Quickly learn chemistry from scratch. How to learn chemistry yourself from scratch: effective ways

Everything around us - on the street, on a robot, in public transport relevant in chemistry. And we ourselves consist of a number of chemical elements and processes. Therefore, the question of how to learn chemistry is quite relevant.

This article is intended for persons over 18 years of age

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Chemistry teaching methods

Not a single branch of industry or agriculture can do without this miracle science. Modern technologies They use all possible developments to ensure that progress moves forward. Medicine and pharmacology, construction and light industry, cooking and our everyday life - they all depend on chemistry, its theory and research.

But not all young people in school age understand the need and importance of chemistry in our lives, do not attend lessons, do not listen to teachers and do not delve into the essence of the processes. To interest and instill a love for science and school curriculum among students in grades 8, 9, 10, teachers use different techniques And educational technology, specific methods and use research technologies.

b"> Is it easy to learn chemistry on your own?

It often happens that after finishing a course in a certain subject in high school or college, a student realizes that he did not listen carefully and did not understand anything. This may be reflected in his annual grade, and may even cost him a budget place at the university. Therefore, many careless schoolchildren try to study chemistry on their own.

And here questions arise. Is this real? Is it possible to learn a difficult subject on your own? How to organize your time correctly and where to start? Of course, it is possible and quite realistic, the main thing is perseverance and the desire to achieve your goal. Where to start? No matter how trivial it may sound, motivation plays a decisive role in the entire process. It depends on whether you can sit through textbooks for a long time, learn formulas and tables, break down processes and do experiments.

Once you have identified a goal for yourself, you need to start implementing it. If you are starting to learn chemistry from scratch, then you can stock up on textbooks for the 8th grade curriculum, guides for beginners and laboratory notebooks, where you will record the results of the experiments. But there are often situations when home-based teaching is not effective and does not bring desired results. There can be many reasons: lack of perseverance, lack of willpower, some aspects are unclear, without which further training makes no sense.

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Is it possible to learn chemistry quickly?

Many schoolchildren and students want to learn chemistry from scratch without spending a lot of effort and for a short time, are looking online for ways to learn a subject in 5 minutes, in 1 day, in a week or a month. It is impossible to say how long it will take to learn chemistry. It all depends on the desire, motivation, abilities and capabilities of each individual student. And it is worth remembering that quickly learned information disappears from our memory just as quickly. Therefore, is it worth quickly learning the entire school chemistry course in a day? Or is it better to spend more time, but then pass all exams with flying colors?

Regardless of how long you plan to study chemistry, it’s worth choosing convenient methods that will make it easier difficult task on the basics of organic and inorganic chemistry, the characteristics of chemical elements, formulas, acids, alkanes and much more.

The most popular method used in secondary schools is preschool institutions, in courses on studying a particular subject, this is a game method. It allows you to easily and accessible form remember a large number of information without spending a lot of effort on it. You can buy a young chemist's set (yes, don't let that bother you) and see a variety of important processes and reactions, observe the interaction of different substances and at the same time it is quite safe. In addition, use the method of cards or stickers, which you place on different pieces (this is especially suitable for the kitchen) indicating the name chemical element, its properties, formula. When you come across such pictures throughout the house, you will remember the necessary data on a subconscious level.

Alternatively, you can buy a book for children, which describes the initial and main points in a simple form, or you can watch an educational video where chemical reactions are explained based on home experiments.

Don’t forget to control yourself by doing tests and examples, solving problems - this is how you can consolidate your knowledge. Well, repeat the material you have already learned before, and the new material that you are learning now. It is the return and reminder that makes it possible to keep all the information in your head and not forget it before the exam.

An important point is the help of your smartphone or tablet, on which you can install special educational programs in order to learn chemistry. Such applications can be downloaded for free by selecting required level knowledge - for beginners (if you are learning from scratch), intermediate (course high school) or high (for students of biological and medical faculties). The advantages of such devices are that you can repeat or learn something new from anywhere and at any time.

