), neon (Ne) and argon (Ar) have been mentioned in many a context before this.
• These gases were discovered very late because they are very inert and present in extremely low concentra-
tions in our atmosphere.
• One of the strengths of Mendeléev’s Periodic Table was that, when these gases were discovered, they could
be placed in a new group without disturbing the existing order.
96

8.1.2 Limitations of Mendeléev’s Classification

• Electronic configuration of hydrogen resembles that of alkali metals.

• Like alkali metals, hydrogen combines with halogens, oxygen and sulphur to form compounds having similar
formulae, as shown in the examples here.
• On the other hand, just like halogens, hydrogen also exists as diatomic molecules and it combines with metals
and non-metals to form covalent compounds.
• Certainly, no fixed position can be given to hydrogen in the Periodic Table. This was the first limitation of
Mendeléev’s Periodic Table.
• Isotopes were discovered long after Mendeléev had proposed his periodic classification of elements.
• Thus, isotopes of all elements posed a challenge to Mendeleev’s Periodic Law.
 97

8.2 Modern Periodic Table

• In 1913, Henry Moseley showed that the atomic number of an element is a more fundamental property
than its atomic mass as described below.
• Accordingly, Mendeléev’s Periodic Law was modified and atomic number was adopted as the basis of Modern
Periodic Table and the Modern Periodic Law can be stated as follows: ‘Properties of elements are a periodic
function of their atomic number.’
• Let us recall that the atomic number gives us the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom and this
number increases by one in going from one element to the next.
• Elements, when arranged in order of increasing atomic number Z, lead us to the classification known as the
Modern Periodic Table (Table 5.6).
• Prediction of properties of elements could be made with more precision when elements were arranged on
the basis of increasing atomic number
• Modern Periodic Table overcomes the limitations of Mendléev’s Periodic Table.

98
8.2.1 Position of Elements in the Modern Periodic Table

• The Modern Periodic Table has

1) 18 vertical columns known as ‘groups’ and
2) 7 horizontal rows known as ‘periods’.

• Elements present in any one group have the same number of valence electrons.
• Hence, we can say that groups in the Periodic Table signify an identical outershell electronic configuration.
• On the other hand, the number of shells increases as we go down the group.
• The number of valence shell electrons increases by one unit, as the atomic number increases by one unit on
moving from left to right in a period.
• Or we can say that atoms of different elements with the same number of occupied shells are placed in the
same period.
99
• Each period marks a new electronic shell getting filled.
• The position of an element in the Periodic Table tells us about its chemical reactivity. As you have learnt, the
valence electrons determine the kind and number of bonds formed by an element.

8.3 Trends in the Modern Periodic Table

• Valency: As you know, the valency of an element is determined by the number of valence electrons present
in the outermost shell of its atom.
• Atomic size: The term atomic size refers to the radius of an atom. The atomic size may be visualised as the
distance between the centre of the nucleus and the outermost shell of an isolated atom.
• The atomic radius of hydrogen atom is 37 pm (picometre, 1 pm = 10–12 m).
• You will see that the atomic radius decreases in moving from left to right along a period.
• This is due to an increase in nuclear charge which tends to pull the electrons closer to the nucleus and
reduces the size of the atom.
• You will see that the atomic size increases down the group.
• This is because new shells are being added as we go down the group.
• This increases the distance between the outermost electrons and the nucleus so that the atomic size increases
in spite of the increase in nuclear charge.

