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Chemistry is the branch of science concerned with the

understanding of matter; the substances it is composed of and their
properties, as well as the ways in which they interact and change to
form new substances.

Role of chemistry in modern life

Chemistry is the science of the composition, structure, properties
and reactions of matter, especially of atomic and molecular
systems.
Life itself is full of chemistry; i.e., life is the reflection of a series
of continuous biochemical processes. Right from the composition
of the cell to the whole organism, the presence of chemistry is
conspicuous. Human beings are constructed physically of
chemicals, live in a plethora of chemicals and are dependent on
chemicals for their quality of modern life. All living organisms are
composed of numerous organic substances. Evolution of life
begins from one single organic compound called a nucleotide.
Nucleotides join together to form the building blocks of life. Our
identities, heredities and continuation of generations are all
governed by chemistry.
In our everyday life, whatever we see, use or consume is the gift of
research in chemistry for thousands of years. In fact, chemistry is
applied everywhere in modern life. From the colouring of our
clothes to the shapes of our PCs, all are possible due to chemistry.
It has played a major role in pharmaceutical advances, forensic
science(‫ )الطب الشرعي‬and modern agriculture. Diseases and their
remedies have also been a part of human lives. Chemistry plays an
important role in understanding diseases and their remedies, i.e.
drugs.

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Medicines or drugs that we take for the treatment of various
ailments(‫ )اﻷمراض‬are chemicals, either organic or inorganic.
However, most drugs are organic molecules. Let us take aspirin as
an example. It is probably the most popular and widely used
analgesic drug because of its structural simplicity and low cost.
Aspirin is chemically known as acetyl salicylic acid, an organic
molecule. The precursor of aspirin is salicin, which is found in
willow tree bark. However, aspirin can easily be synthesized from
phenol using the Kolbe reaction.

Matter
Matter is anything that has mass and takes up space. Mass is the
amount of matter an object contains; a way of quantifying matter.
Matter exists in three physical states.
Solid – matter with fixed shape and volume (rigid)
Liquid – matter with a fixed volume but indefinite shape
Takes on the shape of the container it is in
Gas – matter without a fixed shape or volume conforms to the
volume and shape of its container.

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• Atom:
• The smallest unit of matter.
• Atom, tiny basic building block of matter.
• All the material on Earth is composed of various combinations
of atoms.
• THE NUCLEUS
• The defining characteristic of any element is given by the
composition of its nucleus.
• The nucleus of an atom is composed of the nucleons (protons
and neutrons), such that an element is given the symbol zAX
•
• Atomic Number: Z
• Number of positive charges (protons) in the nucleus of an atom
of a given element, and therefore also the number of negative
charges (electrons ) normally surrounding the nucleus.
•
• Atomic Weight (mass No): A.
• The average weight of an atom of any element = no. of
protons + no of neutrons
• When we draw element :
• superscript the mass no. to the left of an element’s
symbol and the atomic no. underscore to left.

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 •
•
. The Mass no. A also called the total number of nucleons, that is,
protons and neutrons in a nucleus(for helium)=4

e.g. The molecular weight of water (H2O) is =16+(1*2) = 18mg

Numerically, the atomic weight and the atomic mass of an element
are the same, but the first is expressed in grams and the second is in
atomic mass units. So, the atomic weight of hydrogen is 1 gram and
the atomic mass of hydrogen is 1 Atomic Mass Unit(amu).

.
Molecule: A molecule is a group of two or more atoms (of one
element or more) held together by chemical bonds. For example,
two atoms of the element hydrogen (abbreviated H) combine with
each to form hydrogen molecule.

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Compound:

A substance in which two or more different elements are

chemically bonded together, e.g. one atom of the element oxygen
(O) combine with two atoms of elements hydrogen to form a
molecule of water (H2O). All compounds are molecules, but not all
molecules are compounds. Hydrogen gas is a molecule but not a
compound.

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Ion:
A particle, atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The
net charge of an ion is non-zero due to its total number of
electrons being unequal to its total number of protons. A cation
is a positively charged ion with fewer electrons than protons
while an anion is negatively charged with more electrons than
protons, because of their opposite electric charges; cations and
anions attract each other and readily form ionic compounds.

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Isotopes :
A. Most elements exist as multiple isotopes, which differ only in the
number of neutrons present in the nucleus, All isotopes of a given
element have the same number of protons but different numbers
of neutrons in each atom.
The term isotope is formed from the Greek roots isos (equal) and
topos (place), meaning "the same place"; thus, the meaning behind
the name is that different isotopes of a single element occupy the
same position on the periodic table.
It is important to recognize that while the different isotopes of an element
have many of the same chemical properties (e.g., react with other elements
to form the same compounds), they often have very different physical
properties. Further, while “heavy water” or deuterium oxide (D2O or 2H2O)
is not radioactive, the larger atomic mass of the Thus, for example, while
cobalt-59 (59Co) is a stable isotope and is considered one of the elements
essential to human life, its slightly heavier isotope cobalt-60 (60Co) is
highly unstable and releases the destructive gamma rays used in cancer
radiation therapy. deuterium isotope significantly increases the strength of a
hydrogen bond to oxygen, which slows the rates of many important
biochemical reactions and can (in sufficient quantities) lead to death .

Different Isotops; different

no. of neutrons