The first week of studying chemistry with AI to accompany the study of biology.
This also relates to long term goals of sustainable marketing projects.
Getting Started
The process of getting started was the same as that for studying biology and geology with AI. However chatGPT produced a few categories that are perhaps complex for a novice.
- Introduction to Chemistry
- Atomic Structure
- Chemical Bonds
- Chemical Reactions
- Stoichiometry
- Chemistry of Solutions
- Acids and Bases
- Basic Thermodynamics
The Questions
Below are the questions and the answers given by ChatGPT.
Introduction to Chemistry
What is a chemical element? Give an example
An element is a substance that can’t be broken down into something smaller through chemical means. Each element is made up of atoms of the same type. Oxygen is an example.
What is the difference between a compound and a mixture
A compound is a substance formed of two or more elements combined chemically in fixed proportions. A mixture is a combination of two or more substances that are not chemically bonded and can have variable proportions.
What does the term “matter” mean in chemistry?
Matter is everything that has mass and occupies space. It includes all that can be perceived by our senses and consists of atoms and molecules
What is the definition of a molecule?
A molecule is the smallest particle of a substance that can exist independently and conserves the chemical properties of said substance. It is made up of two more atoms connected by covalent bonds
What are the principal states of matter?
The states of matter refer to the forms in which matter can exist – the main states are solids, liquids and gases. Less common states that can exist include plasma and the Bose-Einstein condensate
Atomic Structure
What are protons, neutrons and electrons?
- Protons: positively charged subatomic particles found in the nucleus of an atom.
- Neutrons: subatomic protons without charge that are also found in the nucleus.
- Electrons: Subatomic particles with a negative charge that orbit the nucleus of the atom.
How is the periodic table of elements organised?
The periodic table of elements is organised in rows (periods) and columns (groups or families) according to their properties and atomic numbers.
Elements of the same group have similar properties due to the fact they have the same electronic configuration in their valence shell
What is the electric charge of an electron?
An electric charge of an electron is negative in is equal to approximately -1.602 × 10 − 19 coulombs
What is an atomic number?
The number given to an element and the number of protons present in the nucleus of said atom. It determines the identity of the element and it’s position on the periodic table.
What difference is there between an isotope and an ion?
- Isotope: A variation of a chemical element that has the same number of protons (atomic number), but a different number of neutrons, resulting in a different atomic mass.
- Ion: An atom or molecule that has an electrical charge due to gaining or losing one more electrons. If it loses electrons, it is a cation (positive charge); if it gains them, it is an anion (negative charge)
Chemical bonds
What is a covalent bond?
A covalent bond is a chemical link in which two atoms share one or more pairs of valence electrons. This type of bond is common amongst non-metallic bonds.
What is an ionic bond?
An ionic bond is a chemical link formed when an atom gives one or more electrons too the other atom with which it is linked, resulting in the formation of ions with opposite charges (cations and anions), so they mutually attract each other due to electrostatic force.
How are ionic compounds formed?
They are formed when a metal (that loses electrons and becomes a catión) reacts with a non-metal (which gains the lost electrons and becomes an anion). The attraction of opposite charges between the ions keeps the compound bonded.
What is the difference between single, double and triple bonds?
- Single Bond: One pair of electrons shared between two atoms.
- Double Bond: Two pairs of electrons shared between two atoms.
- Triple Bond: Three pairs of electrons shared between two atoms.
What does the term electronegativity mean?
Electro negativity is the capacity of an atom to attract atoms to itself in a covalent bond. The greater the electronegativity, the stronger the atom attracts the shared bonds.
Chemical Reactions
What is a chemical reaction?
It is a process in which one or more substances (reactants), are transformed into new ones (products) with different properties.
What does a balanced chemical equation indicate?
It indicates that the number of atoms of each element is the same in the reactants and the products, following the law of conservation of mass.
What is a reactant and a product in a chemical reaction?
Reactants are the initial substances of a reaction that react with each other, products are the new substances formed as a result of the reaction.
What does the law of conservation of mass mean?
It means that during a chemical reaction, the total mass of reactants is equal to the mass of the products; mass cannot be created or destroyed.
What is a combustion reaction?
It is a reaction in which a substance reacts quickly with oxygen, releasing energy in the form of light and heat, normally producing carbon dioxide and water.
Stoichiometry
What is a balanced chemical equation?
It is a symbolic representation of a chemical reaction where the number of atoms of each element is equal on both sides of the equation.
How do you calculate the molar mass of a compound?
The molar mass of a compound is calculated by adding the atomic masses of the elements present in the compound following its atomic formula.
What is a mol in chemistry?
A mol is a unit that represents a quantity of a substance that contains the same number of elemental entities (atoms, molecules, ions etc) that exist in 12 grams of carbon-12.
This is Avogadro’s number.
How do you use a chemical formula to calculate the proportion of reactants and products?
The chemical formula is used to determine the stoichiometric proportion of reactants and products, which allows you to calculate the necessary quantity of each reactant to produce a specific quantity of a product.