8.4 Metallic and Non-metallic Properties

• As we can see, the metals like Na and Mg are towards the left-hand side of the Periodic Table while the non-
metals like sulphur and chlorine are found on the right-hand side.
• In the middle, we have silicon, which is classified as a semi-metal or metalloid because it exhibits some
properties of both metals and non-metals.
• In the Modern Periodic Table, a zig-zag line separates metals from non-metals.
• The borderline elements – boron, silicon, germanium, arsenic, antimony, tellurium and polonium – are
intermediate in properties and are called metalloids or semi-metals.
• Metals tend to lose electrons while forming bonds, that is, they are electropositive in nature.
• As the effective nuclear charge acting on the valence shell electrons increases across a period, the tendency
to lose electrons will decrease.
• Down the group, the effective nuclear charge experienced by valence electrons is decreasing because the
outermost electrons are farther away from the nucleus.
100
• Therefore, these can be lost easily.
• Hence metallic character decreases across a period and increases down a group.
• Non-metals, on the other hand, are electronegative.
• They tend to form bonds by gaining electrons.
• As the trends in the electronegativity show, non-metals are found on the right-hand side of the Periodic
Table towards the top.
• These trends also help us to predict the nature of oxides formed by the elements because it is known to you
that the oxides of metals are basic and that of non-metals are acidic in general.

8.5 Summary

• Mendeléev arranged the elements in increasing order of their atomic masses and according to their chemical
properties.
• Mendeléev even predicted the existence of some yet to be discovered elements on the basis of gaps in his
Periodic Table.
• Anomalies in arrangement of elements based on increasing atomic mass could be removed when the ele-
ments were arranged in order of increasing atomic number, a fundamental property of the element discov-
ered by Moseley.
• Elements in the Modern Periodic Table are arranged in 18 vertical columns called groups and 7 horizontal
rows called periods.
• Elements thus arranged show periodicity of properties including atomic size, valency or combining capacity
and metallic and non-metallic character.

8.6 Questions

• Which of the following statements is not a correct statement about the trends when going from left to right
across the periods of periodic Table?
a) The elements become less metallic in nature.
b) The number of valence electrons increases.
 c) The atoms lose their electrons more easily.
d) The oxides become more acidic.

9. Misc. Topics 101

9.1 Combustion and flame

Ignition temperature

• The lowest temperature at which a substance catches fire is called its ignition temperature.
• We find that the gas burns rapidly. Such combustion is known as rapid combustion.

Inflammable Substances

• The substances which have very low ignition temperature and can easily catch fire with a flame are called
inflammable substances.
• Examples of inflammable substances are petrol, alcohol, Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG), etc.

Spontaneous combustion

• There are substances like phosphorus which burn in air at room temperature.
• The type of combustion in which a material suddenly bursts into flames, without the application of any ap-
parent cause is called spontaneous combustion.
• Spontaneous combustion of coal dust has resulted in many disastrous fires in coal mines.
• Spontaneous forest fires are sometimes due to the heat of the sun or due to lightning strike.

Give reasons

• Paper by itself catches fire easily whereas a piece of paper wrapped around an aluminium pipe does not.
• The wrapped paper around an aluminium pipe do not heat as quickly because heat is conducted away.
• Also, a free paper has more access to air (Oxygen) to catches fire.

Incomplete combustion

• Incomplete combustion of fuels gives carbon monoxide gas. It is a very poisonous gas. It is dangerous to
burn coal in a closed room. The carbon monoxide gas produced can kill persons sleeping in that room.

9.1.2 Vapourisation and Flame

• The substances which vaporize during burning, give flames.
• For example, kerosene oil and molten wax rise through the wick and are vaporized during burning and form
flames.
• Charcoal, on the other hand, does not vaporize and so does not produce a flame.
102

Zones of Candle Flame

• There are three different zones of a flame – dark zone, luminous zone and non-luminous zone.
• Non-luminous zone of the flame has a high temperature. In fact, this part of the flame is the hottest part.

