Chemistry Textbook Vocab Flashcards
Define “Property”
“A characteristic useful for identifying a substance or object.
Less familiar properties include chemical composition, which describes what matter is made of, and chemical reactivity, which describes how matter behaves.”
Define “Matter”
“The physical material that makes up the universe; anything that has mass and occupies space.”
Define “Pure substance”
“A substance that has a uniform chemical composition throughout.”
Define “Mixture”
“A blend of two or more substances, each of which retains its chemical identity.”
Define “Homogeneous mixture”
“A uniform mixture that has the same composition throughout. You cannot always distinguish between a pure substance and a homogeneous mixture just by looking. The sugar–water mixture looks just like pure water but differs on a molecular level.”
Define “Heterogeneous mixture”
“A nonuniform mixture that has regions of different composition.
Another difference between a pure substance and a mixture is that the components of a mixture can be separated without changing their chemical identities. For example, water can be separated from a sugar–water mixture by boiling the mixture to drive off the steam and then condensing the steam to recover the pure water. Pure sugar is left behind in the container.”
Define “Chemical compound”
“A pure substance that can be broken down into simpler substances by chemical reactions.”
Define “Chemical reaction”
“A process in which the identity and composition of one or more substances are changed.”
Define “Reactant”
“A starting substance that undergoes change during a chemical
reaction.”
Define “Product”
“A substance formed as the result of a chemical reaction.”
Define “SI Unit”
“Units of measurement defined by the International System of Units.”
Define “Scientific notation”
“A number expressed as the product of a number between 1 and 10, times the number 10 raised to a power.”
FORMULA: N x 10E , where N = A number between 1 and 0, and E = exponent, or number of decimal places moved.
Define “Mass”
“A measure of the amount of matter in an object.”
Define “Weight”
“A measure of the gravitational force that the earth or other large body exerts on an object.”
Define “Significant figures”
“The number of meaningful digits used to express a value.
To indicate the precision of a measurement, the value recorded should use all the digits known with certainty, plus one additional estimated digit that is usually considered uncertain by plus or minus 1 (written as ±1).”
