S imply put, chemistry is a whole branch of science about

matter, which is anything that has mass and occupies

space. Chemistry is the study of the composition and properties
of matter and the changes it undergoes.
Matter and energy are the two basic components of the universe.
Scientists used to believe that these two things were
separate and distinct, but now they realize that matter and
energy are linked. In an atomic bomb or nuclear reactor, for
instance, matter is converted into energy. (Perhaps someday
science fiction will become a reality and converting the
human body into energy and back in a transporter will be
commonplace.)
In this chapter, you examine the different states of matter and
what happens when matter goes from one state to another.
I show you how to use the SI (metric) system to make matter
and energy measurements, and I describe types of energy and
how energy is measured.

Matter is anything that has mass and occupies space. It can

exist in one of three classic states: solid, liquid, and gas. When
a substance goes from one state of matter to another, the process
is called a change of state, or phase change. Some rather
interesting things occur during this process, which I explain
in this section.

Solids, liquids, and gases

Particles of matter behave differently depending on whether
they’re part of a solid, liquid, or gas. As Figure 2-1 shows,
the particles may be organized or clumped, close or spread
out. In this section, you look at the solid, liquid, and gaseous
states of matter.

Solids
At the macroscopic level, the level at which you directly observe
with your senses, a solid has a definite shape and occupies a
definite volume. Think of an ice cube in a glass — it’s a solid.
You can easily weigh the ice cube and measure its volume.
At the microscopic level (where items are so small that people
can’t directly observe them), the particles that make up the

Solids
At the macroscopic level, the level at which you directly observe
with your senses, a solid has a definite shape and occupies a
definite volume. Think of an ice cube in a glass — it’s a solid.
You can easily weigh the ice cube and measure its volume.
At the microscopic level (where items are so small that people
can’t directly observe them), the particles that make up the

solid are very close together and aren’t moving around very
much (see Figure 2-1a). That’s because in many solids, the
particles are pulled into a rigid, organized structure of repeating
patterns called a crystal lattice. The particles in the crystal
lattice are still moving but barely — it’s more of a slight vibration.
Depending on the particles, this crystal lattice may be of
different shapes.
Liquids
Unlike solids, liquids have no definite shape; however, they
do have a definite volume, just like solids do. The particles in
liquids are much farther apart than the particles in solids, and
they’re also moving around much more (see Figure 2-1b).
Even though the particles are farther apart, some particles
in liquids may still be near each other, clumped together in
small groups. The attractive forces among the particles aren’t
as strong as they are in solids, which is why liquids don’t have
a definite shape. However, these attractive forces are strong
enough to keep the substance confined in one large mass — a
liquid — instead of going all over the place.
Gases
A gas has no definite shape and no definite volume. In a gas,
particles are much farther apart than they are in solids or
liquids (see Figure 2-1c), and they’re moving relatively independent
of each other. Because of the distance between the
particles and the independent motion of each of them, the
gas expands to fill the area that contains it (and thus it has no
definite shape).

Condensing and freezing

If you cool a gaseous or liquid substance, you can watch the
changes of state, or phase changes, that occur. Here are the
phase changes that happen as substances lose energy:
✓ Condensation: When a substance condenses, it goes from
a gas to a liquid state. Gas particles have a high amount of
energy, but as they’re cooled, that energy decreases. The
attractive forces now have a chance to draw the particles
closer together, forming a liquid. The particles are now in
clumps, as is characteristic of particles in a liquid state

Freezing: A substance freezes when it goes from a liquid

to a solid. As energy is removed by cooling, the particles
in a liquid start to align themselves, and a solid forms.
The temperature at which this occurs is called the freezing
point (fp) of the substance.
You can summarize the process of water changing from a gas
to a solid in this way:
H2O(g) → H2O(l) → H2O(s)
Here, the (l) stands for liquid, the (g) stands for gas, and (s)
stands for solid.

