CHAPTER 1: fundamental concepts

I.1/ Macroscopic characteristics of matter:

Matter appears to have three states: solid, liquid and gas, and can change from one state to
another under specific temperature and pressure conditions.
a / Solid state (s) :
The shape and volume of the solid matter are almost constant, and the arrangement of its
particles follows a well-defined order, such as salts.

b/ Liquid state (l) :

Particles in liquid solutions are more agitated than in the solid state, and have a fixed volume
but a variable shape, taking on the shape of its container.
c/ Gaseous state (g) :

In this state, atoms and molecules are excessively agitated and therefore very disordered.
They occupy a very large volume, and the gas takes on the shape of its container.

I.2/ Matter state change:

Figure I-1. Matter and its transformations.

I. 3/ Notions of atoms, molecules, moles and Avogadro number :

Matter is made up of elementary grains called atoms.

 The atom: is an infinitely small quantity of matter; the order of magnitude of its mass
is 10-26 kg.

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  The size of the atom is a few Angstrom (Ǻ).
 Atoms combine to form molecules.
 A molecule is therefore a union of atoms.
 The Avogadro number of atoms or molecules corresponds to 1 mole of atoms or
molecules. NA = 6.023 10 23
1 mole of O NA of O atom 16 g

I. 4/ Atomic mass unit (a.m.u), atomic and molecular molar mass and molar volume

:By definition, 1 a.m.u corresponds to 1/12 the mass of a carbon atom.

1 AMU = 1 /12 (mass of a carbon atom) = 1/12 (1*12g)/ NA = 1/NA = 1.66 10 g -24

= 1.66 10-27 Kg.

 The atomic molar mass is the mass of 1 mole of atoms or NA atoms.

 Molecular mass (M) is the mass of 1 mole of molecules or NA molecules.

 Molar volume is defined as the volume of one mole of a substance, and is used mainly
for gases.

I.5/ Qualitative aspect of the matter :

Matter appears as a pure body (simple or compound) or as a mixture.

a/ Pure substance: It is a single chemical species distinguished by physico-chemical

properties such as density, melting and boiling temperatures, odour, color, etc. e.g. H ,O ,Cu,
S.. .....
b/ Compound: It is made up of simple substance. Pure water is a natural substance formed
from chemically bonded hydrogen and oxygen. 2g of H2 and 16 g of O2 form one mole of
water.
c/ Notions of mixtures: a mixture consists of a pure substance with one or more substances
of a different nature. There are two types of mixture.
Salt water is a homogeneous mixture. This solution or mixture is made up of pure water (H2
O) and salt (NaCl), and it is homogeneous because of the uniform distribution of the dissolved
substance at every point in the volume of mixture.
In contrast, a heterogeneous mixture has a non-uniform composition throughout the volume
of the solution, in which more than one phase can be distinguished.
d/ Solutions: in a beaker containing distilled water, we introduce a sugar crystals (sucrose).
and then the solution is stirred. The crystals seem to disappear into the solution. They have
dissolved.
We have prepared an aqueous solution of sucrose. The amount of water is much greater than
that of sucrose, so water is the solvent and glucose the solute.
Solvent: Any liquid substance with the power to dissolve other substances.

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Solute: Is a chemical species (molecular or ionic) dissolved in a solvent.
The solvent is always in much greater quantity than the solute(s).
This homogeneous mixture (solvent + solute) is called a solution (aqueous if the solvent is
water), and the dissolved species is characterized by different types of concentration.

Be careful!

To qualify as a solution, the liquid must be homogeneous, i.e. it must consist of a single
phase.

e/ Concentration of a solution

 Molar concentration (Molarity): of a species A dissolved in a volume V of

solution isnoted: CM or M
It is equal to the quotient of the quantity of A
dissolved by the volume V of solution.

CM = n moles of solute(mole) / V solution (l)

 Mass concentration: of a solution (in g.l-1 or: g/l ) is equal to the ratio of the mass m
(in g) of dissolved solute to the volume V (in l) of solution:

Cm = m solute (g) / V solution (l)

 Molar fraction: this is the ratio of the quantity of compound "i" in moles contained
in a given volume of solution divided by the sum of the quantities of all the
constituents i,j…… present in this volume of solution.

 
Xi = ni (mole ) /Σ ni,j (moles)

Example: For an aqueous ethanol solution, we can calculate the mole fraction of each
component in the solution.

