Chemistry Essentials For Dummies

by John T. Moore

Chemistry Essentials For Dummies (9781119591146) was previously published as Chemistry Essentials For Dummies (9780470618363). While this version features a new  Dummies cover and design, the content is the same as the prior release and should not be considered a new or updated product. Whether studying chemistry as part of a degree requirement or as part of a core curriculum, students will find Chemistry Essentials For Dummies to be an invaluable quick reference guide to the fundamentals of this often challenging course. Chemistry Essentials For Dummies contains content focused on key topics only, with discrete explanations of critical concepts taught in a typical two-semester high school chemistry class or a college level Chemistry I course, from bonds and reactions to acids, bases, and the mole. This guide is also a perfect reference for parents who need to review critical chemistry concepts as they help high school students with homework assignments, as well as for adult learners headed back into the classroom who just need to a refresher of the core concepts. The Essentials For Dummies Series
Dummies is proud to present our new series,  The Essentials For Dummies . Now students who are prepping for exams, preparing to study new material, or who just need a refresher can have a concise, easy-to-understand review guide that covers an entire course by concentrating solely on the most important concepts. From algebra and chemistry to grammar and Spanish, our expert authors focus on the skills students most need to succeed in a subject.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Chemistry

192 pages, Paperback

First published April 22, 2010

Reviews

[Chloe W]

it’s about time I locked in for my exam 😩

[H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for exactly what it says it's for: chemistry essentials.

[julia jurasek · Rating 5 out of 5]

UM FOR UNI OKAY 😭😭😭😭😭IF I COULD I WOULD GIVE IT 1, but it was helpful 😭😭😭

[Menglong Youk · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the same purpose of Physics Essentials for Dummies, "Chemistry Essentials for Dummies" highlights important chemistry concepts for those who want a quick review (it's a 200-page "chemistry" book. It ain't gonna be quick) and need it as a reference. It's still one of my most challenging subjects. -_-

