BASIC CHEMISTRY VOCALBULARY LIST

NO	VOCABULARY	EXPLANATION
1.	Absolute Temperature	is a temperature reading made relative to absolute zero. We use the unit of Kelvins for these readings.
2.	Absolute Zero	This is the lowest temperature possible. If you remember that temperature is a measurement of how much atoms move around in a solid, you can guess that they stop moving entirely at absolute zero. In reality, bonds still vibrate a little bit, but for the most part you don't see much happening.
3.	Acid	This is anything that gives off H+ ions in water. Acids have a pH less than 7 and are good at dissolving metals. They turn litmus paper red and phenolphthalein colorless
4.	Acid Anhydride	This is an oxide that forms an acid when you stick it in water. An example is SO3 - when you add water it turns into sulfuric acid, H2SO4.
5.	Activity Series	This is when you arrange elements in the order of how much they tend to react with water and acids.
6.	Addition Reaction	A reaction where atoms add to a carbon-carbon multiple bond.
7.	Adsorption	: When one substance collects of the surface of another one.
8.	Alloy	A mixture of two metals. Usually, you add very small amounts of a different element to make the metal stronger and harder.
9.	Alpha Particle	: A radioactive particle equivalent to a helium nucleus (2 protons, 2 neutrons)
10.	Amino Acid	The basic building blocks of proteins. They're called "amino acids" because they're both amines (they contain nitrogen) and acids (carboxylic acids, to be precise)
11.	Anode	The electrode where oxidation occurs. In other words, this is where electrons are lost by a substance
12.	Aqueous	dissolved in water
13.	Avogadro's Law	If you've got two gases under the same conditions of temperature, pressure, and volume, they've got the same number of particles (atoms or molecules). This law only works for ideal gases, none of which actually exist.
14.	Beta Particle	A radioactive particle equivalent to an electron.
15.	Binary Compound	A compound only having two elements
16.	Buffer	A liquid that resists change in pH by the addition of acid or base. It consists of a weak acid and it's conjugate base (acetic acid and sodium acetate, for example).
17.	Calorimetry	study of heat flow. Usually you'd do calorimetry to find the heat of combustion of a compound or the heat of reaction of two compounds.
18.	Carboxylic Acid	An organic molecule with a -COOH group on it. Acetic acid is the most famous one.
19.	Catalyst	A substance that speeds up a chemical reaction without being used up by the reaction. Enzymes are catalysts because they allow the reactions that take place in the body to occur fast enough that we can live
20.	Chemical Properties	Properties that can only be described by making a chemical change (by making or breaking bonds). For example, color isn't a chemical property because you don't need to change something chemically to see what color it is. Flammability, on the other hand, is a chemical property, because you can't tell if something burns unless you actually try to burn it.
21.	Cathode:	The electrode in which reduction occurs. Reduction is when a compound gains electrons.
22.	Chromatography	This is when you use a system containing a mobile phase (usually a liquid in general chemistry classes) and a stationary phase (something dissolved in the liquid) to separate different compounds. This is usually done by exploiting the differing polarities of solutes, though you can do it a whole slew o' ways.
23.	Colligative Property	Any property of a solution that changes when the concentration changes. Examples are color, flavor, boiling point, melting point, and osmotic pressure.
24.	Colloid	It's a suspension
25	Concentration	A measurement of the amount of stuff (solute) dissolved in a liquid (solvent). The most common concentration unit is molarity (M), which is equal to the number of moles of solute divided by the number of liters of solution
26	Conjugate Acid	The compound formed when a base gains a proton (hydrogen atom).
27	Conjugate Base	: The compound formed when an acid loses a proton (hydrogen atom).
28	Electrolysis	When electricity is used to break apart a chemical compound.
29	Electrolyte	An ionic compound that dissolves in water to conduct electricity. Strong electrolytes break apart completely in water; weak electrolytes only fall apart a little bit.
30	Electro Negativity	A measurement of how much an atom tends to steal electrons from atoms that it's bonded to. Elements at the top right of the periodic table (excluding the noble gases) are very electronegative while atoms in the bottom left are not very electronegative
31	Endothermic	When a process absorbs energy (gets cold).
32	Enthalpy	A measurement of the energy content of a system.
33	Entropy	A measurement of the randomness in a system.
34	Equivalence Point	The point in a titration at which the solution is completely neutral. This is different than the "endpoint" (see above).
35	Ester	An organic molecule with R-CO-OR' functionality.
36	Exothermic	When a process gives off energy (gets hot).
37	Halogen	The elements in group 17. They're really reactive.
38	Heat	The kinetic energy of the particles in a system. The faster the particles move, the higher the heat.
39	Heterogeneous Mixture	A mixture where the substances aren't equally distributed.
40	Homogeneous Mixture	A mixture that looks really "smooth" because everything is mixed up really well.
41	Hydrocarbon	A molecule containing carbon and hydrogen.
42.	Ideal Gas	A gas in which the particles are infinitely small, have a kinetic energy directly proportional to the temperature, travel in random straight lines, and don't attract or repel each other. Needless to say, there's no such thing as an ideal gas in the real world. However, we use ideal gases anyway because they make the math work out well for equations that describe how gases behave.
43.	Indicator	A compound that turns different colors at different pH values. We generally like to have the color change at a pH of around seven because that's where the equivalence point of a titration
44.	Inhibitor	A substance that slows down a chemical reaction
45.	Isotonic Solutions	When an element has more than one possibility for the number of neutrons, these are called isotopes. All known elements possess isotopes. For the record, the word "isotope" doesn't imply that something is radioactive. TV told you that, and TV is stupid.
46.	Molecular Compound	A compound held together by covalent bonds.
47.	Molecular Formula	A formula that shows the correct quantity of all of the atoms in a molecule.
48.	Redox Reaction	A reaction that has both an oxidation and reduction
49.	Suspension	A mixture that looks homogeneous when you stir it, but where the solids settle out when you stop. Mud is a very short-lived suspension, while peanut butter is a very long-lived suspension
50.	Synthesis	When you make a big molecule from two or more smaller ones