X ethanol = n ethanol / (n ethanol + n H2O)

Xi = 1 (X ethanol + X H2O) = 1

 Molality: this corresponds to the quantity of X in 1 kg of solvent. This unit of

concentration is rarely used. It is denoted by Cmolale.

Cmolale (moles /kg) = n (solute) / m solvent (kg)

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  Normality:

The normality of an acidic or basic solution in water is defined respectively as the number of
moles of (Z) H+ or OH- ions that can be released per liter of solution. Similarly, the oxidation-
reduction normality of a solution corresponds to the number of moles of electrons
(Z) likely to be released per liter of solution.

It is denoted by CN or N and is calculated using the following formula:

CN = number of gram equivalents / V solution (l)

Or CN = CM × Z

Z: depends on the nature of the solution. CM:

Molar concentration of the solution

Examples:

- Acid solution: CH3 COOH, (Z=1), H2 SO4 (Z=2),...

- Basic solution: NaOH, Z=1
- Salts :

1 FeSO4 Fe2+ + 1SO4 2-

Z= |+2 × 1| or |-2 × 1|

- Oxidoreductive normality:

Z is the number of electrons exchanged between the reactive ions in the solution.

 Mass percent or mass fraction (purity) :

It's the ratio of the mass of a compound (solute) X, contained in a certain volume of solution,
divided by the mass of the solution. For example, a 10% solution of X contains 10g of X per
100g of solution.

mass % = (m solute / m solution) × 100

 Volume percent :

It's the ratio of the volume of compound (solute) X divided by the volume of solution.

% by volume = (V solute / V solution) × 100

 Volumic mass ρ: Is the substance's mass per unit of volume.

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  ρ = m solution /Vsolution

With :
m is the mass in Kg, g.
V is the volume in m3 , l or cm3
Then ρ is expressed in kg/ m3 , g/l or g/cm3

 Density: the density of a substance is defined in relation to that of water.

d substance = ρ substance / ρ solvent

Since both densities are expressed in the same unit, it follows that density is a dimensionless
number.
For gases, density is calculated in relation to air density.

dgaz = gaz / air

The density of air is low (1.2 kg/m3 at sea level at 20°C) compared with that of water (1000
kg/m3 at 20°C).

 Solution dilution:

Diluting an aqueous solution involves reducing its concentration by adding solvent (water).
The initial solution of higher concentration is called the stock solution.
The final solution of lower concentration is called the diluted solution).
During dilution, the quantity of solute is conserved so that we can write :
ni = nf

Ci ×Vi = Cf × Vf
With ;
n: number of moles
V: volume
C: concentration
i: initial, i.e. relative to the stocked solution
solution.f : final, i.e. relative to the diluted
solution.

Example: 100 mL of aqueous diiodine solution I2 with a concentration of 5.0.10-2 mol.L-1 is

available.
What volume of stock solution should be used to make 50.0 mL of dilute diiodine solution
with a concentration of 1.0.10-2 mol.L-1 ?

I.6/ The fundamental laws of chemistry

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a / The law of conservation of mass (Lavoisier 1772) :

In a chemical reaction, the sum of the masses of the reactants is equal to the sum of the
masses of the products. (Lavoisier's Law)

During a chemical reaction, it's the molecule that changes, but the atoms remain unaffected,
and are associated in a different way in the products obtained.

Example: N2 + 3H2 2NH3 mass of reactants = (2×14) + 3×(2×1) = 34 g

product weight = 2×(14+ (3×1)) 17×2=34 g

b/ The law of constant proportions (Joseph-Louis Proust 1807) :

It's a law of weight according to which, when two or more simple bodies combine to form a
defined compound, their combination always takes place according to the same ratio of mass.
This law forms the basis of stoichiometry in chemistry.

c/ Law of perfect gases :

The most commonly used equation of state is the perfect gas equation.

P V = nRT

P: Pressure (pascal, atmosphere)

V: volume (m3/liter)
T: Temperature (K)
n: number of moles
R: Perfect gas constant
For 1 mole of perfect gas at standard conditions 0°c and 1 atm, it occupies 22.4 l,
R values are: 8.31 joules/mol.K = 0.082 l.atm/mol.K = 2 calories/mol.K
1 atm = 1.013. 10 5 Pa =760 mmHg

d/ Dalton's equation :

Pi = Pt × Xi

Pi : partial pressure of gas i present in the gas mixture.

Pt : Total pressure of the gas mixture.
Xi : Molar fraction of gas i.