And finally. Whatever field you will succeed in the future: science, economics, art, Agriculture, military field or industry, remember that knowledge of chemistry will never be superfluous!

Chapter 1.

General chemical and environmental patterns.

Where does chemistry begin?

Is this a difficult question? Everyone will answer it differently.

In secondary school, students study chemistry over a number of years. Many pass quite well final exam in chemistry. However…

Conversations with applicants and then first-year students indicate that residual knowledge in chemistry after secondary school is insignificant. Some people get confused by different definitions and chemical formulas, while others cannot even reproduce the basic concepts and laws of chemistry, not to mention the concepts and laws of ecology.

Their chemistry never started.

Chemistry, apparently, begins with a deep mastery of its fundamentals, and above all, the basic concepts and laws.

1.1. Basic chemical concepts.

In D.I. Mendeleev’s table there are numbers next to the element symbol. One digit means serial number element, and the second is atomic mass. The serial number has its own physical meaning. We will talk about it later, here we will focus on atomic mass and highlight in what units it is measured.

It should be noted right away that the atomic mass of an element given in the table is a relative value. Per unit of relative value atomic mass 1/12 of the mass of a carbon atom, an isotope with mass number 12, was taken and called the atomic mass unit /amu/. Therefore, 1 amu equal to 1/12 of the mass of the carbon isotope 12 C. And it is equal to 1.667 * 10 –27 kg. /The absolute mass of a carbon atom is 1.99 * 10 –26 kg./

Atomic mass, given in the table, is the mass of the atom expressed in atomic mass units. The quantity is dimensionless. Specifically for each element, atomic mass shows how many times the mass of a given atom is greater or less than 1/12 of the mass of a carbon atom.

The same can be said about molecular weight.

Molecular mass is the mass of a molecule expressed in atomic mass units. The magnitude is also relative. The molecular mass of a particular substance is equal to the sum of the masses of the atoms of all the elements that make up the molecule.

An important concept in chemistry is the concept of “mole”. Mole– such an amount of substance that contains 6.02 * 10 23 structural units /atoms, molecules, ions, electrons, etc./. Mole of atoms, mole of molecules, mole of ions, etc.

The mass of one mole of a given substance is called its molar / or molar / mass. It is measured in g/mol or kg/mol and is designated by the letter “M”. For example, the molar mass of sulfuric acid M H 2 SO4 = 98 g/mol.

The next concept is “Equivalent”. Equivalent/E/ is the weight amount of a substance that interacts with one mole of hydrogen atoms or replaces such an amount in chemical reactions. Therefore, the equivalent of hydrogen E H is equal to one. /E N =1/. The oxygen equivalent E O is equal to eight /E O =8/.

A distinction is made between the chemical equivalent of an element and the chemical equivalent complex substance.

The equivalent of an element is a variable quantity. It depends on the atomic mass /A/ and valence /B/ that the element has in a particular compound. E=A/B. For example, let's determine the equivalent of sulfur in the oxides SO 2 and SO 3. In SO 2 E S =32/4=8, and in SO 3 E S =32/6=5.33.

The molar mass of an equivalent, expressed in grams, is called equivalent mass. Therefore, the equivalent mass of hydrogen ME H = 1 g/mol, the equivalent mass of oxygen ME O = 8 g/mol.

The chemical equivalent of a complex substance /acid, hydroxide, salt, oxide/ is the amount of the corresponding substance that interacts with one mole of hydrogen atoms, i.e. with one equivalent of hydrogen or replaces that amount of hydrogen or any other substance in chemical reactions.

Acid equivalent/E K/ is equal to the quotient of the molecular weight of the acid divided by the number of hydrogen atoms participating in the reaction. For the acid H 2 SO 4, when both hydrogen atoms react H 2 SO 4 +2NaOH=Na 2 SO+2H 2 O the equivalent will be equal to EN 2 SO4 = M H 2 SO 4 /n H =98/2=49

Hydroxide equivalent /E hydr. / is defined as the quotient of the molecular weight of the hydroxide divided by the number of hydroxo groups that react. For example, the equivalent of NaOH will be equal to: E NaOH = M NaOH / n OH = 40/1 = 40.

