Chemistry

INDEX

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Acid Reactions, Generic

Acids, Strong and Weak

Air Liquefaction Fractions

Allotropes of Carbon
Amphipathic Detergents

Amphipathics

Avogadro’s Law

Enantiomers

Exothermic
Halogen Names
Helium to Fluorine

Isotopes

Le Chatelier’s Principle

Moles and Molar Solutions

Noble Gases

Periodic Table of the Elements
Permanganate Equations

Phases of Matter
Phenolphthalein

Saccharides

Solutions
Sucrose and Glucose

Uranium Atomic Bomb
Valence

Attributions at the end of this page.

Acid Reactions, Generic

Acid + base = salt + water

Acid + alcohol = ester + water

When acids attack our bases

We neutralize their assault

With a salt.

But when acids try alcohol

Si ester time!

                                                By Alan Beech

Acids Strong and Weak

Students may confuse ‘concentrated’ and ‘dilute’ solutions

of acids in water with the ‘strength’ (a property) of the acid.

Strong acids you may see

In a chemist's laboratory.

Are nitric, hydrochloric,

Sulfuric and perchloric.

Two weak acids we pick

Acetic and citric.

Acetic and water we call vinegar

Citric and water like lemonade are.

Acids strong in aqueous solution

Have a fully ionic distribution.

Acids weak dissolve in water too

Ions they make are relatively few.

                                                        By Alan Beech

Air Liquefaction Fractions

Although only a small percentage of air by volume, these

 noble gases are available as air is liquefied on a large scale.

Out of liquid air

Fractions we prepare

Neon and argon,

Krypton and xenon.

Distilled fractions

Of liquefactions.

                                            By Alan Beech

Allotropes of Carbon 

     

 DIAMOND                 GRAPHITE

                                                                   By Itub

Diverse forms of carbon are known

Called allotropes, they stand alone.

Carbon with covalent bonding find

In diamond, hardest mineral mined.

Crystals of graphite are readily shed

As pencil carbon, wrongly called lead.

Amorphous (powdered) carbon is gleaned

As soot when any chimney is cleaned.

                                

                             

        BUCKYBALL

                                                              By Mstroeck

Found by modern science means

New forms of carbon, fullerenes.

Nanotube and buckyball allotrope

With important future uses, we hope.

                                                                                             

The newest exciting fullerene

Is a hexagon lattice called graphene

One atom thick with bizarre properties

Strong and having good conductivities.

                                                        By Alan Beech

Amphipathic Detergents

                                                       By Smokefoot

If it mixes in aqueous goop

With a lipid attracting group

And one wanting water to grope

We call it detergent or soap.

                                         By Alan Beech

Amphipathics

Amphipathic compounds have a fat-attracting (lipophilic) group at one end
 and a water-attracting (hydrophilic) group at the other end. Water-miscible
amphipathic compounds are soaps or detergents.

Lipid loving groups are lipophilic
Water loving groups are hydrophilic
When both are on a single chemic-

The chemical is amphipathic.

                                                          By Alan Beech

Avogadro’s Law

Avogadro said two gases

In equal volume glasses,

At the same Temp and P

Equal count of molecules see.

Using PV = nRT

An ideal gas mole at STP

Occupies by Avogadro’s Law

Liters twenty two point four.

                                                        By Alan Beech

Enantiomers 

                                                         By Chirality_with_hands

Dashes are added in the poem to aid pronunciation.

Mirror imaged compounds chiral

Bend rays of plane polarized light

Toward a left or right hand spiral

Levo-(left) or dextro-(right)

Each is an optical isomer

Or else an en-ant-i-om-er.

                                                  By Alan Beech

Exothermic

In an exothermic reaction

Heat is a product of the action.

                                                         By Alan Beech

Halogen Names

Don't mispronounce the name of iodine.

First four halogens rhyme with bean
Fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine.

                                             By Alan Beech

Helium to Fluorine

The symbols of elements 2 to 9 of the Periodic Table can be
sung to the first line of the song, Frère Jacques. After hydrogen
the next eight elements are helium, lithium, beryllium, boron,
carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine. Their symbols are He Li Be
B C N O F.

