You should attempt these problems at the beginning of the course. If they seem trivial, ignore them. If they are somewhat difficult, work through them. If you find them very hard, you should do some reviewing of your basic general chemistry before attempting this course. A general chemistry textbook would be a useful reference for these questions and for the remainder of the course. You should be able to find a second hand one readily.
1. Using a periodic table, find the element which has an atomic number of 24. What element has a mass number of 24? What do atomic number and atomic mass indicate about the components of the nucleus of an atom?
2. Define isotope, element, neutron, proton, electron, ion.
3. If elemental iodine is reduced, what species is formed?
4. If metallic iron is oxidized, what is formed? (common name and chemical formula)
5. What is a mole?
6. What is the molar mass of sodium hydroxide
7. How many grams of sodium hydroxide will exactly neutralize 1 gram of formic acid (HCOOH)
8. The molar heat of formation of carbon dioxide is -393.5 kJ. Is the reaction of carbon and oxygen to form carbon dioxide exothermic or endothermic? How much heat is produced by the burning of a 10 gram piece of carbon in air?
9. What is the ideal gas law?
10. If a sample of air is confined in a rigid container at 1 atmosphere pressure and the temperature is raised from 20 to 35 degrees Celsius, what is the new pressure?
11. What is the pressure of 0.1 mole of nitrogen, in a 1 liter container at 20 degrees C.
12. What is the density of the nitrogen in the previous problem?
13. What is a polar compound? How will its properties differ in general from one which is non-polar?
14. A thermometer is placed in a beaker of water and it is placed in a freezer. Sketch a graph of the temperature vs time as the water cools and then freezes.
15. State Le Chatelier's principle. Give an example.
16. If 20 grams of sodium chloride are dissolved in water so that the final volume is 1.5 liters what is the molarity of the solution.
17. Define saturated solution, supersaturated solution?
18. How does the solubility of oxygen in water change when the pressure of oxygen above the water changes? What rule can be used to calculate this change?
19. What happens to the freezing point of water when salt is added.
20. For the chemical equation SO2 + 1/2 O2 ® SO3, write the equilibrium expression.
21. If the above system is allowed to come to equilibrium, and then the reaction is compressed into a smaller volume, which way will the equilibrium shift?
22. If the solubility product, Ksp, of lead chloride (PbCl2) is 1.6 x 10-5, what is the concentration of lead in a saturated solution?
23. What is the common ion effect?
24. What is the concentration of lead in a saturated solution of lead chloride in a 1 M sodium chloride solution.
25. What is the difference between a weak acid and a strong acid?
26. What is the pH of an aqueous solution which contains 0.0002 M hydrogen ion?
27. What is the pH of an aqueous solution which contains 0.00003 M hydroxide ion?
28. What is the hydrogen ion concentration of a solution of pH = 5.3.
29. What is an acid/base buffer? How is such a buffer prepared?
30. What factors affect the rate of a chemical reaction? What is the usual effect of temperature? What is activation energy? What is the effect of a catalyst on a reaction?