CHEMISTRY

A Beginner's Guide
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
01 Introduction to Chemistry
What is Chemistry? 03
States of Matter 04
Physical & Chemical 05
Changes
Atoms, Molecules, Element, 06
Compound & Mixture

02 Atomic Structure
Structure of atom 06
Subatomic Particles 07
Electronic Configuration 08
Valency,Isotopes, Ions 08

03 The Periodic Table

Modern Periodic Table 09
Important elements 10
Metals, Nonmetals, 11
and Metalloids

04 Chemical Reactions and Equations

Chemical Reactions & its Types 09
Chemical Equations 09
Writing and Balancing 11
Chemical Equations
05 The Mole Concept
What is a Mole? 12
Avogadro’s Number 13
Molar Mass and 14
Calculations
Mole Calculations
14

06 Chemical Bonding
Why Atoms Combine? 15
How Atoms Combine? 16
Ionic Bonding 17
Covalent Bonding 18
Unit 1: Introduction to
Chemistry
What is Chemistry?
Chemistry is the branch of science that studies matter, its composition,
structure, properties, and the changes it undergoes during chemical
reactions.
In Simple Terms:
Chemistry is the science of what things are made of and how they
change.

Why is Chemistry Important?

Chemistry is called the central science because it connects physics,
biology, earth science, and environmental science.
In our daily routines, we often rely on water, soap, body lotions,
shampoos, and plastic combs to maintain hygiene. We also consume
essentials like bread, vegetables, fruits, milk, tea, porridge, sugar, and
honey, among other foods. Have you ever paused to consider how these
necessities are obtained? And have you wondered how our lives would
be without them?
Well, some things like water and milk occur naturally. But others, like
soap, body lotions, sugar, and bread, are made from other things or
substances. Chemistry helps make all of these things. Even for naturally
occurring substances, chemistry helps us understand them better,
allowing us to use them in the right way to improve and simplify our
lives. So, chemistry affects everything we do every day.
To help you figure out how chemistry affects our daily lives, let’s see a
few areas where chemistry is applied

Everyday Area How Chemistry Helps

🍳 Cooking Make food taste better and last longer

💊 Medicine/ Biology Understand the human body and

develop medicines

🌱 Farming Helps make better fertilizers and

pesticides

🚗 Fuel & Energy Helps make batteries, fuels, and solar

panels (produces clean energy)

🧼 Cleaning Explains how soap and detergents work

Branches of Chemistry
Chemistry is a large and broad subject that covers a ton of different
material, so it is separated into different branches that focus on different
section of chemistry
Test Youself
 States of matter
What is matter?
Matter is anything that has mass and takes up space (volume). It's the
physical substance that everything in the universe is made of.
States of Matters:
The three states of matter are solids, liquids, and gases
A substance can usually exist in all three states, dependent on
temperature (and pressure)
State changes occur at the melting point (solid to liquid, liquid to
solid) and at the boiling point (liquid to gas and gas to liquid)
Melting and freezing occur at the melting point
Boiling and condensing take place at the boiling point
The three states of matter can be represented by a simple model
In this model, the particles are represented by small solid spheres
Changing states of matter
The amount of energy needed to change state from solid to liquid and
from liquid to gas depends on the strength of the forces between the
particles
The stronger the forces between the particles, the more energy that
is needed to overcome them
Changing states is a physical change
The particles themselves remain the same, it is just the forces
between the particles which change
Melting
Melting is when a solid changes into a liquid
Heat energy absorbed by the particles is transformed into kinetic
energy
This causes the particles to vibrate more and start to move.
Melting happens at a specific temperature, known as the melting
point (m.p.)
Boiling
Boiling and evaporation are both when a liquid changes into a gas
However, there is a key difference between boiling and
evaporation
In boiling, heat energy causes bubbles of gas to form inside the
liquid, allowing for liquid particles to escape from the surface and
within the liquid
Boiling happens at a specific temperature, known as the boiling point
(b.p.)
Evaporation
Evaporation occurs over a range of temperatures
It can happen at temperatures below the boiling point of the
liquid
Evaporation occurs only at the surface of liquids where high energy
particles can escape from the liquid's surface at low temperatures
The larger the surface area and the warmer the liquid surface, the
more quickly a liquid can evaporate.
Freezing
Freezing is when a liquid changes into a solid
This is the reverse of melting and occurs at the same temperature as
melting
So, the melting point and freezing point of a pure substance are
the same
For example, water freezes and melts at 0 ºC
Freezing needs a significant decrease in temperature (or loss of
thermal energy) and occurs at a specific temperature
Condensation
Condensation occurs when a gas changes into a liquid on cooling and
takes place over a range of temperatures
When a gas is cooled its particles lose energy and when they bump into
each other they lack the energy to bounce away again, instead, they
group together to form a liquid
Sublimation
When a solid changes directly into a gas
This happens to only a few solids, such as iodine or solid carbon dioxide
The reverse reaction also happens and is called desublimation or
deposition
Heat and Cold Curves
Test Yourself
 Chemical and physical change
Chemical change
When a chemical reaction occurs, atoms are neither created nor
destroyed. Instead, the atoms rearrange themselves to form new
chemicals. This is known as a chemical change. A new compound results
from a chemical change. The starting materials and final product are
chemically different from one another. For example
Burning wood
Souring milk
Digesting food
Cooking an egg
Heating sugar to form caramel
Baking a cake
Rusting of iron