Chemical elements 2 to 9 sound off

Make them sound like Helly Beb-k-noff

‘Frère Jacques’ notes in treble clef

f and g and a and f.

                                          By Alan Beech

 Isotopes

                                                                             By BruceBlaus

The number of protons in an element is its atomic number. The number of

 neutrons may vary. Each variant is an isotope. The relative atomic

 mass of an element is an average of the masses of its isotopes.

An element found in any amount

It’s atoms all have the same proton count.

But different atoms of one element

With differing numbers of neutrons present.

An element with several neutrons cope.
We call each one of them an isotope.

                                                                                                              By Alan Beech

  

Le Chatelier’s Principle

Le Chatelier’s Principle has application

To temp, press, vol and concentration.

When an equilibrium reaction rearranges

The system tries to combat the changes.

                                                                                                                By Alan Beech

  

Moles and Molar Solutions

The molecular weight of a compound in grams (formula weight) is a mole.

 It contains 6.022 x 10²³ molecules, the Avogadro number. One mole 

dissolved in pure water and made up to a liter is a molar solution.

For every chemical you find

With a formula well defined

Weigh in grams the formula weight

A mole of chemical you create.

In a mole many molecules see

Six times ten to twenty three*

A number named for Avogadro

Next to a molar solution we go.

Dissolve a mole in water pure

At the ambient temperature

Place in a liter volumetric flask

Top to the mark to end the task.

*(Note added here for fussy few:
It’s really six point oh two two).

                                                                               By Alan Beech  

Noble Gases

                                                      By Pumbaa

The naturally occurring noble gases are helium (He), neon (Ne), argon (Ar),

 krypton (Kr) [Pron. Krip-ton],xenon (Xe) [pron. zeenon] and radioactive

 radon (Rn) [Pron. ray-don]. In the atoms of the noble gases, the outer "valence" 

shell is filled full of electrons, so they seldom take part in chemical reactions. 

For the same reason they are mon-atomic, i.e. each atom is a molecule.

With shells of electrons fully pack'd

The noble gases seldom react.

Helium we waste in a toy balloon

We'll value more than gold dust soon.

Neon next to balloonacy

Makes the red strip lights you see.

Argon next to neon share,

Is almost one percent of air

But you'd never know it's there.

Krypton next in the noble plan

A gas, not the planet of Superman.

Xenon heaviest noble able

To have a nucleus that's stable.

Radon, radioactive gas

Sometimes found in homes, alas.

                                                           By Alan Beech

Periodic Table of the Elements

                                                                                                                          Public Domain

Mendeleev, a scientist, was able

To uncover the Periodic Table.

After comparing all of their properties

He sequenced known elements in families.

By atomic weights (now we say masses)

He left some gaps but put them in classes.

When elements he predicted were found

They knew Mendeleev’s work was sound.

Moseley found that atomic numbers defined

Nuclear proton numbers in elements assigned.

The Table by atomic number was rearranged

It’s value increased and some places changed.

                                                                       By Alan Beech

Permanganate Equations

Potassium permanganate may appear in hard ‘equation balancing’ questions. 

Others examiner favorites are potassium dichromate K₂Cr₂O₇, potassium

 ferrocyanide K₄Fe(CN)₆ and potassium ferricyanide K₃Fe(CN)₆.

Two moles of Pot. Permanganate
(With molar mass one fifty eight)
Will oxygen times three donate.
Dissolved in water alkified
2KMnO₄ divide
K₂O, 2MnO₂, 3O’s inside
Equation balancing will guide.

                                                       By Alan Beech

Phases of Matter

                                                              By Yelod

When molecules jostle each other
Like troops in formation together
Or penguins in very cold weather
We call that phase a solid.

When molecules add heat energy

Decreased hydrogen bonding we see
They flow into vessels easily

We call that phase a liquid.

To molecules still more heat supply
Until like birds way up in the sky,
They break their hydrogen bonds and fly.
We call that phase a gas.

                                                                       By Alan Beech

Phenolphthalein

Phenolphthalein (pron. Fee-nol-thay-lean) is an end-point

 indicator used in titrating strong acids with strong bases.