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

- Matter is anything that occupies space and has mass.
- Solids are formed in a crystal lattice and are still moving but barely so.
- Liquid still has definite volume but gases have no definite liquid or volume.
- Condensation = gas to liquid. Gas particles have high energy and as they cool the energy decreases. The particles draw closer together to form a liquid.
- Heating causes the particles in the crystal lattice to vibrate faster resulting in solid to liquid (melting).
Sublimation = solid to gas
Deposition = gas to solid
- Pure substance are either elements or compounds and compounds are composed of 2 or more elements in a specific ratio (H20) a compound will have different physical and chemical properties than the elements its made of. Not easy to separate.
- Mixtures have no definite or constant composition. Can easily separate parts of mixture (such as filtration)
- Homogeneous mixtures (also called solutions) are uniform in composition. The same no matter where you sample it. A solution is made of a solvent and one or more solutes. The solvent is the substance present in the largest amount and the solute is the substance present in the lesser amount. Solutions can be gases and solids as well as liquids. Air is 79% nitrogen (solvent) oxygen and carbon dioxide and others are the solutes
- Heterogeneous mixtures vary in composition.
- Like dissolves like in regard to polarity of both solvent and solutes. Oil doesn’t dissolve in water but it dissolves in gasoline. Oil is non polar.
- Solubility is the maximum amount of solute that will dissolve in a given amount of solvent at a specified temp. Has the units g/100mL for solids dissolving in liquids, solubility normally increases with increasing temp. For gases in liquid, the solubility goes down as the temp increases.
- Dilute = very little solute per given amount of solvent.
- Solution concentration units used to quantify solutes and solvents
- Morality is moles of solute per litre of solution
- Aqueous solutions = water is solvent
- Parts per million used for very dilute solutions
- SI system includes kilo, centi, milli, meter, gram, litre
- Extensive properties of a substance depend of the amount of mass present (mass, volume)
- Intensive properties of a substance don’t depend on matter present (Color and density)
- Density = mass/volume (measured in either gram/cubic centimetre cc or gram/mL)
- Archimedes principle = the volume of a solid is equal to the volume of water it displaces.
- Energy is the ability to do work. Can take several forms (light, electrical, mechanical, kinetic, potential)
- Kinetic is energy of motion. As particles collide, kinetic energy may be transferred from one particle to another causing chemical reactions. When you measure air temperature you are really measuring average kinetic energy of gas particles. The faster, the higher temp.
- Energy can be converted from one form to another
- Potential energy is stored energy which is present in chemical bonds
- Joule is the u it of heat (amount of energy that goes from one substance to another).
- Subatomic particles = protons LD neutrons and electrons. Mass can be in grams or in atomic mass units (AMU) 1 amu is 1/12 of a carbon atom. The mass of an electron is much smaller than protons and neutrons.
- Ions = atoms that are charge, either + or -
- Mass number = number protons + number of neutrons in an atom
- Atomic number is the of protons in an atom
- Quantum theory = matter has properties associated with waves and it’s impossible to know an electrons can’t position and momentum (speed and direction multiplied by mass) at the same time. Aka the uncertainty principle
- Orbitals (or electron clouds) are probable locations of electrons
- Quantum numbers used to describe characteristics of electrons in their orbitals.
- N= principal quantum number (orbital energy) describes average distance of the orbital from the nucleus. Higher the value the higher the energy and the larger the orbital
- l= angular momentum (orbital shape) can only be as large a number as N. sub shells (s, p, etc)
- m1= magnetic quantum number (orientation in space)
- m2= spin quantum number (electron spin) clockwise or counter clockwise
- Electron configurations look up, hard to text
- Valence electrons are in the outermost energy level
- Isotopes = atoms of a particular element can have identical number of protons and electrons but varying numbers of neutrons
- Cation + (smaller than its corresponding atom b/c it gives up electrons)
- Anion - (slightly larger then corresponding atom b/c of added electron)
- Isoelectronic = 2 chemical species have the same electron configuration. Still have different number of protons tho (different elements)
- Ions= unequal protons and electrons
- Ions usually found in salts or ionic solids. Salts when dissolved in water can conduct electricity (called an electrolyte)
- Electrolytes the compound is likely ionically bonded. If it’s nonelectrolyte, it’s probably covalently bonded
- Radioactivity - spontaneous decay of an unstable nucleus (releases energy) can break apart in different ways.
- Nuclear transmutation = conversion of one element into another (balance equation)
- All elements with 84 or more protons are unstable, they eventually undergo decay
- Radioactivity corresponds to neutron/proton ratio in the atom p
- Naturally occurring isotopes decay in 3 ways: alpha particle emission, beta particle emission,gamma radiation emission. Less common ways of decay: positron emission and electron capture
- Nuclear fission reactions have mass missing at the end of the reaction, that mass is converted to energy which is called mass defect (E=mc2)E is amount of energy produced, m = mass defect and c is the speed of light
- Fusion and fission are opposite reactions. Fission a heavy nucleus is split into smaller nuclei and fusion lighter nuclei are fused into heavier nucleus. Fusion powers the sun
- Oxidation state - the electrical charge an atom achieves. Can have multiple states. The first is usually named 1 or -ous ending and second is 2 or -ic ending
- Polyatomic - ion composed of a group at atoms
- Ionic bond - occurs between a metal and a non-metal. The metal loses electrons and non metal gains those electrons. Ionic bonds come from electrostatic attraction b/w actions and anions. Compounds that have ionic bonds are often called salts.
- ++ look into naming chemicals (YouTube?)
- Covalent bonds - sharing electrons (DNA does this) can form double or triple bonds (Lewis dot structure)
- Diatomic - when the element found in nature is not comprised of an individual atom (I.e. 02)
- Isomers - have the same molecular formula but different structure (you need structural formula to distinguish)
- Electronegativity is the strength an atom has to attract a bonding pair of electrons to itself. Increased left to right on periodic table and decreases from top to bottom.
- 2 atoms that are the same that are covalently bonded will have the same electron pull so they are called nonpolar covalent bonds. When a bond where the electron pair is shifted closer to one atom is called polar covalent bonds. Shifts towards more negative. The electronegativity difference also indicated what type of bond will form - 0.0 to 0.2 difference = non polar; 0.3 to 1.4 = polar covalent; >1.5 = ionic
- In most cases a molecule that has an electronegativety difference will have a positive end and a negative end (called a dipole) can attract other molecules - this is called intermolecular force. 3 different types: London force (dispersion force) - weak, dipole-dipole interaction - still weak, and hydrogen bond- strong.
- Activation energy - the energy you need to supply to get a reaction going
- Exothermic (heat released)
- Endothermic (heat absorbed)
- Common reactions are: combination (2 or more reactants form 1 product), decomposition (single product breaks down to 2 or more simpler substances), single displacement, double displacement, combustion and redox.
- Spectator ions - don’t change during the reaction and are found on both sides of reaction
- If a compound is soluable it will not react at all and you can represent it with (aq)
- Oxidation = loss of electrons, gain of oxygen or loss of hydrogen
- Reduction = gain of electrons, loss of oxygen or gain of hydrogen
- Neither oxidation or reduction can take place without the other
- LEO goes GER (loss electrons oxidation, gain reduction)
- Oxidizing agent is the species that’s being reduced and reducing agent is the species being oxidized. Both agents are on left side (reactant) of equation
- One mole is 6.022 x 10 ^23 aka avogadros number
- Stoichometry refers to the mess relationship in chemical equations
- Bronsted-Lowry acid-base theory- an acid is a proton donor and a base is a proton acceptor
- Amphoteric = acting as water or base
- Boyles Law describes pressure volume relationship of gases if you keep the temp and amount of gas constant. The law states as the volume decreases the pressure increases and vice versa.
- Charles law describes relationship b/w volume and temp, keeping pressure and amount of gas constant. The volume is directly proportional to the kelvin temp. As the temp increases so does the volume. And vice versa. Balloon gets smaller inside freezer.
- Gay-Lussacs Law deals with relationship b/w pressure and temp of a gas if volume and amount are constant. Pressure is directly proportional to kelvin temp.
- Combined gas law P1V1T1=P2V2T2
- Ideal gas equation PV=nRT where n is is moles of gas and R is the ideal gas constant which is 0.0821 litres atm/K-mol; pressure must be in atm and V in litres; temp in kelvin