Physical change
The other kind of change in chemistry is a physical change, which is when
a substance changes without becoming a new chemical. These physical
changes are often changes in state such as melting, freezing, boiling,
condensing and dissolving. For example
Crumpling a sheet of aluminum foil
Melting an ice cube
Casting silver in a mold
Breaking a bottle
Boiling water
Evaporating alcohol
Shredding paper
Carbon changing from graphite into a diamond
 The differences between the two types of change are
summarised below.

Test Yourself
Q.1. Define the following terms:
A. Physical Change:

B. Chemical Change:

Q.2. Write T or True if the statement is true; write F or False if the

statement is false.
_________ 1. A physical change causes the properties of a substance to
change.
_________ 2. No new substance is formed with a physical change.
_________ 3. A chemical change can be easily reversed.
_________ 4. Changes in states of matter are physical changes.
Q.3. Which of the following is not a sign that a chemical reaction has
occurred?
a) Change in temperature b) change in shape
c) Change in color d) Formation of a gas

Q.4. Identify the following as physical change or chemical change.

 Atom, Molecules, Element, and Compounds

Atom: The smallest part of an element that can exist. A neutral particle
made up of a nucleus containing protons and neutrons surrounded by
electrons in energy levels. The simplest structural unit of an element is an
atom. Atoms are very small. A hundred million (100,000,000) hydrogen
atoms put side-by-side is only as long as one centimeter

Molecule: A Molecule is the general term used to describe any atom or

a group of atoms that are connected by chemical bonds. Every
combination of atoms is a molecule. A molecule is the smallest stable
unit of any substance, which is responsible for all physical and
chemical properties of that particular substance. It is formed when two
or more atoms of the same or different types of elements combine in a
fixed ratio. Diatomic

Monoatomic

Triatomic

Polyatomic

Homoatomic Molecules
 Homoatomic Molecules Heteroatomic Molecules
(Element) (Compounds)

Elements: An element is a pure substance consisting of only one type of

atom which all have the same numbers of protons in their nuclei.

Compound: Compounds are chemical substances made up of two or

more elements that are chemically bound together in a fixed ratio.

Difference between Elements and Compounds

 What is a Mixture?
when two or more substances mix with each other without
participating in a chemical change, the resulting substance is
a Mixture.The properties of mixtures are listed below.
The components of a mixture each keep their original properties.
The separation of components can be easily done.
The proportion of the components is variable.

Examples of Mixtures
Crude oil: A mixture of organic compounds (mainly hydrocarbons)
Seawater: A mixture of various salt and water.
Air: a mixture of various gases like oxygen, carbon dioxide, etc.
Ink: A mixture of coloured dyes.
Gunpowder: A mixture of sulfur, potassium nitrate and carbon.