Salt equivalent/E salt/ can be calculated by dividing its molecular weight by the product of the number of metal atoms that react and their valency. Thus, the equivalent of the salt Al 2 (SO 4) 3 will be equal to E Al 2 (SO 4) 3 = M Al 2 (SO 4) 3 /6 = 342/2.3 = 342/6 = 57.

Oxide equivalent/E ok / can be defined as the sum of the equivalents of the corresponding element and oxygen. For example, the equivalent of CO 2 would be equal to the sum equivalents of carbon and oxygen: E CO 2 =E C +E O =3+8=7.

For gaseous substances it is convenient to use equivalent volumes /E V /. Since when normal conditions A mole of gas occupies a volume of 22.4 liters, then based on this value, it is easy to determine the equivalent volume of any gas. Let's consider hydrogen. The molar mass of hydrogen 2g occupies a volume of 22.4 liters, then its equivalent mass of 1g occupies a volume of 11.2 liters / or 11200 ml /. Therefore E V N =11.2l. The equivalent volume of chlorine is 11.2 l /E VCl = 11.2 l/. The equivalent volume of CO is 3.56 /E VC O =3.56 l/.

The chemical equivalent of an element or complex substance is used in stoichiometric calculations of exchange reactions, and in the corresponding calculations of redox reactions, oxidative and reduction equivalents are used.

Oxidative equivalent is defined as the quotient of the molecular weight of the oxidizing agent divided by the number of electrons it accepts in a given redox reaction.

The reducing equivalent is equal to the molecular weight of the reducing agent divided by the number of electrons it gives up in a given reaction.

Let's write the redox reaction and determine the equivalent of the oxidizing agent and reducing agent:

5N 2 aS+2KMnO 4 +8H 2 SO 4 =S+2MnSO 4 +K 2 SO 4 +5Na 2 SO 4 +8H 2 O

The oxidizing agent in this reaction is potassium permanganate. The equivalent of the oxidizing agent will be equal to the mass of KMnO 4 divided by the number of electrons accepted by the oxidizing agent in the reaction (ne=5). E KMnO 4 =M KMnO 4 /ne=158/5=31.5. Molar mass of the equivalent of the oxidizing agent KMnO 4 in acidic environment equal to 31.5 g/mol.

The equivalent of the reducing agent Na 2 S will be: E Na 4 S = M Na 4 S / ne = 78/2 = 39. The molar mass of Na 2 S equivalent is 39 g/mol.

In electrochemical processes, in particular during the electrolysis of substances, an electrochemical equivalent is used. The electrochemical equivalent is determined as the quotient of the chemical equivalent of the substance released at the electrode divided by the Faraday number /F/. The electrochemical equivalent will be discussed in more detail in the corresponding paragraph of the course.

Valence. When atoms interact, a chemical bond is formed between them. Each atom can only form a certain number of bonds. The number of connections determines this unique property each element, which is called valency. In the most general view Valency is the ability of an atom to form a chemical bond. One chemical bond that a hydrogen atom can form is taken as a unit of valency. In this regard, hydrogen is a monovalent element, and oxygen is a divalent element, because No more than two hydrogens can form a bond with an oxygen atom.

The ability to determine the valency of each element, including in a chemical compound, is a necessary condition successful completion of the chemistry course.

Valence is also related to such a concept of chemistry as oxidation state. The oxidation substate is the charge that an element has in an ionic compound or would have in a covalent compound if the shared electron pair were completely shifted to a more electronegative element. The oxidation state has not only a numerical expression, but also a corresponding charge sign (+) or (–). Valence does not have these signs. For example, in H 2 SO 4 the oxidation state is: hydrogen +1, oxygen –2, sulfur +6, and the valency, accordingly, will be 1, 2, 6.

