Chemistry Course Outline

Chemistry is a course that covers concepts related to chemicals and matter. It lab based activities to build and assess student understanding. Our focus is to use information from the periodic table to understand how periodic trends relate to chemical behavior on the microscopic and macroscopic scale.

Unit 1: Matter

Introduction to the concepts of matter, density and tools of chemistry.

Students can:

• Describe and identify characteristics of matter

• Identify and use lab equipment safely and correctly

• Experimentally determine density to identify an unknown substance

Unit 2: Atomic Structure and the Periodic Table

Learn to read information from the periodic table and understand how the periodic table is organized to describe the atoms and characteristics of each element.

Students can:

• Relate information from the periodic table to the structure of the atom

• Describe and demonstrate the ionization of elements

• Describe periodic trends (mass, electronegativity, size, type, reactivity)

• Relate the spectrum produced by an element to the energy levels of electrons in an atom

Unit 3: Bonding

Knowing the characteristics of elements from the periodic table, we begin to look at how they combine chemically to form new substances.

Students can

• Identify the type of bond present in a chemical based on electronegativity and the types of elements in the substance

• Use charge to predict the result of an ionic bond

• Predict the structure of covalent bonds using Lewis diagrams

• Relate the type of bond present to the characteristics of the substance

The mole is a concept like a dozen, where a single mole represents a a number of atoms or molecules. This value is a major aspect of chemistry and will be used throughout the rest of the year.

Students can:

• Mathematically relate number of particles and moles

• Mathematically relate mass and moles

• Mathematically relate mass and number of particles with the common relationship to the mole

Unit 5: Chemical Reactions

Introduction to chemical reactions, and the products of reactions.

Students can:

• Identify the type of chemical reaction based on the reactant chemicals

• Balance a chemical equation to obey the law of conservation of mass

• Predict the products of a chemical reaction when the reactants are given

Unit 6: Solutions, Dilutions, and Titrations

Using information about the mole and molarity (concentration measurement), students begin making their own chemical solutions, dilute them, then test their strength.

Students can:

• Describe the concentration of a solution using molarity

• Accurately make a solution with a specific concentration

• Accurately dilute a solution

• Test a solution's concentration using titration

Unit 7: Stoichiometry

Stoichiometry is the math associated with calculating the amount of chemical needed or produced when given specific information about another chemical in the reaction. The concepts from ALL previous units build to this topic.

Students can:

• Use the mole ration to determine relative amounts of each chemical in a reaction

• Predict the mass or molarity of product based on the mass or molarity of a reactant

• Determine the limiting reactant when given the mass or molarity of reactants

• Compare actual amount of product to the predicted amount using percent yield

Unit 8: Thermal Chemistry

Investigates the relationship between temperature, heat, and the microscopic motion of particles in a substance.

Students can:

• Mathematically relate temperature scales and absolute zero

• Relate particle energy and motion to temperature and states of matter

• Use specific heat to predict energy and temperature changes

• Calculate the energy needed to change phases for a substance

Unit 9: Gas Laws

Gas laws relate variables of temperature, pressure, volume, and amount of gas to predict how changing conditions impact the behavior of the gas.

Students can:

• Describe the conditions for Standard Temperature and Pressure (STP)

• Mathematically use gas laws (Dalton, Boyle, Charles, Gay-Lussac, Combined, and Ideal) to predict physical conditions of a gas

• Mathematically and conceptually describe how changes to one variable (T, P, V, or number of moles) impacts the behavior of a gas