Phenolphthalein indicator,

Magic color change creator.

Solutions are quite colorless

When at pH 8 or less.

Above, it turns magenta-red,

In acid, all the color's shed.

                            By Alan Beech

Saccharides

The saccharides (pron. Sack-a-rides) are sugars, a class of water-soluble organic compounds.

Saccharide is sugar-speak

A word derived from Early Greek.

Every science student knows

Names of sugars end with "ose".

Glucose and dextrose are the same

As Shakespeare said "What's in a name"?

Glucose, fructose and ribose besides

Are three of the monosaccharides.

Plants make sugars to store energy

We harvest them to set sugars free.

                                                             By Alan Beech

Solutions

Solvent dissolves solute

Solute appears gone

Stir for uniformity

To get a solution.

With water as solvent

Dissolve solute salt
When salt no longer seen.

The solution is saline.

Solutions share the solvent’s phase

But they may change in other ways.

Color change one can easily see

Less obvious changed conductivity.

Saline freezes at temperature

Less than water, that’s for sure.

It’s boiling point is higher, these

Are called colligative properties.

Sucrose and Glucose

The formula for fructose fix

It is C six H twelve O six.

For glucose the formula is the same

Its atoms shift so does its name.

The sugars in food we ingest

Change into glucose we digest,

Then the glucose circulates free

To bring cells lots of energy.

Sucrose taste is just as sweet

Derived from sugar cane or beet,

Its the same compound as sweet as heaven,

C twelve H twenty two O eleven.

                                                                                     By Alan Beech

Uranium Atomic Bomb

                                                                        By Fastfission 

An atomic bomb

Gets its energy from

Fusion or fission

With neutron emission.

U two thirty eight, the kind

Of most uranium ore mined,

But isotope U two thirty five

By gas centrifuge we derive.

If a fast neutron hits

U two three five, it splits

And two new atoms see

Plus released energy.

This U atomic fission

Sheds neutrons in addition

When speeding from this action

They start a chain reaction.

                                                                             By Alan Beech

Valence

Stable molecules are neutral electrically

Their electrons float in orbits of energy,

So the number of nuclear positive protons.

Equates to orbiting negative electrons

Lighter elements try to create

A filled up valence shell of eight.

Filled shells are inert chemically

And that is what they try to be.

Halogen atoms F, Br and Cl

Need one electron to fill that shell

Alkali metals Li, Na and K

Have a spare they can give away.

Sodium catches fire when wet

Chlorine, war gas, bad as you get.

They react together with a flash

Form sodium chloride (salt) as ash.

Chlorine wants to add on

That sodium electron

As side by side they sit

It flashes to get it.

                                                    By Alan Beech

ATTRIBUTION OF IMAGES

Allotropes of carbon

By Diamond_and_graphite.jpg: User:Itub derivative work: Materialscientist (Diamond_and_graphite.jpg File:Graphite-tn19a.jpg) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

Allotropes of carbon  Buckyball. 

 By Mstroeck at en.wikipedia Later versions were uploaded by Bryn C at en.wikipedia. [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], from Wikimedia Commons

Amphipathic Detergents.

"Soap&Detergents" by Smokefoot - Own work. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Amphipathic Phospholipids

"Phospholipid Chemicalmakeup" by Veggiesaur - Own work. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Enantiomers

"Chirality with hands" by Chirality_with_hands.jpg: Unknownderivative work: -- πϵρήλιο ℗ - Chirality_with_hands.jpg. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

 Isotopes

"Blausen 0530 HydrogenIsotopes" by BruceBlaus - Own work. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons 

Noble Gases.

"Electron shell 010 Neon - no label" by commons:User:Pumbaa (original work by commons:User:Greg Robson) - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Electron_shell_diagrams (corresponding labeled version). Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0-uk via Wikimedia Commons

Phases of Matter
By Yelod - Wikimedia Commons * Yelod - Wikipedia (En) * ילוד - ויקיפדיה העברית (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Uranium Atomic Bomb. 
By Fastfission in the public domain.