Types of Mixtures
Test Yourself
Unit 2: Atomic
Structure
 Structure of atoms
Protons, neutrons and electrons
Atoms are the smallest part of an element that can exist.
Atoms are made up of smaller particles called protons,
neutrons and electrons. The table below shows the relative
mass and electric charge of these particles. The mass is given
relative to the mass of a proton. Protons and neutrons have
the same mass as each other while electrons are much lighter.

The structure of atoms

Atoms are very small. Typical atoms have a radius of about
0.1 nm (0.000 000 000 1 m, that is 1 × 10−10 m). Atoms have
a central nucleus, which contains protons and neutrons. The
nucleus is surrounded by electrons. The electrons move around
the nucleus in energy levels or shells.
The 2D diagram proton neutron electron nucleus is tiny
compared to the size of the atom as a whole. The radius of the
nucleus is less than 1/10 000th of that of the atom. This
difference in size between a nucleus and an atom is equivalent to
a pea placed in the middle of a football pitch. The nucleus
contains protons and neutrons. These are much heavier than
electrons. This means that most of the mass of the atom is
contained in the tiny nucleus in the middle.
 Subatomic Particles based concepts
Atomic number and mass number
The number of protons that an atom contains is called its atomic number.
Atoms of different elements have different numbers of protons.
It is the number of protons that determines which element an atom is.
For example, all atoms with 6 protons are carbon atoms, while all atoms
with 7 protons are nitrogen atoms. All atoms are neutral, which means
they have no overall electric charge. This is because the number of
protons (which are positively charged) is the same as the number of
electrons (which are negatively charged).
Most of the mass of an atom is due to the protons and neutrons. Protons
and neutrons have the same mass as each other. The mass number of an
atom is the sum of the number of protons and neutrons in an atom. For
example, an atom of sodium has 11 protons and 12 neutrons and so has a
mass number of 23.

The atomic number and mass number of an atom can be used to work
out the number of protons, neutrons and electrons in an atom:
● number of protons = atomic number
● number of neutrons = mass number – atomic number
● number of electrons = atomic number (only for atoms, not ions).
Test Yourself
 Electronic Configuration

Electronic configuration: “The electron configuration of an

element describes how electrons are distributed in its atomic orbitals.”
We can represent the structure of the atom in two ways:
using diagrams called electron shell diagrams or by writing out a
special notation called the electronic configuration (or
electronic structure or electron distribution)
Electron shell diagrams
Electrons orbit the nucleus in shells (or energy levels) and each
shell has a different amount of energy associated with it
The further away from the nucleus, the more energy a shell has
Electrons fill the shell closest to the nucleus
When a shell becomes full of electrons, additional electrons have to be
added to the next shell
The first shell can hold 2 electrons
The second shell can hold 8 electrons
For this course, a simplified model is used that suggests that the
third shell can hold 8 electrons
For the first 20 elements, once the third shell has 8 electrons,
the fourth shell begins to fill
The outermost shell of an atom is called the valence shell, and an
atom is much more stable if it can manage to completely fill this
shell with electrons

The arrangement of electrons in shells can also be explained using

numbers
Instead of drawing electron shell diagrams, the number of electrons in
each electron shell can be written down, separated by commas
This notation is called the electronic configuration (or electronic
structure)
E.g. Carbon has 6 electrons, 2 in the 1st shell and 4 in the 2nd shell
Its electronic configuration is 2,4
Electron Configuration of Oxygen
The atomic number of oxygen is 8, implying that an oxygen atom
holds 8 electrons. Its electrons are filled in the following order:
K shell – 2 electrons
L shell – 6 electrons

Chlorine Electronic Configuration

Chlorine has an atomic number of 17. Therefore, its 17 electrons are
distributed in the following manner:
K shell –
L shell –
M shell –

