The fundamentals of chemistry according to AI is a follow up to the essentials of chemistry post before diving into more niches topics.
History of Chemistry
Who is considered the father of modern chemistry?
Antoine-Laruent Lavoisier is considered the father of modern chemistry. He established the law of conservation of mass, helped define chemistry nomenclature and he disproved the theory of phlogiston. His work “Traité Élémentaire de Chimie” from 1789 is seen as the first clear, systematic presentation of the principles of chemistry.
What discovery did Dmitri Mendeleev make?
Dimitri Mendeleev developed the periodic table of elements in 1869. He organised the known elements according to their chemical and physical properties. Also Mendeleev established the periodic law, which indicates that the properties of elements are periodic functions of their atomic numbers. He also proved the existence and properties of elements that were not yet known at the time, such as gallium and germanium
There are some good interactive periodic tables available to peruse.
What is the law of conservation of mass? Who formulated it?
The law of conservation of mass states that “the total mass in a system remains constant, regardless of changes occurring within the system,”. In simple terms, during a chemical reaction, the mass of reactants equals the mass of products. This is due to the fact a chemical reaction transforms matter as opposed to destroying or creating it.
What is Dalton’s atomic theory?
Dalton’s atomic theory, proposed at the beginning of the 19th Century, consists of four main postulates:
- Matter is composed of very small particles called atoms. Also, they are indivisible and indestructible.
- Every atom of a given element is identical in mass and properties. The atoms of other elements on the other hand, have different properties.
- A chemical reaction does not create or destroy atoms, rather it transforms them.
- Compounds are formed when different elements combine in a fixed whole number ratio.
What discovery did Marie Curie make?
Marie Curies discovered the elements radium and polonium together with her husband Pierre Curie in 1898. She was a pioneer in the investigation of radioactivity, a term that she coined. Also, Marie Curie developed methods for for separating radioactive isotopes that contributed to the advance of treatments for cancer with radiotherapy.
What is radioactivity?
Radioactivity is the process through which certain unstable, atomic nuclei spontaneously release energy in the form of radiation by decaying into more stable nuclei. There are three main types of radiation: alpha, beta and gamma. They differ in terms of energy, mass and penetration.
Methods of Mixture Separation
What is distillation?
Distillation is a method for separating mixtures based on the different boiling points of its components. It involves heating the mixture until the component with a lower boiling point evaporates. After, the vapour is will cool to condense it back to a pure liquid. The process to separates miscible liquids or to purifies liquids.
What is filtration?
Filtration is a separation technique for separating solid particles from a liquid or gaseous mixture. The mixture is passed through a filter that lets a liquid or gas pass, retaining the solid particles.
What is decantation?
Decantation is a method of separation of heterogeneous mixtures, where the components have a different density. It requires slowly pouring the less dense liquid to separate it from a solid or other denser liquid that remains at the bottom of the container. The process can separate suspended solids or immiscible liquids.
What is chromatography?
Chromatography is a separation technique that involves dissolving a mixture and passing it through a porous material. The mixture will separate as each component passes through the porous material at different rates.
What is crystallisation?
Crystallisation is a method of separation for purifying solid substances. It begins by dissolving a solid substance in a solvent at a high temperature. Afterwards it has to be cooled in a controlled manner, which causes crystals to form. The crystals are generally purer than the original solid.
Terminology and Important Concepts
What is a chemical reaction?
A chemical reaction is a process through which one or more substances (reactants) transform into new substances (products) via the reorganisation of the links between atoms.
What is a chemical equation?
A chemical equation is a symbolic representation of a chemical reaction – reactants are on the left and the products on the right, separated by an arrow that indicates the direction of the reaction. It’s important to note that an equation should be balanced. That is, the number of atoms of each element should be the same on both sides.
What is a reactant?
A reactant is a substance that is the part of a chemical reaction that undergoes a chemical change to form a product. Also, reactants are the initial components that the process consumes during the reaction.
What is a product in a chemical reaction?
The product is the new substance that forms as a result of a chemical reaction. Products have chemical and physical properties that differ from the reactants that underwent the reaction.
What is a catalyst?
A catalyst is a substance that accelerates the velocity of a chemical reaction. The process will not consume or permanently alter the catalyst as a result. It works by lowering the activation energy required for a chemical reaction to occur.
What is an endothermic reaction?
An endothermic reaction is a type of chemical reaction that absorbs energy from its surroundings, usually in the form of heat. This results in the temperature of the surrounding area cooling.
What is an exothermic reaction?
An exothermic reaction is a chemical reaction that releases energy into its surroundings. This results in a temperature increase in the surrounding area.
What is stoichiometry?
Stoichiometry is a branch of chemistry that studies the quantitative relations between quantities of reactants and products in a chemical reaction. It is useful for calculating the quantity of substances that are necessary or produced in a reaction. It uses molar proportions as a base for the calculations.
What is a solution in chemistry?
A solution is a homogeneous mixture of two or more substances. It consists of a solute and a dissolvant. Additionally solutions can be solids, liquids or gases.
What is the concentration of a solution?
The concentration of a solution refers to the amount of solute that is present in a specific quantity of dissolvent or solution. There are a variety of terms to express it, such as molarity, molality and percentage by mass.
What is pH?
pH is a logarithmic scale that measures acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. It is defined as the negative logarithm of the concentration of hydronium ions in a solution. A pH less than seven indicates acidity, whereas greater than seven indicates alkalinity. A pH of 7 is neutral.
What is titration?
Titration is a method of volumetric analysis to determine the concentration of a solute in a solution. It involves the controlled addition of a titrant solution, with a known concentration, to another solution until the chemical reaction between them is complete. Usually the chemical reaction causes a colour change, which indicates it is complete.
The Fundamentals of Chemistry and AI
Following the The Fundamentals of Chemistry the format will adapt slightly. Working with AI is great but as the project progresses it is important to find ways to filter the issues out. To distil the information and provide some more clarity so to speak.
When seeking the answers to the questions ChatGPT generates it can help to run the end result by the AI to get a “score”. As It will typically offer feedback to make the answers more complete, it’s a good way to gauge your understanding. Even if it requires a bit more research after to confirm and clarify.
However, sometimes the feedback can be just as technical or difficult to understand as the explanations that exist online. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but nor is it ideal for a beginner.
But on the plus side, as mentioned in a previous post, ChatGPT is very good for clarifying and providing examples. It’s easy to ask chatGPT the “stupid question” to make sure that you understood everything correctly.