9.1.3 Matchstick

• Matchstick is a mixture of
1. antimony trisulphide
2. potassium chlorate
3. white phosphorus
• When struck against a rough surface, white phosphorus ignites due to the heat of friction. This starts the
combustion of the match.
• However, white phosphorus proved to be dangerous both for the workers involved in the manufacturing of
matches and for the users.
• These days the head of the safety match contains only antimony trisulphide and potassium chlorate.
• The rubbing surface has powdered glass and a little red phosphorus (which is much less dangerous).
• When the match is struck against the rubbing surface, some red phosphorus gets converted into white phos-
phorus.
• This immediately reacts with potassium chlorate in the matchstick head to produce enough heat to ignite
antimony trisulphide and start the combustion.
9.1.4 Water vs Carbon Dioxide as fire extinguisher

• The most common fire extinguisher is water.

• But water works only when things like wood and paper are on fire.
• If electrical equipment is on fire, water may conduct electricity and harm those trying to douse the fire. 103

• Water is also not suitable for fires involving oil and petrol.
• Water is heavier than oil. So, it sinks below the oil, and oil keeps burning on top.
• For fires involving electrical equipment and inflammable materials like petrol, carbon dioxide (CO2) is the
best extinguisher.
• CO2, being heavier than oxygen, covers the fire like a blanket.
• Since the contact between the fuel and oxygen is cut off, the fire is controlled.
• The added advantage of CO2 is that in most cases it does not harm the electrical equipment.
• When released from the cylinder, CO2 expands enormously in volume and cools down.
• So, it not only forms a blanket around the fire, it also brings down the temperature of the fuel.
• That is why it is an excellent fire extinguisher.
• Another way to get CO2 is to release a lot of dry powder of chemicals like sodium bicarbonate (baking
soda) or potassium bicarbonate. Near the fire, these chemicals give off CO2.

9.1.5 Calorific value

• The amount of heat energy produced on complete combustion of 1 kg of a fuel is called its calorific value.
• The calorific value of a fuel is expressed in a unit called kilojoule per kg(kJ/kg).
Hydrogen > LPG > CNG, Methane > Petrol, Diesel, Kerosene > Biogas > Coal > Wood > Cow dung

9.2 Fossil Fuels

9.2.1 Coal 104

• About 300 million years ago the earth had dense forests in low lying wetland areas.
• Due to natural processes, like flooding, these forests got buried under the soil.
• As more soil deposited over them, they were compressed.
• The temperature also rose as they sank deeper and deeper.
• Under high pressure and high temperature, dead plants got slowly converted to coal.
• As coal contains mainly carbon, the slow process of conversion of dead vegetation into coal is called carbon-
ization.
• Since it was formed from the remains of vegetation, coal is also called a fossil fuel.
• Coal is processed in industry to get some useful products such as coke, coal tar and coal gas.

Coke

• It is a tough, porous and black substance. It is almost pure form of carbon.

• Coke is used in the manufacture of steel and in the extraction of many metals.

Coal tar

• It is a black, thick liquid with unpleasant smell. It is a mixture of about 200 substances.
• Products obtained from coal tar are used as starting materials for manufacturing various substances used in
everyday life and in industry, like synthetic dyes, explosives, perfumes, plastics, paints, photographic materi-
als, roofing materials, etc.
• Interestingly, naphthalene balls used to repel moths and other insects are also obtained from coal tar.
• These days, bitumen, a petroleum product, is used in place of coal-tar for metalling the roads.

Coal gas

• Coal gas is obtained during the processing of coal to get coke.

• It is used as a fuel in many industries situated near the coal processing plants.

9.2.2 Petroleum
• Petroleum was formed from organisms living in the sea.
• As these organisms died, their bodies settled at the bottom of the sea and got covered with layers of sand
and clay.
• Over millions of years, absence of air, high temperature and high pressure transformed the dead organisms
105
into petroleum and natural gas.
• The world’s first oil well was drilled in Pennsylvania, USA, in 1859.
• Eight years later, in 1867, oil was stuck at Makum in Assam.
• In India, oil is found in Assam, Gujarat, Mumbai High and in the river basins of Godavari and Krishna.
• Petroleum is a dark oily liquid. It has an unpleasant odour.
• It is a mixture of various constituents such as petroleum gas, petrol, diesel, lubricating oil, paraffin wax, etc.
• The process of separating the various constituents is done by fractional distillation.

