S1.
3 Electronic Configuration
Key Concepts
• Electrons: Negatively charged particles orbiting the nucleus.
• Orbitals: Regions of space around the nucleus where electrons are likely
to be found.
• Energy Levels: Different regions of space where electrons can have
different amounts of energy, numbered 1, 2, 3, etc., from the nucleus
outward.
• Subshells: Divisions within an energy level, labeled with letters s, p, d, and
f. Each subshell can hold a specific number of electrons: s (2), p (6), d (10),
and f (14).
• Aufbau Principle: Electrons fill orbitals in order of increasing energy. This
means that electrons will fill lower energy orbitals before filling higher
energy orbitals.
• Hund's Rule: Within a subshell, electrons will fill orbitals singly before
pairing up. This means that each orbital in a subshell will receive one
electron before any orbital receives a second electron.
• Pauli Exclusion Principle: No two electrons in an atom can have the same
set of four quantum numbers. This means that each1 electron in an atom
must have a unique set of quantum numbers,2 which describe its energy
level, subshell, orbital, and spin.
Electromagnetic Spectrum and Atomic Spectra
• Electromagnetic Spectrum: The range of all types of electromagnetic
radiation, including visible light, radio waves, X-rays, etc. Electromagnetic
radiation is characterized by its wavelength and frequency.
• Atomic Spectra: When atoms absorb or emit energy, they produce specific
wavelengths of light. This light can be analyzed to determine the energy
levels of the atom's electrons.
• Energy levels of orbitals: The different energies that electrons can have in
an atom. Electrons can absorb energy to move to a higher energy level or
release energy to move to a lower energy level. This energy is often
released in the form of light, producing the characteristic atomic spectra.
S1.4 Stoichiometry
Key Concepts
• Mole: The SI unit for amount of substance, containing Avogadro's number
(6.022 x 10^23) of particles. It's a fundamental unit in chemistry, relating
mass, volume, and number of particles.
• Mole concept: The relationship between the mass, volume, and number
of particles of a substance. This concept allows us to convert between
these different units and perform calculations involving chemical
reactions.
• Isotopes: Atoms of the same element with different numbers of neutrons.
Isotopes have the same number of protons but different masses due to
the varying number of neutrons.
• Relative atomic mass: The weighted average of the masses of the isotopes
of an element. It's a measure of the average mass of an atom of an
element, taking into account the abundance of its isotopes.
• Empirical formula: The simplest whole-number ratio of atoms in a
compound. It provides the basic composition of a compound without
specifying the actual number of atoms.
• Molecular formula: The actual number of atoms of each element in a
molecule. It gives the precise composition of a molecule, including the
exact number of atoms of each element.
• Molar concentration: The number of moles of solute per liter of solution.
It's a measure of the concentration of a solution, indicating the amount of
solute dissolved in a specific volume of solvent.
• Dilution: The process of adding water to a solution to decrease its
concentration. By adding more solvent, the concentration of the solute is
reduced.
• Titration: A laboratory technique used to determine the concentration of
an unknown solution. It involves adding a solution of known
concentration (titrant) to a solution of unknown concentration (analyte)
until the reaction is complete.3 By measuring the volume of titrant added,
the concentration of the analyte can be calculated.
• Ideal gas: A gas that obeys the ideal gas law (PV = nRT). Ideal gases are
hypothetical gases that follow certain assumptions, such as having
negligible intermolecular forces and occupying negligible volume.
• Real gas: A gas that does not behave perfectly according to the ideal gas
law. Real gases deviate from ideal gas behavior at high pressures and low
temperatures, where intermolecular forces become significant.4
• Gas laws: Equations that describe the relationship between the pressure,
volume, temperature, and number of moles of a gas. These laws include
Boyle's Law, Charles' Law, Gay-Lussac's Law, and the Combined Gas Law.
Important Equations
• Ideal Gas Law: PV = nRT, where P is pressure, V is volume, n is the number
of moles, R is the gas constant, and T is temperature.5
• Molarity: Molarity = moles of solute / liters of solution
• Dilution Equation: M1V1 = M2V2, where M1 and V1 are the initial
molarity and volume, and M2 and V2 are the final molarity and volume.
