Chemistry Definitions of Form 4

Statement/ Theory/ Definition/ Composition

Object

Chemistry A field of science that studies the structures, properties,

compositions and interactions between matters.

Scientific investigation Scientific method used in solving problems in science.

Matter Something that has mass and occupies space.

Proton number The number of protons in the nucleus of an atom.

Nucleon number The total number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an
atom.

Isotope Atoms of the same element with the same number of protons
but different number of neutrons.

Natural abundance The percentage of isotopes present in a natural sample of

elements.

Relative atomic mass The average mass of an atom of the element compared to
(RAM) 1/12 of the mass of one carbon-12 atom.

Relative molecular The average mass of the molecule compared to 1/12 of the
mass (RMM) mass of one carbon-12 atom.

Relative formula mass The relative mass of an ionic substance.

(RFM)

Mole (mol) One mole of the substance contains 6.02214076x10^23

(Avogadro constant, NA) element entities of the substance.

Molar mass (gmol^-1) The mass of one mole of substance.

Molar volume (mol) The volume occupied by 1 mol of a gas.

 Standard temperature and pressure (STP): 22.4dm^3 mol^-1
at 0 celsius and pressure of 1 atm
Room conditions: 24dm^3 mol^-1at 25 celsius and pressure
of 1 atm

Chemical formula Representation of a chemical substance using alphabets to

represent the atoms and subscript numbers to show the
number of each type of atoms found in the elementary
entities of the substance.

Empirical formula The chemical formula that shows the simplest ratio of the
number of atoms of each element in a compound.

Molecular formula The chemical formula that shows the actual number of atoms
of atoms of each element found in a molecule of a compound.

Periodic Table of Table that classifies elements according to certain

Elements characteristics.

Groups The vertical columns in the Periodic Table of Elements which

are arranged according to the number of valence electrons.

Period The horizontal rows in the Periodic Table of Elements which

are arranged according to the number of shells filled with
electrons.

Ionic bond A bond formed by the transfer of electrons between a metal

atom and a non-metal atom.

Covalent bond A bond formed when non-metal atoms share their electrons
to achieve a stable duplet or octet electron arrangement.

Lewis structure Lewis structure only shows the valence electrons of the
atoms involved.

Double bond A chemical bond formed when two atoms share two pairs of
electrons.

Triple bond A chemical bond formed when two atoms share three pairs of
electrons.
Hydrogen bond The attraction forces between hydrogen atom, H that has
bonded with an atom of high electronegativity, such as
nitrogen, N, oxygen, O or fluorine, F with nitrogen, N, oxygen,
O or fluorine, F in another molecule.

Van der Waals A relatively weak electric force that attracts neutral molecules
attraction force to one another in liquified and solidified gases and almost all
organic liquids and solids.

Dative bond/ A type of covalent bond where the electron pair that is shared
coordinate bond comes from one atom only.

Metallic bond Electrostatic attraction force between the sea of electrons and
the positively-charged metal ions.

Delocalised electron An electron that moves freely and is not owned by any atom
nor ion.

Sea of electrons The body of delocalised electrons that surrounds positive

metal ions in metallic bonds.

Acids Chemical substance that ionise in water to produce hydrogen

ions, H+.

Basicity of acids The number of hydrogen ions, H+ that can be produced by an

acid molecule that ionises in water.

Monoprotic acid Acid that ionises in water to produce one H+ ion per acid
molecule.

Diprotic acid Acid that ionises in water to produce two H+ ions per acid
molecule.

Triprotic acid Acid that ionises in water to produce three H+ ions per acid
molecule.

Base A substance that reacts with acids to produce salt and water
only.
Alkali Chemical substance that ionise in water to produce hydroxide
ions, OH-.

Power of hydrogen A logarithmic measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions

(pH) in an aqueous solution.

Strong acid An acid that ionises completely in water to produce a high

concentration of hydrogen ions, H+.

Weak acid An acid that ionises partially in water to produce low

concentration of hydrogen ions, H+.

Strong alkali An alkali that ionises completely in water to produce a high

concentration of hydroxide ions, OH+.

Weak alkali An acid that ionises partially in water to produce low

concentration of hydroxide ions, OH+.

