The chemical and physical properties of water help explain why ice floats.
What comes to mind when you hear the word “chemistry”? There are so many ways that chemistry is a part of your life. Chemistry is happening all around you in virtually everything you do. A very broad definition of chemistry is that it is the study of matter, and matter is anything that takes up space and has mass. That pretty much means everything you can feel and touch is involved in some way with chemistry and its processes. Chemistry helps to answer lots of everyday questions. Here are just a few:
To help you answer these questions, you will explore the fundamental ways that chemists classify and observe matter in this module. This includes learning about the different types of chemical properties and changes. In addition, you will examine the chemical property of density, which is a value determined by a substance's mass and volume. Finally, you will end the module with some more chemistry tools and techniques. You will learn about the separation techniques that chemists use in the lab, as well as how scientists use dimensional analysis to convert from one unit to another.
Getting Started
Chemistry is all around you - even at the beach. In this interactivity, click on each of the spinning icons to learn more about the chemical processes and properties that you can find on the beach. Once you have viewed the interactivity, look around you. Where is chemistry in your life?
Download a printable version of the interactivity.
Key Vocabulary
To view the definitions for these key vocabulary terms, visit the course glossary.
Archimedes | element | liquid | pure substance |
chemical change | equivalence statement | mass | qualitative observation |
chemical property | evaporation | matter | quantitative observation |
chromatography | extensive property | mixture | radioactivity |
compound | filtration | percent error | solid |
crystallization | gas | physical change | triple beam balance |
decanting | heterogeneous mixture | physical property | volume |
density | homogeneous mixture | plasma | water displacement |
dimensional analysis | intensive property |