Deducing the Electron Configuration

The Periodic Table is split up into four main blocks depending on
their electron configuration
Elements can be classified as an s-block element, p-block element
and so on, based on the position of the outermost electron:
s block elements
Have their valence electron(s) in an s orbital
p block elements
Have their valence electron(s) in a p orbital
d block elements
Have their valence electron(s) in a d orbital
f block elements
Have their valence electron(s) in an f orbital
The shells increase in energy with increasing
principal quantum number
E.g. n = 4 is higher in energy than n = 2
＜ ＜ ＜
The subshells increase in energy as follows: s p d f
The only exception to these rules is the 3d orbital which has
slightly higher energy than the 4s orbital
Because of this, the 4s orbital is filled before the 3d orbital
All the orbitals in the same subshell have the same energy and are said
to be degenerate
Pattern of filling electrons in Subshells

Write the electronic configuration of

an element having 11 electrons.

Electronic configuration of 1st twenty elements

Test Yourself
 Valence, Ion, and Isotope
Valence:The unique property of an element is valency. It is
combining capacity of an element with other elements. It depends
upon the number of electrons in the outermost shell.
The group number of an element on the
periodic table is directly related to its
valence electrons,

Ions: Ion is an atom or group of atoms having a charge. The charge

may be positive or negative. There are two types of ions i.e. cations
and anions. An atom or group of atoms having positive charge on it
is called cation. The cations are formed when atoms lose electrons
from their outermost shells. For example, Na+, K+ are cations.
An atom or a group of atoms that has a negative charge on it, is
called anion. Anion is formed by the gain or addition of electrons to
an atom. For example,
Isotopes: Isotopes are defined as the atoms of an element that
have same atomic number but different mass numbers. They have
same electronic configuration and number of protons but they
differ in the number of neutrons. Isotopes have similar chemical
properties because these depend upon electronic configuration.
But they have different physical properties because these depend
upon mass numbers.
Fill the Table
Unit 3: The Periodic
Table
What is the Periodic Table?
The periodic table is a tabular arrangement of chemical elements,
organized by their atomic number, electron configuration, and
recurring chemical properties. It's a fundamental tool in chemistry and
other sciences, used to analyze element reactivity.
Organization:
Atomic Number:
Elements are arranged in order of increasing atomic number (number
of protons in the nucleus).
Rows (Periods):
Horizontal rows are called periods. There are 7 periods. Elements in the
same period have the same number of electron shells.
Columns (Groups):
Vertical columns are called groups. There are 18 groups. Elements in
the same group have similar chemical properties due to having the
same number of valence electrons (electrons in the outermost shell).
That’s why they are known as Family.
Electron shells & The Periodic Table
How does the electronic structure of an element relate to its location
in the Periodic Table?
There is a clear relationship between the electronic configuration
and how the Periodic Table is designed
The number of notations in the electronic configuration will show
the number of occupied shells of electrons the atom has, showing
the period in which that element is in
The last notation shows the number of outer electrons the atom
has, showing the group that element is in (for elements in Groups I
to VII)
Elements in the same group have the same number of outer shell
electrons
Diagram showing the relationship between the electronic
configurations
 Period: The red numbers at the bottom show the number of
notations
The number of notations is 3
Therefore chlorine has 3 occupied shells
Group: The last notation, in this case 7
This means that chlorine has 7 electrons in its outer shell
Chlorine is therefore in Group 7
The Periodic Table showing the location of chlorine

The noble gases

In most atoms, the outermost shell is not full
These atoms react with other atoms in order to achieve a full outer
shell of electrons making them more stable
In some cases, atoms lose electrons to entirely empty this shell so
that the next shell below becomes a (full) outer shell
They then have the electronic structure of a noble gas (Group
VIII)
All of the noble gases are unreactive as they have full outer shells
and are thus very stable
The Periodic Table showing the location of the noble gases
Salient Features of Long Form of Periodic Table:
This table consists of seven horizontal rows called periods.
First period consists of only two elements. Second and third periods
consist of 8 elements each. Fourth and fifth periods consist of 18
elements each. Sixth period has 32 elements while seventh period has
23 elements and is incomplete.
Elements of a period show different properties.
There are 18 vertical columns in the periodic table numbered 1 to 18
from left to right, which are called groups.
The elements of a group show similar chemical properties.
Elements are classified into four blocks depending upon the type of
the subshell that receives the last electron.

