Saturday, August 31, 2013

Class 2 Blog

Basic Chemistry
In the class, we reviewed basic concepts of elements, compounds, and bonds between atoms.

Atomic number = number of protons = number of electrons
Atomic mass number = number of protons + number of neutrons

Difference between an element and a compound: Both are pure substances. An element is made of same type of atoms, whereas a compound is made of different elements in definite proportions.

Isotopes of an element have different number of neutrons. Some isotopes are very useful in chemical and biological research: Carbon dating uses the decay of Carbon-14 to estimate the age of organic materials and Calcium-47 helps researchers study the cellular functions and bone formation in mammals.

Ionic Bond: Atoms transfer valence electrons to form an ionic bond between them.
Covalent Bond: Atoms share valence electrons to form a covalent bond between them.
These two bond formations can be illustrated through Lewis Dot Structure.


Strong covalent bonds and weak bonds are both important because strong covalent bonds link atoms to form a cell's molecules and weak bonds can be broken down and can be made again easily.

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