• Many useful substances are obtained from petroleum and natural gas. These are termed as ‘Petrochemicals’.
• These are used in the manufacture of detergents, fibres (polyester, nylon, acrylic etc.), polythene and
other man-made plastics.
• Hydrogen gas obtained from natural gas, is used in the production of fertilizers (urea).
• Due to its great commercial importance, petroleum is also called ‘black gold’.

9.2.3 Natural Gas

• Natural gas is a very important fossil fuel because it is easy to transport through pipes.
106
• Natural gas is stored under high pressure as compressed natural gas (CNG). CNG is used for power gener-
ation. It is now being used as a fuel for transport vehicles because it is less polluting. It is a cleaner fuel.
• The great advantage of CNG is that it can be used directly for burning in homes and factories where it can
be supplied through pipes.
• Natural gas is also used as a starting material for the manufacture of a number of chemicals and fertilizers.
• India has vast reserves of natural gas. In our country, natural gas has been found in Tripura, Rajasthan,
Maharashtra and in the Krishna Godavari delta.

9.3 Important alloys and their contents

• Alloys are homogeneous mixtures of metals and cannot be separated into their components by physical
methods.
• But still, an alloy is considered as a mixture because it shows the properties of its constituents and can have
variable composition.
• For example, brass is a mixture of approximately 30% zinc and 70% copper.

9.3.1 Steel

Steel can be categorized into three groups;

1. "carbon steel" has limited amounts of carbon, copper, manganese, phosphorus, silicon, and sulfur, while
2. "alloy steel" has higher concentrations of these additive metals and
3. "stainless steel" contains at least 10% chromium.

9.3.2 Copper alloys

• Copper is widely used for electricity and thermal conduction, though it is extremely soft in its purest form, so
alloys are created to help it retain its shape.
• One of the oldest types of copper alloys is bronze, which is made by adding tin (in most cases), as well as
phosphorus, lead, silicon, nickel, and aluminum in varying concentrations.
• Also popular is brass, which is made mostly with copper and zinc, but may also contain tin, lead, manganese,
and silicon in smaller concentrations.
• Copper and other metals can either be melted together or cold-worked to mix the metals.

Bronze = copper + aluminium + nickel + some other metals 107

Brass = copper + zinc + tin + manganese + some other metals

9.3.3 Gold and platinum alloys

• Yellow gold contains cobalt, copper, silver, and/or zinc, while

• White gold contains either nickel or palladium,
• Platinum is typically mixed with iridium, ruthenium, or cobalt.

9.3.4 Aluminum alloys

• Pure aluminum is soft, resists corrosion, conducts electricity well, so it is great for products like kitchen foil,
but for applications requiring a stronger metal, an aluminum alloy needs to be created.
• Alloys and their contents

Name Composition Use

Brass Cu (60 to 80%), Zn [Zinc] (40 to 20%) For making household utensils

Bronze Cu (75 to 90%), Sn [Tin] (25 to 10%) For making coins, idols, utensils

German silver Cu (60%), Zn (25%), Ni (15%) For making utensils

Magnelium Mg (5%), Al (95%) For making aircraft frame

Rolled gold Cu (90%), Ni (10%) For making cheap ornaments

Bell metal Cu (80%), Sn (20%) For making bells

Gun metal Cu (85%), Zn (10%), Sn (5%) Used for engineering purposes

Solder Sn (50-75%), Pb (50-25%) Soldering of metals

Duralium Al (95%), Cu (4%), Mg (0.5%), Mn (0.5%) In aircraft manufacturing

Steel Fe (98%), C (2%) For making nails, screws, bridges

Stainless steel Fe (82%) Cr, Ni (18%) For making cooking utensils, knives

9.4 Synthetic materials

• The fibres of some fabrics such as cotton, jute, silk and wool are obtained from plants and animals. These are
called natural fibres.
• For thousands of years natural fibres were the only ones available for making fabrics.
• In the last hundred years or so, fibres are also made from chemical substances, which are not obtained from
108
plant or animal sources. These are called synthetic fibres.
• Some examples of synthetic fibres are polyester, nylon and acrylic.
• A synthetic fibre is a chain of small units joined together. Each small unit is actually a chemical substance.
Many such small units combine to form a large single unit called a polymer.