Melting and boiling

As a substance heats, it can change from a solid to a liquid to
a gas. For water, you represent the change like this:
H2O(s) → H2O(l) → H2O(g)
This section explains melting and boiling, the changes of state
that occur as a substance gains energy.
From solid to liquid
When a substance melts, it goes from a solid to a liquid state.
Here’s what happens: If you start with a solid, such as ice, and
take temperature readings while heating it, you find that the
temperature of the solid begins to rise as the heat causes the
particles to vibrate faster and faster in the crystal lattice.
After a while, some of the particles move so fast that they
break free of the lattice, and the crystal lattice (which keeps
a solid solid) eventually breaks apart. The solid begins to go
from a solid state to a liquid state — a process called melting.
The temperature at which melting occurs is called the melting
point (mp) of the substance. The melting point for ice is 32°F,
or 0°C.
During changes of state, such as melting, the temperature
remains constant — even though a liquid contains more
energy than a solid. So if you watch the temperature of ice as
it melts, you see that the temperature remains steady at 0°C
until all the ice has melted.

The melting point (solid to a liquid) is the same as the freezing

point (liquid to a solid).
From liquid to gas
The process by which a substance moves from the liquid
state to the gaseous state is called boiling.
If you heat a liquid, such as a pot of cool water, the temperature
of the liquid rises and the particles move faster and faster
as they absorb the heat. The temperature rises until the liquid
reaches the next change of state — boiling. As the particles
heat up and move faster and faster, they begin to break the
attractive forces between each other and move freely as a gas,
such as steam, the gaseous form of water.
The temperature at which a liquid begins to boil is called the
boiling point (bp). The bp depends on atmospheric pressure,
but for water at sea level, it’s 212°F, or 100°C. The temperature
of a boiling substance remains constant until all of it has
been converted to a gas.

Skipping liquids: Sublimation

Most substances go through the logical progression from
solid to liquid to gas as they’re heated (or vice versa as
they’re cooled). But a few substances go directly from the
solid to the gaseous state without ever becoming a liquid.
Scientists call this process sublimation. Dry ice — solid
carbon dioxide, written as CO2(s) — is the classic example of
sublimation. You can see dry ice pieces becoming smaller as
the solid begins to turn into a gas, but no liquid forms during
this phase change.
The process of sublimation of dry ice is represented as
CO2(s) → CO2(g)
Besides dry ice, mothballs and certain solid air fresheners
also go through the process of sublimation. The reverse of
sublimation is deposition — going directly from a gaseous
state to a solid state.

Pure Substances and Mixtures

One of the basic processes in science is classification. In this
section, I explain how all matter can be classified as either a
pure substance or a mixture (see Figure 2-2).

Pure substances
A pure substance, like salt or sugar, has a definite and constant
composition or makeup. A pure substance can be either an
element or a compound, but the composition of a pure substance
doesn’t vary.
Elements
An element is composed of a single kind of atom. An atom is
the smallest particle of an element that still has all the properties
of the element. For instance, if you slice and slice a chunk
of the element gold until only one tiny particle is left that can’t
be chopped anymore without losing the properties that make
gold gold, then you have an atom. (I discuss properties later in
the section “Nice Properties You’ve Got There.”)
The atoms in an element all have the same number of protons.
Protons are subatomic particles — particles of an atom.
(Chapter 2 covers the three major subatomic particles in
great, gory detail.) The important thing to remember right

now is that elements are the building blocks of matter.

They’re represented in the periodic table, which you explore
in Chapter 3.
Compounds
A compound is composed of two or more elements in a specific
ratio. For example, water (H2O) is a compound made up of two
elements, hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O). These elements are
combined in a very specific way — in a ratio of two hydrogen
atoms to one oxygen atom (hence, H2O). A lot of compounds
contain hydrogen and oxygen, but only one has that special
2-to-1 ratio called water.
A compound has physical and chemical properties different
from the elements that make it up. For instance, even though
water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen, water’s properties
are a unique combination of the two elements.
Chemists can’t easily separate the components of a compound:
They have to resort to some type of chemical reaction.

