chemistry basics Flashcards
reactant definition
a substance consumed during a chemical reaction
reagent definition
a substance that is added to a system to bring about a reaction
catalyst definition
a substance that increases rate of reaction without modifying the overall standard gibbs energy change and without being used up
reaction mechanism definition
the sequence of elementary steps by which a chemical process occurs
why are reaction mechanisms useful to study
provides understanding which enables predictions to be made about reactions or new substances and helps to choose appropriate practical conditions
SYMBOL MEANINGS:
→
standard reaction arrow, points from reactants to products
SYMBOL MEANINGS:
⇌
equilibrium arrow indicates reversible reactions
SYMBOL MEANINGS:
→
→
→
stacked arrows indicate a reaction with multiple steps / multiple steps being skipped
SYMBOL MEANINGS:
–X→ or –//→
broken arrow to indicate that reaction is not successful
SYMBOL MEANINGS:
==>
retrosynthesis - implies that LHS is made from this
SYMBOL MEANINGS:
↔
resonance arrow - shows when structures differ by position of electrons
SYMBOL MEANINGS:
double headed curly arrow
indicates movement of an electron pair
SYMBOL MEANINGS:
half-headed curly arrow
shows movement of a single electron
thermodynamics definition
giving information on how far a reaction will proceed and allows the composition of an equilibrium mixture in a dynamic equilibrium to be calculated
kinetics definition
gives information on how fast a reaction will proceed