Concentration A measurement that shows the quality of solute dissolved in a

unit volume of solution. (normally 1dm^3 solution)

Concentration The mass of solute found in 1 dm^3 of solution.

(g gm^-3)

Molarity The number of moles of solute found in 1 dm^3 of solution.

(mol dm^-3)

Standard solution Solution with known concentration.

Hygroscopic Substance that absorbs water or moisture in the air.

Dilution method Preparation of a standard solution which involves adding

water to a concentrated standard solution.

Stock solution A concentrated standard solution.

Neutralisation A reaction between an acid and an alkali (base) to produce
salt and water only.

Titration method A quantitative analysis method to determine the volume of

acid needed to completely neutralise a given volume of alkali
and vice versa.

End point The point in titration at which the acid-base indicator changes
colour.

Salt An ionic compound formed when the hydrogen ions, H+ from

the acid is replaced with the metal ion or the ammonium ion,
NH4+.

Soluble salts Salts that dissolve in water at room temperature.

Non-soluble salts Salts that do not dissolve in water at room temperature.

Continuous variation Method used to construct the ionic equation for the formation
method of insoluble salts.

Rate of reaction The changes in the quantity of reactant/ product per unit time.
(g/ cm^3/ mol dm^3
s^-1/ min^-1)

Average rate of Average value for the rate of reaction that occurs in a
reaction particular time interval.

Instantaneous rate of The rate of reaction at a particular point of time.

reaction

Collision theory 1. Reactant particles must collide with one another for a
reaction to occur.
2. The rate of reaction depends on the frequency of
effective collisions.

Kinetic theory of Matter is made up of tiny and discrete particles that are
matter constantly moving; vibrating at fixed positions for solid and
moving freely for liquids and gasses.
Ineffective collision Collision between particles with energy less than the
activation energy or in the wrong orientation.

Activation energy Minimum energy required by the reactant particles to break

the bonds in the reactant particles and form new bonds in the
products.

Exothermic reaction A chemical reaction that releases heat energy to the

surroundings.

Endothermic reaction A chemical reaction that absorbs heat energy from the
surroundings.

Catalyst Any substance that increases the rate of reaction without

itself being consumed.

Alloy A mixture of two or more elements where the main element is

a metal.

Malleable A material that has the ability to deform under compressive

stress.

Ductile The ability of a material to be drawn or plastically deformed

without fracture.

Superconductor Solids that exhibit zero resistance to the flow of electrical

current at low temperatures.
A ceramic/ composite material that has superconductivity
properties other than alloys. (ceramic)

Duralumin 93% Al, 3% Cu, 3% Mg, 1% Mn

Bronze 90% Cu, 10% Sn

Brass 70% Cu, 30% Zn

Steel 98% Fe, 0.2~2% C

Stainless steel 73% Fe, 18% Cr, 8% Ni, 1% C

Pewter 95% Sn, 3.5% Sb (antimony), 1.5% Cu

Fused silica glass Silica (silicon dioxide SiO2)

Soda-lime glass Silica, soda (sodium carbonate, Na2CO3) and limestone

(calcium carbonate, CaCO3)

Borosilicate glass Silica, soda, limestone, boron oxide, B2O3 and aluminium
oxide, Al2O3

Lead crystal glass Silica, soda, lead(II) oxide, PbO

Ceramic A solid made up of inorganic and non-metallic substances.

Traditional ceramic Kaolin, AL203.2SiO2.2H2O and water

Advanced ceramics Ceramics made from inorganic compounds such as oxides,

carbides and nitrides.

Composite material A material made from combining two or more

non-homogeneous substances, that is the matrix and
strengthening substance.

Reinforced concrete Steel bars/ Wire mesh (strengthening substance) immersed

in concrete (matrix substance)

Fibre glass Glass fibres (strengthening substance) and plastic (matrix

substance)

Optical fibre Inner layer of silica glass fibres (strengthening substance)

and second layer/cladding of glass/plastic (matrix substance)
and outermost layer of plastic (matrix substance)

Photochromic glass Silver chloride, AgCl and copper(I) chloride, CuCl

(strengthening substance) and glass (matrix substance)