Throwing mixtures into the mix

Mixtures are physical combinations of pure substances that
have no definite or constant composition; the composition of
a mixture varies according to whoever prepares the mixture.
Each component of the mixture retains its own set of physical
and chemical characteristics.
Chemists can easily separate the different parts of a mixture
by physical means, such as filtration. For example, suppose
you have a mixture of salt and sand, and you want to purify
the sand by removing the salt. You can do this by adding
water, dissolving the salt, and then filtering the mixture. You
then end up with pure sand.
Mixtures can be either homogeneous or heterogeneous:
✓ Homogeneous mixtures: Sometimes called solutions,
homogeneous mixtures are relatively uniform in composition.
Every portion of the mixture is like every other
portion. If you dissolve sugar in water and mix it really
well, your mixture is basically the same no matter where
you sample it. I cover solutions in Chapter 10.

Heterogeneous mixtures: The composition of heterogeneous

mixtures varies from position to position within
the sample. For instance, if you put some sugar in a
jar, add some sand, and then give the jar a couple of
shakes, your mixture doesn’t have the same composition
throughout the jar. Because the sand is heavier, there’s
probably more sand at the bottom of the jar and more
sugar at the top.

Measuring Matter
Scientists often make measurements, which may include such
things as mass, volume, and temperature. If each nation had
its own measurement system, communication among scientists
would be tremendously hampered, so scientists adopted
a worldwide measurement system to ensure they can speak
the same language.
The SI system (from the French Système international) is a
worldwide measurement system based on the older metric
system. SI is a decimal system with basic units for things like
mass, length, and volume and prefixes that modify the basic
units. For example, here are some very useful SI prefixes:
✓ kilo- (k) means 1,000
✓ centi- (c) means 0.01
✓ milli- (m) means 0.001
So a kilogram (kg) is 1,000 grams, and a kilometer (km) is
1,000 meters. A milligram (mg) is 0.001 grams — or you can
say that there are 1,000 milligrams in a gram.
Here are some basic SI units and how they compare to the
English units common in the U.S.:
✓ Length: The basic unit of length in the SI system is the
meter (m). A meter is a little longer than a yard; 1.094
yards are in a meter. The most useful SI/English conversion
for length is 2.54 centimeters = 1 inch
✓ Mass: The basic unit of mass in the SI system for chemists
is the gram (g). And the most useful conversion for
mass is 454 grams = 1 pound

Chapter 1: Matter and Energy: Exploring the Stuff of Chemistry 13

✓ Volume: The basic unit for volume in the SI system is
the liter (L). The most useful conversion is 0.946 liter =
1 quart
Suppose you want to find the weight of a 5.0-lb. bag of potatoes
in kilograms. The setup would look that this:

Nice Properties You’ve Got There

When chemists study chemical substances, they examine two
types of properties:
✓ Chemical properties: These properties enable a substance
to change into a brand-new substance, and they
describe how a substance reacts with other substances.
Does a substance change into something completely new
when water is added — like sodium metal changes to
sodium hydroxide? Does the substance burn in air?
✓ Physical properties: These properties describe the physical
characteristics of a substance. The mass, volume,
and color of a substance are physical properties, and so
is its ability to conduct electricity. Physical properties
can be extensive or intensive:
• Extensive properties, such as mass and volume,
depend on the amount of matter present.
• Intensive such as pcorolopre ratnieds ,d ensity,
don’t depend on the amount of matter present. A
large chunk of gold, for example, is the same color
as a small chunk of gold.
Intensive properties are especially useful to chemists because
intensive properties can be used to identify a substance. For
example, knowing the differences between the density of
quartz and diamond allows a jeweler to check out that engagement
ring quickly and easily.
Density (d) is the ratio of the mass (m) to volume (v) of a substance.
Mathematically, it looks like this:
d = m/v