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CEGEP • Montreal

General Chemistry, 202-SN1-RE (formerly 202-NYA)

General Chemistry starts from measurement in the laboratory and the structure of the atom, and works its way up to thermochemistry and the states of matter. It is 202-SN1-RE in the revised program and 202-NYA in the former one: the chapters are the same, and every set below carries both codes. It is a cumulative course, and stoichiometry half understood in September blocks every calculation at the end of the semester.

12 fully corrected exercise sets (132 exercises), 12 revision sheets, and a practice paper. Free, no account needed. The same course in French.

Measurement and atomic structure

  1. 1 Measurement, significant figures and uncertainty Counting the significant figures of a laboratory datum, the two rounding rules and what sets them apart, the tolerance of the five common pieces of glassware and the choice of instrument, accuracy against precision on four sets of measurements, and going from a weighing to a concentration. Then an exam-level part: density with a pycnometer and the identification of a liquid, the calibration curve and reading it backwards, five statements to correct, a serial dilution in which the balance is not the weak link, and a titration carried from the volume read on the burette to the publishable concentration with its uncertainty. Sheet
  2. 2 Atomic structure and electron configuration Isotopes and the average atomic mass read from a mass spectrum, quanta and the photoelectric effect, the quantum model and quantum numbers, electron configuration and its exceptions, the hydrogen spectrum by the Bohr model. Then an exam-level part: periodicity explained by effective nuclear charge, hydrogen-like ions and the Lyman, Balmer and Paschen series, wave-particle duality with de Broglie and Heisenberg's uncertainty, identifying an element from its successive ionization energies, and a hydrogen lamp problem. Sheet

Bonding and molecular structure

  1. 3 Chemical bonding and molecular geometry Electronegativity and bond types, ionic bonding and lattice energy, Lewis structures and formal charge with resonance, exceptions to the octet rule, geometry by the VSEPR model and bond angles. Then an exam-level part: polarity of molecules and intermolecular forces, geometries with five and six electron domains with the position of the lone pairs, dipole moment and percent ionic character, choosing the best resonance structure from formal charges, and a problem on the hydrogen halides in which hydrogen bonding sets HF apart from the trend. Sheet
  2. 4 Hybridization and the quantum model of bonding From orbital overlap to the covalent bond, sp3 hybridization and the tetravalence of carbon, sp2 and sp with the distinction between sigma and pi bonds, the hybridization of oxygen and nitrogen, and sp3d and sp3d2 hybridization beyond the octet. Then an exam-level part: molecular orbitals and bond order, the period 2 diatomic molecules and the paramagnetism of oxygen gas, the s character of hybrid orbitals and what it predicts about acidity and basicity, electron delocalization, and a problem on recognizing hybridization in an organic molecule. Sheet
  3. 5 Organic molecules, functional groups and isomers Recognizing the seven common functional groups and their characteristic group, writing a molecule as an expanded, condensed and skeletal formula, the carbon skeleton governed by the valence of four, functional isomers, and the complete count of the seven isomers of the molecular formula C4H10O. Then an exam-level part: geometric isomerism and its two conditions, going from functional group to physical properties with three molecules of the same molar mass, five statements to correct, a compound identified by its molecular formula and three tests, and the oxidation chain that leads from wine to vinegar, worked through to the strength of the vinegar obtained. Sheet

Stoichiometry and gases

  1. 6 Stoichiometry, limiting reactant and percent yield The mole and molar mass, percent composition and the choice of a fertilizer, equations to balance and what their coefficients mean, empirical and molecular formulas, mass-mass and gas stoichiometry. Then an exam-level part: the limiting reactant and percent yield in the synthesis of ammonia, combustion analysis, the excess reactant and overall yield of a two-step synthesis, a mixture of two chlorides solved with a system of equations, and a problem on impure limestone that combines purity, yield and conservation of mass. Sheet
  2. 7 Gases: Dalton, kinetic theory and real gases The CEGEP sequel to the gas chapter: simple laws and the combined gas law, partial pressures and Dalton's law, collecting a gas over water with the vapour pressure correction that gets forgotten every other time, quantitative kinetic theory with the root-mean-square speed, Graham's law of effusion up to uranium enrichment, and the van der Waals equation. The exam-level part adds identifying a gas from its density, gas stoichiometry and the pressure after a reaction in a rigid container, the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution up to atmospheric escape, the compressibility factor and the Boyle temperature, and scuba diving. Sheet

