Chemistry First Semester Vocabulary

heterogeneous not having a uniform composition throughout homogeneous not having a uniform composition throughout atom the smallest unit of an element that retains all of the properties of that element element a pure substance made of only one kind of atom molecule a neutral group of atoms that are held together by covalent bonds compound a substance that is made from the atoms of two or more elements that are chemically bonded mole the amount of substance that contains as many particles as there are atoms in exactly 12 grams of carbon-12 (6.02 x 1023 atoms) atomic number the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom mass number the sum of the protons and the neutrons in the nucleus of an atom isotopes atoms of the same element that have different masses radioactive decay a process in which the composition of an atoms nucleus changes alpha particle two protons and two neutrons bound together and emitted from the nucleus during some kinds of radioactive decay beta particle an electron emitted from the nucleus during some kinds of radioactive decay gamma ray a high-energy electromagnetic wave emitted from a nucleus as it changes from an excited state to a ground energy state fission a nuclear change in which a larger particle decays into two or more smaller particles fusion a nuclear change in which two or more smaller particles join to form a larger particle orbital a three-dimensional region around the nucleus that indicates the probably location of an electron ground state the lowest energy state of an atom excited state a state in which an atom has a higher potential energy than it has in its ground state period a horizontal row of elements on the periodic table group (or family) a vertical column of the periodic table

alkali metal one of the elements of Group 1 on the periodic table alkaline earth metal one of the elements of Group 2 on the periodic table transition metal one of the d-block elements that is a metal, with typical metallic properties halogen one of the elements of Group 17 noble gas one of the elements of Group 18 metalloid (semi-metal) an element that has some characteristics of a metal and some characteristics of a nonmetal ion an atom or a group of bonded atoms that has a positive or negative charge cation a positive ion anion a negative ion ionization energy the energy required to remove one electron from a neutral atom of an element electronegativity a measure of the ability of an atom in a chemical compound to attract electons ionic bond the chemical bond resulting from electrical attraction between large numbers of cations and anions covalent bond the chemical bond resulting from the sharing of an electron pair between two atoms nonpolar covalent bond a covalent bond in which the bonding electrons are shared equally by the bonded atoms, resulting in a balanced distribution of charge polar covalent bond a covalent bond in which the bonding electrons are shared unequally by the bonded atoms, resulting in an unbalanced distribution of charge metallic bond chemical bond that results from the attraction between metal atoms and the surrounding sea of electrons octet rule chemical compounds tend to form so that each atom, by gaining, losing, or sharing electrons, has an octet of electrons in its highest occupied energy level empirical formula the smallest whole-number mole ratio of the different atoms in a compound molecular formula a formula showing the types and numbers of atoms combined in a single molecule of a molecular compound reactant a substance that reacts in a chemical change product a substance that is produced in a chemical change

chemical equation a representation, with symbols and formulas, of the identities and relative amounts of the reactants and products in a chemical reaction coefficient a small whole number that appears in front of a formula in a chemical equation precipitate a solid that is produced as a result of a chemical reaction in solution and that separates from the solution