I. A BRIEF HISTORY OF CHEMISTRY

A. Chemistry Prior to the Scientific Revolution

1. The use of chemistry for practical purposes over several thousand years

a) Use of raw metals (gold, copper) for jewelry and weaponry

b) Extraction of ores (smelting with flux) to make copper and tin

c) INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC: Mixing metals to make bronze*

d) INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC: The use of dyes and preservatives*

e) Development of ceramics and glasses for decorative and domestic uses

f) INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC: Alchemy and the “philosopher’s stone”*

g) INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC: Gunpowder and fireworks*

2. Thinking about the nature of matter—the beginnings of “natural philosophy”

a) INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC: Early thinkers on the nature of matter*

B. Antoine Lavoisier and the Birth of Modern Chemistry

1. Key concepts developed during this period

a) Measuring gases

b) Weighing things

c) Careful observations

d) Accounting for matter

e) Chemical change vs. physical change

2. INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC: The “Living Tree” Experiment*

3. INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC: Antoine Lavoisier and his role and fate in the French Revolution*

4. INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC: Madame Lavoisier*

C. Chemistry after Lavoisier

1. Key concepts developed

a) Atomic structure

b) INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC: Radioactivity and nuclear structure*

c) Conservation of mass/energy

d) Intermolecular and intramolecular forces

e) INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC: The periodic table and associated periodicity*

f) Thermodynamics (including free energy and entropy)

g) Potential energy models for chemical reactions

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II. THE STRUCTURE OF MATTER

A. Atomic Theory and Atomic Structure

1. Atomic masses

a) Determination by chemical means (ratios of atomic masses in compounds)

b) INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC: Mass spectrometry*

2. Atomic number and mass number, isotopes

a) Use of symbols for isotopes

b) Standard for atomic mass: 12C = 12.00000

c) INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC: Properties and importance of commonly recognized isotopes—2H, 14C, 60Co*

d) Calculating weighted average atomic masses for a simple binary-isotopic element

3. Electron energy levels

a) Atomic spectra emission and absorption and relation to electron energies in atoms

b) INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC: Wave and particle nature of the electron and photon*

c) Electron orbitals

4. Periodic relationships—definitions, general trends, and causes

5. INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC: Electronegativity*

6. Electronegativities—numbers representing a balance between ionization energy and electron affinity that express an atom’s attraction for electrons in forming a bond to another atom

7. Oxidation states—numbers that can be assigned to an atom to represent how the atom has lost or gained electrons to form an ion or bond(s) to other atoms

B. Chemical Bonding (Including Intermolecular Forces)

1. Binding forces

a) Five types: ionic, covalent, metallic, hydrogen bonding, van der Waals (including London dispersion forces)

b) Effect of bond types on the structures of solid compounds

i. Ionic lattice

ii. Covalent network

iii. Molecular solid

c) How intermolecular forces determine states of matter (solid, liquid, gas) at room temperature

d) Polarity of bonds

e) INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC: Importance of hydrogen bonding in living systems*

2. Molecular models

a) Lewis structures for atoms, covalent and ionic compounds

b) Valence bond concept

i. Hybridization of atomic orbitals as an explanation for molecular shapes

ii. INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC: The formation of molecular orbitals*

iii. INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC: The resonance concept model*

iv. VSEPR concept

3. Geometry of molecules and ions

a) VSEPR prediction

b) Dipole moments of molecules

c) The relationship between molecular properties and molecular structure

C. Nuclear Chemistry

1. Nuclear equations, half-lives, and radioactivity

2. Nomenclature for isotopes (nuclides)

3. INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC: Decay equations and predicting the products of decays*

4. INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC: Alpha bombardment reactions*

5. INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC: Fission and fusion reactions*

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III. STATES OF MATTER

A. Gases

1. Laws of ideal gases

a) Equation of state for an ideal gas, problems involving changes in volume, temperature,pressure, and numbers of moles

b) INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC: Partial pressures and correction of gas volumes collected over water*

2. Kinetic molecular theory

a) Interpretation of ideal gas laws on the basis of the kinetic molecular theory

i. Conditions for ideal behavior (assumptions made)

ii. Relation of particle speed to mass, collision frequency, volume, and pressure

b) Avogadro’s hypothesis and the mole concept

i. Volume of one mole of ideal gas at STP

c) Dependence of kinetic energy of molecules on temperature

i. Dependence of relative diffusion and effusion rates on molecular mass and temperature

d) INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC: The behavior of gases under extreme conditions*

B. Liquids

1. Liquids compared to gases and solids from the kinetic-molecular viewpoint

a) Distinctions of translational, vibrational, and rotational motion/energies

2. Phase diagrams of one-component systems

a) Water (as an exception); gas, liquid, and solid phases in equilibrium; triple and critical points

b) INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC: Carbon dioxide*

C. Solutions

1. Types of solutions and factors affecting solubility

a) Inorganic ions in water, simple solubility rules, precipitates, and saturated solutions

b) Organic molecules and non-polar solutes and solvents

2. Methods of expressing concentration

a) Molarity, grams % (weight %), molality for colligative properties

3. INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC: Raoult’s law and colligative properties*

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IV. REACTIONS

A. Types of Reactions

1. Acid-base reactions in aqueous solutions; treated as proton transfer (Brønsted-Lowry); amphoterism of water

a) Fully ionized (strong) and partially ionized (weak) acids and bases

b) Concept of acid and base conjugates

c) INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC: Acid-base reactions and salts*

2. Precipitation reactions

a) INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC: Precipitates*

3. Oxidation-reduction reactions

a) Oxidation number

b) The role of the electron in oxidation-reduction

4. Electrochemistry

a) Electrolytic and galvanic cells; standard half-cell potentials; predicting the direction of redox reactions

b) INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC: Electroplating*

c) INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC: The Nernst equation*

B. Stoichiometry

1. Ionic and molecular species present in chemical systems—net ionic equations

2. Balancing equations, including those for redox reactions

3. Mass and volume relations, with emphasis on the mole concept, including empirical formulas and limiting reactants

a) Calculating yields from reactions

b) Calculating empirical formula from percent composition

C. Equilibrium

1. Concept of dynamic equilibrium, physical and chemical

2. Equilibrium constant as an expression of a ratio when forward and reverse reactions have equal rates

3. Quantitative treatment

a) Equilibrium constants for simple gaseous reactions: Kp, Kc, and how they are related by using the ideal gas equation

b) Equilibrium constants for acids and bases

c) Solubility product constants and their application to precipitation and the dissolution of slightly soluble compounds

D. Kinetics

1. Concept of rate of reaction

2. Effects of changes in temperature, concentration, or surface area on rates of reaction

3. Explanations according to a simple collisional model of chemical reactions

4. Reaction potential energy diagrams for exothermic and endothermic reactions

E. Thermodynamics

1. State functions, standard state conditions

2. First law of thermodynamics: change in enthalpy; heat of formation; heat of reaction; Hess’s law; calorimetry

a) INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC: Hess’s law*

3. Second law of thermodynamics: entropy; free energy of formation; free energy of reaction; dependence of change in free energy on enthalpy and entropy changes; the Gibb’s equation; prediction of reaction spontaneity

4. Relationship of change in free energy to equilibrium constants and electrode potentials

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*Asterisks indicate topics that students will need to research independently. Information on these research topics can be found in chemistry textbooks, the USAD Science Research Guide, encyclopedias, and on the Internet.