Reactions, nomenclature and the periodic table

  1. 8 Redox, oxidation numbers and nomenclature Naming and writing binary ionic compounds with Stock notation, polyatomic ions and the oxyanion series, acids and hydrates, molecular compounds and their Greek prefixes, the oxidation number rules with peroxides and hydrides, and recognizing a redox reaction among the five reaction types. Then an exam-level part: balancing copper in nitric acid by the oxidation number method, the complete and incomplete combustion of propane, five statements to correct, a salt identified by its molar mass then followed to its thermal decomposition, and the combustion of a methane and ethane mixture closed by its electron balance. Sheet
  2. 9 Metals, nonmetals and metalloids Placing the three families around the metalloid staircase and giving their physical states at 25 degrees, metallic bonding and what it explains from conduction to malleability, the charge of cations and the noble-gas configuration, that of anions and the isoelectronic series, the activity series and single displacement. Then an exam-level part: the oxidizing power of the halogens up to the fluorine that oxidizes water, semiconductors and their n-type and p-type doping, five statements to correct, four elements of the third period identified from their properties alone, and the route from bauxite to aluminum with what it costs to produce a metal that carbon cannot displace. Sheet

Solutions, energy and states of matter

  1. 10 Solutions and colligative properties Like dissolves like and predicting a solubility, Henry's law and dissolved gases, the five ways of expressing a concentration, dilution, titration and stoichiometry in solution, freezing-point depression and boiling-point elevation. Then an exam-level part: osmotic pressure and the molar mass of macromolecules, Raoult's law and the composition of the vapour above a mixture, purifying a solid by recrystallization, the measured van't Hoff factor and ion pairing, and a problem on antifreeze and seawater desalination by reverse osmosis. Sheet
  2. 11 Thermochemistry and the first law The first law and pressure-volume work, specific heat measured in a mixing calorimeter, the enthalpy of neutralization, standard enthalpies of formation and heating value, and estimates from bond energies. Then an exam-level part: the bomb calorimeter and the difference between a change in internal energy and a change in enthalpy, Hess's law with several equations, the Born-Haber cycle and the enthalpy of solution, the enthalpy of ionization of a weak acid obtained by difference, and a comparison of three fuels by energy per mass and per volume. Sheet
  3. 12 States of matter and phase diagrams Intermolecular forces and boiling point, the heating curve and the cost of phase changes, vapour pressure and the Clausius-Clapeyron equation, reading a phase diagram, surface tension, viscosity and capillary action. Then an exam-level part: the anomaly of water and its consequences, the four types of solids, cubic unit cells and packing efficiency, going from the unit cell to density and Avogadro's number, and a problem on supercritical CO2 and freeze-drying. Sheet

When the chapters are done

A full paper under exam conditions, on the whole course. Do it once every chapter is behind you: it measures what you can do on a question you have never seen.

Practice exam

Practice final exam: all of 202-SN1-RE chemistry

A three-hour final exam that runs through the whole general chemistry course: an electron configuration carried all the way to polarity, an unknown oxide to identify, two boiling-point comparisons that call for two different explanations, a gas mixture analyzed by its combustion, a yield followed on a pressure gauge, a titration read from a volume of gas, two routes to the same enthalpy, the dissolution of the calorimeter salt traced to its freezing point, the gas that stops being ideal, a compound identified by four independent measurements, a complete industrial synthesis and five statements to check.

  • 12 questions
  • 100 points
  • 180 minutes
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