Polymer ➔ a substance with a molecular structure formed from many identical small molecules or other units
bonded together.
Monomer ➔ a molecule that can be bonded to other identical molecules to form a polymer.

• Polymers occur in nature also. Cotton, for example, is a polymer called cellulose.
• Cellulose is made up of a large number of glucose units.
• All the synthetic fibres are prepared by a number of processes using raw materials of petroleum origin, called
petrochemicals.

9.4.1 Some Generally Used Synthetic Fibres

• Synthetic fibres are more durable and affordable which makes them more popular than natural fibres.
• Major ones include Rayon, Nylon, Polyester, Terylene, Acrylic etc.

Rayon

• Scientists were successful in obtaining a fibre having properties similar to that of silk.
• Such a fibre was obtained by chemical treatment of wood pulp. This fibre was called rayon or artificial silk.
• Although rayon is obtained from a natural source, wood pulp, yet it is a man-made fibre.
• It is cheaper than silk and can be woven like silk fibres. It can also be dyed in a wide variety of colours.
• Rayon is mixed with cotton to make bed sheets or mixed with wool to make carpets.

Nylon

• Nylon was made without using any natural raw material (from plant or animal).
• It was prepared from coal, water and air. It was the first fully synthetic fibre.
• Nylon fibre was strong, elastic and light. It was lustrous and easy to wash. So, it became very popular for
making clothes. A nylon thread is actually stronger than a steel wire.
Polyester

• Fabric made from this fibre does not get wrinkled easily. It remains crisp and is easy to wash.
• So, it is quite suitable for making dress material.
• PET is a very familiar form of polyester. 109
• It is used for making bottles, utensils, films, wires and many other useful products.
• Polyester (Poly+ester) is actually made up of the repeating units of a chemical called an ester. Esters are the
chemicals which give fruits their smell.

Terylene

• Terylene is a popular polyester.

• It can be drawn into very fine fibres that can be woven like any other yarn.

Acrylic

• We wear sweaters and use shawls or blankets in the winter.

• Many of these are actually not made from natural wool, though they appear to resemble wool.
• These are prepared from another type of synthetic fibre called Acrylic.
• The wool obtained from natural sources is quite expensive, whereas clothes made from acrylic are relatively
cheap. They are available in a variety of colours.

Mixing of fibers

• Fabrics are sold by names like polycot, polywool, terrycot etc.

• As the name suggests, these are made by mixing two types of fibres.
• Polycot is a mixture of polyester and cotton.
• Polywool is a mixture of polyester and wool.

9.4.2 Plastic

• Plastic is also a polymer like the synthetic fibre.

• All plastics do not have the same type of arrangement of units. In some it is linear, whereas in others it is
cross-linked.

Polythene

• Polythene (Poly+ethene) is an example of a plastic. It is used for making commonly used polythene bags.
Thermoplastics vs Thermosetting Plastics

• Plastic which gets deformed easily on heating and can be bent easily are known as thermoplastics.
• Polythene and PVC [polyvinyl chloride] are some of the examples of thermoplastics.
• These are used for manufacturing toys, combs and various types of containers. 110
• On the other hand, there are some plastics which when moulded once, cannot be softened by heating. These
are called thermosetting plastics. Two examples are bakelite and melamine.

