Chapter 1 Chemistry: An Introduction

1. Chapter 1 Chemistry: An Introduction

2. A. The Importance of Learning Chemistry • Chemistry is important to everyone because chemistry occurs all around us in our daily lives. • Chemistry “looks inside” ordinary objects to study how their components behave. • Chemists develop new materials. • Chemistry can produce new sources of energy. • Chemistry can help to control diseases.

3. * B. What Is Chemistry? • Chemistry is the science that deals with the materials of the universe and the changes that these materials undergo. • The goal of chemistry is to connect the macroscopic world you live in to the microscopic world that makes it all work.

4. * C. The Scientific Method • The scientific method is a procedure for processing the information that flows from the world around us in which we: • Make observations • Formulate hypotheses • Perform experiments

5. D. The Scientific Method

6. * D. The Scientific Method Observations Are Not Theories • An observation can be witnessed and recorded. • A theory is an interpretation – a possible explanation of why something happens.

7. * D. The Scientific Method Theories Do Not Become Laws • A natural law is a summary of behavior. • A theory is our attempt to explain why it happens.

8. * E. Observations • Quantitative – Observation made by using numbers and/or measurements to describe. • Qualitative – Observation made by using descriptive words.

9. * F.Measurements • Precision – Reproducibility in measurement. (Coming up with the same results again & again) • Accuracy – Closeness of measurement to the accepted value.

12. G. Strategies for Learning Chemistry • Learn the vocabulary • Try to understand the fundamental ideas • Use trial and error to solve problems • Practice, practice, practice!

13. G. Strategies for Learning Chemistry

14. * H. Law of Conservation of Mass • You cannot destroy or create substances in a chemical reaction. You simply change how they are arranged or appear.