What is Avogardro’s number?
It is the number of elemental entities (atoms, molecules etc) in one mol of a substance, approximately equal to 6.022 × 1023
Chemistry of Solutions
What is a chemical solution?
It a homogenous mixture of two or more substances, where one substance (the solute) is dissolved in another (the disolvent).
What is solubility?
Solubility is the capacity of a substance (solute) to dissolve in a determined quantity of a disolvent at a specific temperature.
How do you calculate the concentration of a solution?
The concentration of a solution is calculated dividing the quantity of the solution by the quantity of the disolvent or the total quantity of the solution. It can be expressed in various units such as molarity (mol/L) or percentage.
What difference is there between a saturated solution and unsaturated solution?
A saturated solution contains the maximum quantity of solute that can dissolve in a disolvent. An unsaturated solution can dissolve more solute.
What is a solvent and a solute?
The disolvent is the substance that dissolves the solute. The solute is the substance that dissolves in a disolvent.
Acids and bases
What is an acid according to the theory of Arrhenius?
According to the theory of Arrhenius, an acid is a substance that, when dissolved in water, produces hydronium ions.
What is a base according to the theory of Brønsted-Lowry
According to the theory of Brønsted-Lowry a base is a substance that accepts protons.
What is a PH scale?
A pH scale is the measure of acidity or alkalinity of a aqueous solution that goes from 0 to 14, where 7 is neutral, less than 7 is acidic and greater than 7 is alkaline.
What does neutral solution mean?
A neutral solution has a pH of 7, which means that the concentration of hydronium ions is equal to the concentration of hydroxide ions.
What is a neutralisation reaction?
A neutralisation reaction is a chemical reaction between an acid and a base that produces salt and water
Basic Thermodynamics
What is the internal energy of a system?
The internal energy of a system is the total sum of kinetic energy and potential energy of all the particles in a system. It includes energy associated with the movement of the particles (kinetic) and the interactions between them (potential).
What is enthalpy?
Enthalpy is a measure of the total energy of a system and includes the product of the pressure and volume of a system. Enthalpy is useful for calculating changes of energy reactions at a constant pressure.
What is the difference between an exothermic reaction and endothermic reaction?
An exothermic reaction is one that releases energy into its surroundings, normally in the form of heat, while the endothermic reaction absorbs energy from the surroundings.
What is the first law of thermodynamics?
The first law of thermodynamics is the law of conservation of energy. The law states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only transform from one type of energy to another.
In terms of systems, the change of internal energy is equal to the heat added to the system minus the work done by the system.
What is a reaction energy diagram?
An energy reaction diagram is a graphic representation of energy of two reactants and products during a chemical reaction. This diagram shows how energy changes along the course of a reaction, including the peak energy associated with the transition state.
Conclusion
Potential downsides
There are a few things that some people might find a problem learning subjects with ChatGPT.
Greater complexity than expected
A lot of the stuff in chemistry could very well just sound alien, particularly as some of the questions no doubt could do with some other information as a prerequisite.
For example: What is valence?
Reduce complexity
The simple solution is to just don’t continue with topics that you deem too complex, alternatively ask for subjects to be simplified.
Inconsistent scoring
Compare two answers for question 4 of stoichiometry – How do you use a chemical formula to calculate the proportion of reactants and products?
- The chemical formula is used to determine the stoichiometric proportion of reactants and products, which allows you to calculate the necessary quantity of each reactant to produce a specific quantity of a product.
- Find the molar mass of each element in the compound then add those numbers together to find the molecular mass (total) of the compound then use the formula (mass of element/molecular mass) × 100
Despite the answers being quite different, the second received a score of 4/5 as “there was no mention of using the chemical formula directly for the stoichiometric ratio”.
The source used for the second answer, calculating mass percent proportion has various examples.
Do you think that both answers contribute relevant information? Could ChatGPT be scoring too kindly?
Does a chatGPT grade matter?
Until chatGPT is an official examiner, perhaps just remember that it’s a measure of your progress studying chemistry or any other subject, not a guarantee you’ll get a job in a particular field.
Also, a quick investigation might help you decide how to judge it’s scoring.
One question was “What is a balanced equation?”. ChatGPT gave the answer “When the number of atoms for each element is the same” a 2/5.
ChatGPT said “it was correct in the sense that the atoms should be the same on both sides of the equation,” before explaining what it lacked.
Saying that a mol was a type of mammal that lived underground, ChatGPT fairly scored it 0/5. It provided the correct answer, but no snide comments.
Upsides
None of the topics relate to sustainable marketing, but hopefully they will benefit from the project in the long term.
But that doesn’t meant to say the process is without benefits!
Language learning
Seeing as this is an experiment for learning a language as well as a new subject, as long as you are practicing regularly, it could definitely contribute to acquiring a new language.
You might find it could also improve your native language, filling it with new vocabulary. Stoichiometry!