The General Chemistry Study Guides are finally out! Writing these summary notes is like extracting gold from its ores. The material is a lot and can be overwhelming especially if it’s been a while since you have taken a chemistry class. The aim of putting these together is to have a reference guide for the most important concepts. I did not aim for writing as many pages as possible as you may find elsewhere. If the study guide is 50 pages, you might as well just use the book, which is a great idea, and you should do that anyway. However, having a final “so what, and which one” should I know out of all of these, helps tremendously to focus, save time and get a higher grade.
The notes cover most of the chapters you will see in a typical undergraduate course. If purchased the bundle, you will receive the new guides as an e-mail as soon as they are published.
General chemistry study guides will also help you prepare for MCAT, PCAT, DAT, ACS, and other tests.
What is Included in Each Set?
General Chemistry Summary Guides Include
1. Significant Figures – 2 Pages
A summary study guide on understanding and counting significant figures. Rounding off to the correct number of significant figures, the rules for using significant figures in mathematical operations such as addition/subtraction and multiplication/division. The rules for significant figures expressed in scientific notation.
2. Atoms, Molecules, and Ions – 6 Pages
Atomic Structure, The Periodic Table, Names of Ions, Metals That Form Cations with Different Charges, Formulas and Names of Common Polyatomic Ions, Binary Compounds, Monoatomic Ions, Polyatomic Ions, Naming Ionic Compounds, Naming Hydrates, Naming Acids, Naming Bases, Formula from the Name. Worksheets on atomic particles, naming compounds, and writing formulas.
3. Mass, Mole, and Stoichiometry – 4 Pages
Atomic and Molecular Mass, Mole, and Molar Mass, Calculating Moles from the Mass, Number of Atoms From Moles, Number of Atoms From the Mass, Number of Atoms in a Molecule, Percent Composition, Empirical Formula, Determining the Empirical and Molecular Formulas, Chemical Reactions and Chemical Equations, Balancing Chemical Equations, Indicating the States of Reactants and Products, Reaction Stoichiometry, Mass Calculations using Reaction Stoichiometry, Limiting Reactant/Reagent, Percent Yield
4. Reactions in Aqueous Solutions – 5 Pages
Solutions, The Solubility of Ionic Compounds, Electrolytes, and Nonelectrolytes, How to Write Dissociation Equations, Predicting the Products of a Reaction, Molecular, Ionic, and Net Ionic Equations, Solution Concentration, Concentration of Ions, Dilution, Stoichiometry of Reactions in Aqueous Solutions, Definitions of Acids and Bases, Acid–Base Titrations, Oxidation States, Rules for Assigning Oxidation Numbers, Determining the Oxidation States, Oxidation-Reduction (Redox) Reactions, Balancing Redox Equations in Acidic and Basic Solutions
5. Gases – 2 Pages
Pressure, Pressure units, Gas Laws, Ideal Gas Law, Combined Gal Law and strategies to solve gas problems, Density and Molar mass of gases, Diffusion, Effusion, and Graham’s law for effusion and molar mass, Real Gases and the Van der Waals equation.
6. Thermochemistry – 2 Pages
Key Terms and Concepts in Thermochemistry, system, surroundings, internal energy, and its relation to heat and work, state functions, Enthalpy, exothermic and endothermic reactions, and their application in calculating the heat of reaction, Hess’s law, Heat Capacity, and Specific Heat, Specific heat capacity, Calorimetry, reactions under constant pressure, Bomb calorimetry, reaction when the volume is constant, Standard Enthalpies, Enthalpy of Reaction from Standard Enthalpies, Chemical Equations and Hrxn, Hess’s Law, Strategies an Examples of Problem-solving in Thermochemistry.
7. The Quantum-Mechanical Model of the Atom – 4 Pages
A summary study guide covering the key concepts of the structure of atoms such as Bohr’s model of the hydrogen atom, the Photoelectric Effect, Electron Configurations, Quantum Numbers, Aufbaus’ Principle, Pailis’ Exclusion Principle, and HInd’s Rule with some worked examples.
8. Periodic Trends and Properties – 2 Pages
A summary study guide on the key trends and properties of the periodic table such as atomic and ionic radii, effective nuclear charge, ionization energy, electron affinity, and electronegativity.
9. Chemical Bonding – 7 Pages
In this study guide, you will find the cleanest summary and graphics on valence electrons, Lewis structures, octet rule, formal charges, resonance structures, hybridization and VSEPR theories, sigma and pi bonds, polar, nonpolar, and ionic bonds, dipole moment, molecular dipole and more.