Valency and oxidation state in numerical values ​​do not always coincide in value. For example, in a molecule ethyl alcohol CH 3 –CH 2 –OH valence of carbon is 6, hydrogen is 1, oxygen is 2, and the oxidation state, for example, of the first carbon is –3, the second is –1: –3 CH 3 – –1 CH 2 –OH.

1.2. Basic environmental concepts.

Behind Lately The concept of “ecology” enters deeply into our consciousness. This concept, introduced back in 1869 by E. Haeckel, comes from the Greek oikos- house, place, dwelling, logos– the teaching / is disturbing humanity more and more.

In biology textbooks ecology defined as the science of the relationship between living organisms and their environment. An almost consonant definition of ecology is given by B. Nebel in his book “Science of the Environment” - Ecology is the science of various aspects of the interaction of organisms with each other and with the environment. A broader interpretation can be found in other sources. For example, Ecology – 1/. The science that studies the relationship of organisms and their systemic aggregates and environment; 2/. A set of scientific disciplines that study the relationship of systemic biological structures /from macromolecules to the biosphere/ among themselves and with the environment; 3/. Discipline that studies general laws functioning of ecosystems at various hierarchical levels; 4/. A comprehensive science that studies the habitat of living organisms; 5/. Study of the position of man as a species in the biosphere of the planet, his connections with ecological systems and the impact on them; 6/. The science of environmental survival. / N.A. Agidzhanyan, V.I. Torshik. Human ecology./. However, the term “ecology” refers not only to ecology as a science, but to the state of the environment itself and its impact on humans, flora and fauna.

Chemistry is considered one of the most complex and difficult subjects. Moreover, difficulties arise in mastering this subject for both schoolchildren and students. Why? Students expect tricks, interesting experiments and demonstrations from the lesson. But after the first lessons they are disappointed: laboratory work There’s not much to do with reagents; basically you have to learn new terminology and do extensive homework. Chemical language is completely different from everyday language, so you need to quickly learn terms and names. In addition, you need to be able to think logically and apply mathematical knowledge.

Is it possible to learn chemistry on your own?

Nothing is impossible. Despite the complexity of science, chemistry can be learned from scratch. In some cases, when the topic is particularly complex or requires additional knowledge, you can use the services of an online tutor. Most convenient way training - with the help of chemistry tutors on Skype. Distance learning allows you to study a particular topic in detail or clarify complex points. You can contact a qualified teacher via Skype at any time.

In order for the learning process to be effective, several factors are needed:

• Motivation. In any business, you need a goal to strive for. It doesn’t matter why you study chemistry - for admission to a medical institute or the Faculty of Biology, just for self-development. The main thing is to set a goal and determine a way to achieve it. Motivation will be the main thing driving factor, which will force you to continue self-education.
• The importance of details. It is simply impossible to learn a large amount of information in a short time. To learn chemistry effectively and be able to use knowledge correctly, you need to pay attention to details: formulas, solve a large number of examples, problems. For high-quality assimilation of the material, systematization of information is required: they study independently new topic, in addition, they solve problems and examples, learn formulas, etc.
• Check of knowledge . To consolidate the material covered, it is recommended to periodically do testing work. The ability to understand and analyze logically allows you to assimilate knowledge better than cramming. Teachers recommend periodically doing tests for yourself and test papers. It would be useful to review the material covered. Workbooks and self-instruction books help you learn chemistry on your own.
• Practice and practice again... It is not enough to have good theoretical knowledge; you need to be able to apply it in practice when solving problems. Practical exercises help identify weak spots in knowledge and consolidate the material covered. In addition, analytical skills and logical construction decision chains. While solving examples and problems, you draw conclusions and systematize the acquired knowledge. When the tasks become absolutely clear, you can begin to study the next topic.
• Teach yourself. Not sure about fully mastering chemistry? Try teaching this subject to someone. While explaining the material, weak points in knowledge are identified and consistency is built. It is important to take your time, paying attention to details and practicalities.

