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1: Chemistry, Measurements, and Calculations

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    516698
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    • 1.1: The Scope of Chemistry
      Chemistry is the study of matter and the ways in which different forms of matter combine with each other. You study chemistry because it helps you to understand the world around you. Everything you touch or taste or smell is a chemical, and the interactions of these chemicals with each other define our universe. Chemistry forms the fundamental basis for biology and medicine. From the structure of proteins and nucleic acids, to the design, synthesis and manufacture of drugs, chemistry allows you
    • 1.2: Chemicals Compose Ordinary Things
      Chemistry is the branch of science dealing with the structure, composition, properties, and the reactive characteristics of matter. Matter is anything that has mass and occupies space. Thus, chemistry is the study of literally everything around us – the liquids that we drink, the gasses we breathe, the composition of everything from the plastic case on your phone to the earth beneath your feet. Moreover, chemistry is the study of the transformation of matter.
    • 1.3: Hypothesis, Theories, and Laws
      Although all of us have taken science classes throughout the course of our study, many people have incorrect or misleading ideas about some of the most important and basic principles in science. We have all heard of hypotheses, theories, and laws, but what do they really mean? Before you read this section, think about what you have learned about these terms before. What do these terms mean to you? What do you read contradicts what you thought? What do you read supports what you thought?
    • 1.4: The Scientific Method - How Chemists Think
      Science is a process of knowing about the natural universe through observation and experiment. Scientists go through a rigorous process to determine new knowledge about the universe; this process is generally referred to as the scientific method. Science is broken down into various fields, of which chemistry is one. Science, including chemistry, is both qualitative and quantitative.
    • 1.5: Taking Measurements
      Chemists measure the properties of matter and express these measurements as quantities. A quantity is an amount of something and consists of a number and a unit. The number tells us how many (or how much), and the unit tells us what the scale of measurement is. For example, when a distance is reported as “5 kilometers,” we know that the quantity has been expressed in units of kilometers and that the number of kilometers is 5.
    • 1.6: Unit Conversions and Problem Solving
      Perhaps the most important skill to learn in this class is how to convert between different units of measurement. This skill is not only important in this section, but will continue to come up in almost every chapter of this book.
    • 1.7: Density as a Unit Conversion
      Density is a physical property found by dividing the mass of an object by its volume. Regardless of the sample size, density is always constant.
    • 1.8: Temperature - Random Motion of Molecules and Atoms
      Three different scales are commonly used to measure temperature: Fahrenheit (expressed as °F), Celsius (°C), and Kelvin (K).
    • 1.E: Practice Exercises - Measurements and Conversions
      The following questions are related to the material covered in this chapter, however they may not be presented in the same order that they were in your chapter.


    1: Chemistry, Measurements, and Calculations is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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