10. Colligative Properties – 2 Pages
Colligative (collective) properties – vapor pressure lowering, boiling point elevation (Tb), freezing point depression (Tf), and osmotic pressure (∏) together with example problems are summarized in this study guide
11. Chemical Kinetics – 5 Pages
Reaction Rate, Average Rate, Instantaneous Rate, Differential rate laws for the relationship between reaction and rate and concentration, Integrated Rate Laws for the relationship of concentration and time, Determining the rate laws using the initial rate method and graphing the data from integrated rate laws, Reaction Mechanism, Energy Diagram, Elementary Steps, Rate-Determining Step, Activation Energy, Catalysis, The Arrhenius Equation and some strategies and examples for problem-solving.
12. Chemical Equilibrium – 4 Pages
Reversible Reactions, Dynamic Equilibrium, Homogeneous and Heterogeneous equilibria, Equilibrium Constant (K), Key Facts About K, Equilibrium Constant and the Chemical Equation, Equilibrium Constants in Terms of Pressure, Kp, K for Heterogeneous Equilibria, The Direction of Reaction and Quotient (Q), ICE Tables, Le Châtelier’s Principle, How the equilibrium is affected when; the Concentrations are changed, The Pressure is changed, The Temperature is changed.
13. Thermodynamics – 5 Pages
Spontaneous and Nonspontaneous Processes, Thermodynamics vs Kinetics, Entropy and Spontaneity, Gibbs Free Energy, Correlating ΔG with ΔH and ΔS; how to determine if the reaction is spontaneous or not based on the enthalpy and entropy change, what role does temperature play in this, Predicting Entropy Change, Standard Entropy Change, Standard Free-Energy Changes, Free Energy change and the Hess’s Law, ΔG of a Reaction under Nonstandard Conditions, Relationship between ΔGo and Equilibrium Constant, The Temperature Dependence of K, Strategies, and Examples of Problem-solving in Thermodynamics
14. Acids and Bases – 7 Pages
Acid-Base theories, Strong and Weak Acids, Acid Strength and pKa, Factors that Affect the Acid Strength, Dissociation of Water, The pH Scale, Calculating the pH of a Strong Acid, The pOH Scale, Calculating the pH of Weak Acids, Weak Bases, and Base Ionization Constants, Calculating the pH of Weak Bases, Calculating the pH of Polyprotic Acids, Relationship Between Ka and Kb, Calculating the pH of Salts, Salts That Yield Acidic Solutions, Salts That Yield Basic Solutions, Salts That Contain Acidic Cations and Basic Anions, Buffer Solutions, How to Calculate the pH of a Buffer, The Common Ion Effect, The Henderson–Hasselbalch Equation, How to Prepare a Buffer with a Certain pH, Correlation of pKa and pH
15. Acid-Base Titrations and Titration Curves – 4 Pages
This study guide summarizes the key concepts of acid-base titrations, and titration curves, for strong and weak acid-base pairs. Calculating the pH at different stages of the titration, equivalence point, half the equivalence point, the correlation of the pH and pKa, and the features specific to each type of titration.
16. Solubility Equilibria and Ksp – 3 Pages
The solubility product constant (Ksp), molar solubility, calculating solubility from Ksp and vice versa. The common ion effect, and the effect of pH on solubility with examples. How to determine if there will be a precipitate forming with a given concentration of ions.
17. Electrochemistry – 8 Pages
The Principles, Key Features, and Terminologies of Galvanic and Electrolytic Cells. Standard Electrode and Standard Reduction Potential – how to interpret it, some shortcuts for determining the stronger oxidizing or reducing agents, and the activity series of metals. Calculating the Cell Potential under Standard and Nonstandard Conditions. Nernst equation, Concentration Cells, Electrochemistry, and some more.
18. Nuclear Chemistry – 3 Pages
Review of Atomic Structure, Radioactivity and Nuclear Reactions, Transmutation, Alpha decay, Beta decay, Gamma radiation, Balancing Nuclear Equations, Positron Emission and Electron Capture, Nuclear Stability, Neutron to Proton Ratio, and determining the type of nuclear reaction based on the band of stability, Magic Numbers, Rates of Radioactive Decay and Radiocarbon Dating, Energy Changes in Nuclear Reactions – why nuclear reactions are enormously exothermic, Nuclear Fission and Nuclear Fusion, Mass Defect and Nuclear Binding Energy with example calculations.
Get the bundle of all General Chemistry Study Guides
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