You can learn chemistry on your own from scratch if you have strong motivation and time. If the material is complex, professional tutors will help you understand the intricacies of the topic. Whether this will be face-to-face counseling or via Skype is up to you. You don't have to take it full course from a tutor, in some cases you can take a lesson on a separate topic.

Even in high school, many students are faced with the question of how to learn chemistry on their own from scratch, because this science is rarely mastered the first time. School teachers often do not think about the fact that children do not receive all the necessary knowledge to study science at a more complex level. Therefore, the guys do not understand more and more new tasks, concluding that they have a poor predisposition to the subject. In fact, gaps in knowledge may arise not because of problems with thinking, but because of incorrect school teaching methods.

Let's talk about how to learn chemistry yourself from scratch at home. This question is also relevant for school graduates who are planning to take the Unified State Exam and enter universities.

Many students who study at medical universities, encounter chemistry every day. And at the same time, not every one of them knew this science well at school. Here is the advice they give to the younger generation:

• To pass the exam, you need knowledge of the entire school chemistry course. But to study at the university you will only need the basics of inorganic science; experienced professors will teach you everything else. Therefore, develop short term memory. All unnecessary information after passing the Unified State Exam you'll have to get it out of your head.
• Lessons with a tutor will bring much more benefits than studying on your own. However, if you do not have the opportunity to attend individual lessons, do not despair, because you can learn chemistry on your own, but it will require hard work.
• Remember that humanity has not come up with even more effective methodology studying disciplines than working hard on your knowledge and skills. Constant practice is your key to success.

It is continuity in learning that is the key factor in achieving the goal. For effective classes you need to create the appropriate psychological attitude.

Many students are concerned not so much with the quality of the knowledge they receive, but with the time it will take to study. Believe me, the more thoroughly you study the basics of science, the clearer the meaning of each equation becomes for you, the faster you will master more complex topics. In this case, it will be difficult for you only at the very beginning. Get into the essence of the basic concepts, and then the awareness of each chemical law will come to your mind.

Just by not paying attention to deadlines, you can learn chemistry quickly. It’s possible to do this in a month if we're talking about O school course. Typically, students who are preparing to take an exam set this goal. Use the technique suggested below to create the appropriate psychological mood.

Motivation is the key to success

To create appropriate motivation for yourself and maintain it throughout the entire training period, use the following recommendations:

• Set a goal for yourself, formulate it, clearly understanding what result you want to achieve.
• Remember not to try to learn a lot of information in a short time. It will not linger in your thoughts for long, and all the formulas will merge together.
• Theoretical material will not be fully understood by you if you do not consolidate it by solving practical tasks. Plus, your self-esteem will increase significantly if you are a problem solver.
• Arrange tests for yourself in which you will check the degree of mastery of the material.

Chemistry is just science. Human brain designed in such a way that we can remember and understand absolutely any information. Therefore, stop telling yourself that chemistry is not your thing, then you will succeed.

Be a teacher

As strange as it may sound, you will learn the material best if you explain it to someone. Learned a new topic but aren't sure you fully understood it? Find a person who doesn’t understand it at all and explain to him the essence of the material. Believe me, after this lesson, in which you will act as a teacher, not only your “student” will gain more knowledge, but also you.

Why chemistry is a problematic subject

Usually, chemistry initially does not excite schoolchildren. After the first lesson, most children give up on studying this science, believing that they do not have the ability. This is due to the fact that from childhood we are taught that chemistry is a science that has given humanity a lot of interesting experiments, amazing sights and amazing innovations. When middle school students come to their first lesson, they are prepared to have an unforgettable experience and participate in interesting experiments. Instead, schoolchildren see only dry theory and many incomprehensible problems. They become disappointed in the subject, and when the time comes to take the exam, they realize that they have no knowledge.