Bakelite ➔ poor conductor of heat and electricity. It is used for making electrical switches, handles of various
utensils, etc.
Melamine ➔ It resists fire and can tolerate heat better than other plastics. It is used for making floor tiles,
kitchenware and fabrics which resist fire.

Fire-proof plastics

• Although synthetic fibre catches fire easily, it is interesting to know that the uniforms of firemen have coating
of melamine plastic to make them flame resistant.
• Special plastic cookware is used in microwave ovens for cooking food. In microwave ovens, the heat cooks
the food but does not affect the plastic vessel.

Teflon

• Teflon is a special plastic on which oil and water do not stick.

• It is used for nonstick coating on cookwares.

9.5 Properties of a solution

• A solution is a homogeneous mixture.

• The particles of a solution are smaller than 1 nm (10-9 metre) in diameter.
• So, they cannot be seen by naked eyes.
• Because of very small particle size, they do not scatter a beam of light passing through the solution.
• So, the path of light is not visible in a solution.
• The solute particles cannot be separated from the mixture by the process of filtration.
• The solute particles do not settle down when left undisturbed, that is, a solution is stable.
• When no more solute can be dissolved in a solution at a given temperature, it is called a saturated solution.
• The amount of the solute present in the saturated solution at this temperature is called its solubility.
9.5.1 Non-homogeneous systems

• Solids are dispersed in liquids, are called suspensions.

• A suspension is a heterogeneous mixture in which the solute particles do not dissolve but remain suspended
throughout the bulk of the medium. Particles of a suspension are visible to the naked eye. 111

Properties of a suspension

• Suspension is a heterogeneous mixture

• The particles of a suspension can be seen by the naked eye.
• The particles of a suspension scatter a beam of light passing through it and make its path visible.
• The solute particles settle down when a suspension is left undisturbed, that is, a suspension is unstable.
• They can be separated from the mixture by the process of filtration.

9.5.2 What is a colloidal solution?

• The particles of a colloid are uniformly spread throughout the solution.

• Due to the relatively smaller size of particles, as compared to that of a suspension, the mixture appears to
be homogeneous.
• But actually, a colloidal solution is a heterogeneous mixture, for example, milk.
• Because of the small size of colloidal particles, we cannot see them with naked eyes.
• But these particles can easily scatter a beam of visible light.
• This scattering of a beam of light is called the Tyndall effect after the name of the scientist who discovered
this effect.

• Tyndall effect can also be observed when a fine beam of light enters a room through a small hole.
• This happens due to the scattering of light by the particles of dust and smoke in the air.
• Tyndall effect can be observed when sunlight passes through the canopy of a dense forest.
• In the forest, mist contains tiny droplets of water, which act as particles of colloid dispersed in air.
Properties of a colloid

• A colloid is a heterogeneous mixture.

• The size of particles of a colloid is too small to be individually seen by naked eyes.
• Colloids are big enough to scatter a beam of light passing through it and make its path visible. 112
• They do not settle down when left undisturbed, that is, a colloid is quite stable.
• They cannot be separated from the mixture by the process of filtration.
• But, a special technique of separation known as centrifugation can be used to separate the colloidal parti-
cles.
• The components of a colloidal solution are the dispersed phase and the dispersion medium.
• The solute-like component or the dispersed particles in a colloid form the dispersed phase, and the compo-
nent in which the dispersed phase is suspended is known as the dispersing medium.
• Colloids are classified according to the state (solid, liquid or gas) of the dispersing medium and the dispersed
phase.

9.5.3 Questions

Match the following

Column I Column II

1. Polyester a) Prepared by using wood pulp

2. Teflon b) Used for making parachutes and stockings

3. Rayon c) Used to make nonstick cookwares

4. Nylon d) Fabrics do not wrinkle easily

Multiple Choice

• Rayon is different from synthetic fibres because (a) it has a silk like appearance (b) it is obtained from wood
pulp (c) its fibres can also be woven like those of natural fibres.

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