[Carlos Llanos · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is amazingly fun and expectedly useful. With a light tone it keeps you from getting bored and the way it connects chemistry topics to real-life experiences really helps you understand difficult concepts and remember important stuff.

I am not an expert and I had to read this book to tutor a student but it amazed that I could finally understand some stuff that I was taught in high school and never really got back there. It does not replace a traditional textbook or a class but it can be an excellent introduction or complementary book for anyone studying chemistry at any level.

[Sean S · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I am definitely not the intended audience (some stuff I learned 25 years ago, and some new stuff too) I found it pleasant to read and easy to digest. A little lost in the weeds with some of the reactions and bonds and how electrons are moved around for the valance, but I can see the value for the intended audience; a refresher of material you learned in depth recently, or a reference for study purposes.

[Josef]

Boy, electrons aren't what they used to be. While I can't speak to how much of modern chemistry this book covers, what it covered it covered well.

I do not intend to do much with chemistry, I read this book with the objective of rounding out my general knowledge and refreshing what I learned in school, now some distance in the rear view mirror. For that purpose, this book was a good choice.

[Fathoni · Rating 4 out of 5]

A concise book to refresh one's understanding to basic concepts of chemistry, but should be comprehensible as well for those who haven't touched some chemistry concepts. Some parts may take a while to digest and requires additional research (e.g. the explanations of chirality) but otherwise it is well-written.

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple book that covers basic chemistry well and is a useful aid when reviewing topics you have already studied and are beginning to grasp. Not as helpful when you don't fully grasp the material but I suspect that's because it's less thorough than the full chemistry for dummies book.

[Valerii Ustyugov · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book for a novice

[Martin Lostak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book so far, for understanding the basics of chemistry

[Bella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful.

[Frances Tait · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect for revising all the things I used to know before I get back into studying.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Library book that had to return but good intro and happy to reborrow or buy

[knoba · Rating 4 out of 5]

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Contents
Introduction
1. Matter And Energy: Exploring The Stuff Of Chemistry
2. What’s In An Atom?
3. The Periodic Table
4. Nuclear Chemistry
5. Ionic Bonding
6. Covalent Bonding
7. Chemical Reactions
8. Electrochemistry: Using Electrons
9. Measuring Substances With The Mole
10. A Salute To Solutions
11. Acids And Bases
12. Clearing The Air On Gases
13. Ten Serendipitous Discoveries In Chemistry
Index

[Jim Blessing · Rating 2 out of 5]

After not being able to understand a previous book on chemistry, I tried this book for Dummies. Unfortunately, once I got to the third chapter, I was totally lost again, so now I know that I deserved that D- that I got in this subject in High School.

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great break down of the basics. Good as a read along with any first year course in Chemistry