This is the fault of adults. The child must understand that spectacles in chemistry are formed through hard work, and only with some effort can interesting experiments be carried out.

Passing the Unified State Exam

Graduates often think about how to learn chemistry on their own from scratch in order to pass the Unified State Exam. The answer to this question is very simple. You just need to study chemistry without thinking about exams. Your knowledge will be much better and deeper if you master the subject for yourself, and not for entering the university. Having delved into the essence of science, following the above tips, you can easily write tests for

Not organic chemistry is a basic branch of chemistry. In addition, this is the simplest section of chemistry; organic chemistry is much more complex. That is why we will begin our study of chemistry with inorganic chemistry. As you already know from, inorganic chemistry - is the science of chemical elements and their inorganic compounds. What is it chemical element? A chemical element is an abstract concept that denotes a simple substance that consists of atoms of the same type. Each chemical element has a serial number in periodic table, which coincides with the number of protons in the atomic nucleus. It is necessary to distinguish the chemical element itself from the substance it represents. A chemical element is simply the name for the atoms of a substance. But the substance itself, even consisting of one atom, can be in different forms. A prime example of this is carbon. It can be in the form of black coals remaining after a fire, in the form of briquettes of coal or peat, which are used to heat a stove, in the form of a graphite rod, which is found inside a pencil, and even in the form of diamonds. All these are varieties of the same chemical element - carbon. The only difference is how the atoms are positioned in relation to each other. For example, in diamond, carbon atoms form a three-dimensional spatial lattice in the shape of a tetrahedron (pyramid):

It is thanks to this lattice that the diamond is very hard. Graphite has a different crystal lattice shape, so it is soft and its particles easily peel off from each other:

For understanding chemical processes and also why a substance can have a different structure, it is necessary to know the structure of atoms. Now we will look at it.

So what is an atom? And it is a nucleus located at the center of the atom, around which electrons rotate. At the same time, one should not imagine that they are just flying around the core, like satellites around the Earth or a planet around the Sun. In fact, electrons, protons, and other elementary particles are such an unknown, incomprehensible thing, with very exotic properties, which can simultaneously be in different places. Therefore, the electrons are, as it were, “smeared” along their orbits. And such electron orbits in atoms are called orbitals.

The nucleus consists of neutrons and protons. Neutrons are neutrally charged particles, protons are positively charged particles, and electrons are negatively charged. Therefore, between the latter there are forces of electromagnetic attraction, as a result of which electrons usually do not fly away from atoms. Yes, they usually don’t fly away, because sometimes it happens that electrons still break away from their nuclei. For what reason? For example, if an electric field is applied to a piece of substance, which will pull electrons out of atoms (it will go electricity). Or some elementary particle such as a photon (a piece of light) can knock it out. But the discussion of physics is beyond the scope of these lessons, here we have chemistry. So let's move on.

So, do you think that a nucleus can attract an electron from a neighboring atom? Why not? Such forces of electromagnetic interaction act between them. True, the other atom also has a nucleus that will prevent the electron from flying away. But the force of attraction does not go away. What do you think will happen to atoms that are close enough to each other? That's right, they will interact somehow. On the one hand, the nuclei try to take away electrons from their neighbor, creating an attractive force; on the other hand, the electrons of neighboring atoms will repel each other. Thus, the atoms will be displaced at such a distance that these forces will be balanced. If all the atoms are the same, then a crystal lattice will form (if it is a solid), or, say, for gases, diatomic molecules will form. There are, of course, other options, but we will look at them later in the appropriate sections.

What if the atoms are different? Then they can form different connections between themselves, which are usually called chemical bonds. The following types of chemical bonds are distinguished:

1 . Covalent nonpolar bond. It is due to the overlap of the so-called electron clouds two atoms. I have already said that an electron in an atom is not located in one place, but is, as it were, spread out over its orbit (orbital). This electron “spread out” throughout space is the electron cloud. So the clouds partially overlap each other with a covalent nonpolar bond. This connection is characteristic of simple molecules, for example, H 2 - hydrogen, O 2 - oxygen.