Important Elements
Some Groups of the Periodic Table
 Metal, Non- Metal and Metalloid
What are Metals?
78% of known elements are metals.
They take up the left side of the Periodic Table.
At room temperature, they are usually solids (except mercury).
They usually have high boiling and melting points.
They are shiny having a metallic lustre.
They are good conductors of heat and electricity.
They are malleable, that is, they can be hammered into thin sheets.
They are ductile, that is, they can be drawn into wires.
All the metals tend to lose electrons easily.

What are non -metals?

They occupy the right-hand side of the Periodic Table.
Most non-metals are brittle and are not malleable or ductile.
At room temperature, they are usually solids or gases.
They usually have low boiling and melting points (except for
carbon and boron).
They are poor conductors of heat and electricity.
They are usually less dense when compared to metals.
They tend to gain electrons during chemical reactions.

What are metalloids?

Metalloids exhibit some properties of metals as well as

non-metals. Hence, they are also known as semi-metals.
Boron, silicon, germanium, arsenic, antimony, and tellurium are
the most commonly recognized metalloids.
These elements run diagonally across the Periodic Table.
They may have a metallic or dull appearance.
They are usually brittle and are fair conductors of electricity.
They may gain or lose electrons during chemical reactions.
They form alloys with metals.
They are used as catalysts, biological agents, flame retardants,
alloys and semiconductors in industries due to their unique
properties
Test Yourself
 Unit 4: Chemical
Reactions and Equation
 Chemical Reactions & its Types
A chemical reaction is a process where substances, called reactants,
are transformed into new substances, called products, through the
rearrangement of atoms and the breaking or forming of chemical bonds.
five common types of chemical reactions are discussed below.
Chemical Equation
Chemical equations are symbolic representations of chemical
reactions in which the reactants and the products are expressed in
terms of their respective chemical formulae.

Representing the Direction of the Chemical Reaction

The reactants and the products (for which the chemical formulae are
written in chemical equations) can be separated by one of the
following four symbols.
In order to describe a net forward reaction, the symbol ‘→’ is used.
In order to describe a state of chemical equilibrium, the symbol
⇌
‘ ’ is used.
In order to describe a reaction that occurs in both forward and
⇄
backward directions, the symbol ‘ ’ is used.
Representing the Physical States of the Reacting Entities
Apart from the coefficients of the reacting and the produced entities,
symbols enclosed in parentheses are also written adjacent to them in
order to describe their physical states over the course of the chemical
reaction. These symbols may be one of the following.
The symbol (s) describes an entity in the solid state
The symbol (l) denotes the liquid state of an entity
The symbol (g) implies that the entity is in the gaseous state.
The (aq) symbol corresponding to an entity in a chemical equation
denotes an aqueous solution of that entity.
 Below is an example using the classic baking soda and vinegar
(acetic acid) reaction. The reactants are solid baking soda and
aqueous acetic acid. The products are carbon dioxide gas, liquid
water and dissolved sodium (Na+) and acetate (CH3COO-) ions.

Writing and Balancing Chemical Equations

Balancing Equations
A symbol equation is a shorthand way of describing a chemical
reaction using chemical symbols to show the number and type of
each atom in the reactants and products
A word equation is a longer way of describing a chemical reaction
using
only words to show the reactants and products
Balancing equations
During chemical reactions, atoms cannot be created or destroyed
The number of each atom on each side of the reaction must
therefore
be the same
E.g. the reaction needs to be balanced
When balancing equations remember:
Not to change any of the formulae
To put the numbers used to balance the equation in front of
the formulae
When balancing equations, follow the following steps:
Write the formulae of the reactants and products
Count the number of atoms in each reactant and product
Balance the atoms one at a time until all the atoms are balanced
Use appropriate state symbols in the equation
 Example

2. Balance the following equation:

zinc + copper(II) sulfate → zinc(II) sulfate + copper
Test Your Self