2. Covalent polar bond. This is essentially the same as a covalent nonpolar bond, but one of the atoms slightly pulls the electron of the other atom over itself.

3. Ionic bond. In the case of such a bond, one of the atoms loses an electron and the other “grabs” it for itself. As a result, both of them become ions with opposite charges, which, as we know, attract each other.

4. Metal connection. All atoms in a piece of metal are connected by such a bond. Its essence is that metal atoms cannot retain one of the electrons and easily lose it. Therefore, free electrons easily circulate between atoms.

5. Hydrogen bond. It is a bond formed between a hydrogen atom of one molecule and a highly electronegative atom of another molecule. Electronegativity is the ability of atoms to attract electrons from other atoms. The greatest electronegativity is in halogens - fluorine, chlorine, as well as in strong oxidizing agents, for example, oxygen. The essence of such a bond is that one molecule containing a strong electronegative atom attracts a hydrogen atom from another molecule.

The question may arise: Why does hydrogen form such bonds?

This is explained by the fact that the atomic radius of hydrogen is very small. In addition, when displacing or completely donating its only electron, hydrogen acquires a relatively high positive charge, due to which the hydrogen of one molecule interacts with atoms of electronegative elements that have a partial negative charge that goes into the composition of other molecules (HF, H 2 O, NH 3) .

A hydrogen bond is usually represented by dots or a dotted line because it is something between a chemical bond (covalent, ionic) and a regular molecular bond: much weaker than the former but stronger than the latter.

In inorganic chemistry, it is customary to classify inorganic substances. First, they are grouped into simple and complex.

Simple substances are those substances that consist of only one element. They, in turn, are divided into groups:

Metals. These are substances that have pronounced metallic properties, namely: high thermal and electrical conductivity and a characteristic metallic luster, hardness.. Metals include substances such as iron (Fe), copper (Cu), sodium (Na), potassium ( K), lithium (Li), silver (Ag), gold (Au) and others.K chemical properties Metals have the fact that they easily give up their electrons from the last orbitals.

Non-metals. These are substances that have typical non-metallic properties: poor electrical conductivity; among non-metals there are many substances that are in a gaseous state at room temperature, for example, oxygen (O 2), nitrogen (N 2). But among non-metals there are also solid substances, for example, sulfur (S 2), silicon (Si). The chemical properties of nonmetals include the fact that they more easily take electrons to themselves than give them up.

Inert gases. There is a whole group of chemical elements whose atoms do not interact with anything and do not form any compounds. At room temperature, such substances are in a gaseous state. These are helium (He), neon (Ne), argon (Ar) and others. Such gases are called inert gases.

Complex substances are also grouped:

Oxides. One of the components of these substances is oxygen.

Hydroxyls. One of the components of such compounds is the hydroxyl group (OH - oxygen + hydrogen). Purely such compounds have alkaline properties.

Acids. A combination of hydrogen with an acidic group, such substances are very often chemically active, reacting with many substances, including even corroding many metals.

Salt. If a hydrogen atom in an acid is replaced by a metal atom, the result is a salt. For example, the formula for hydrochloric acid is HCl. And forum the table salt NaCl obtained on its basis.

Binary compounds. These are compounds of two elements, for example, hydrogen sulfide H 2 S (a poisonous and very smelly gas).

Carbonates. Salts and esters of carbonic acid (H 2 CO 3)

Carbides. Compounds of metals and non-metals with carbon.

Cyanides. Salts of hydrocyanic acid (HCN).

Carbon oxides. They were separated into a separate group because it is not clear whether it is carbon monoxide or oxygen carbide. but it is still generally accepted that the compound of carbon with oxygen is precisely carbon monoxide.

Other exotic compounds.

This concludes the brief excursion into inorganic chemistry; chemistry itself will begin in the next lesson.