The Power of Chemists Is in What They Can Learn, Not What They Already Know

Joseph A Buonomo1

  • 1Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, 290 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.

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Chemical Equilibria: Redefining Equilibrium Constant01:20

Chemical Equilibria: Redefining Equilibrium Constant

The effect of an inert salt on the solubility of a sparingly soluble salt is known as the salt effect. The degree of the salt effect varies with the ionic strength of the solution, which in turn depends on the activity of the species in the solution. The activity is expressed as the product of concentration and the activity coefficient of the species.
To calculate the equilibrium constants of solutions of moderately high ionic strength, one must account for the salt effect. This redefined...
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Chemical Equilibria: Systematic Approach to Equilibrium Calculations01:21

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Equilibrium calculations for systems involving multiple equilibria are often complex. For example, to calculate the solubility of a sparingly soluble salt in an aqueous solution in the presence of a common ion, one must consider all the equilibria in this solution. Calculations for these systems can be complicated and tedious, so a systematic approach with a series of steps is often helpful. The process is detailed below.
The first step is to identify all the chemical reactions involved, The...
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Chemistry is an empirical science. Scientists often pose questions to understand the chemistry in everyday life and seek answers to these questions. To achieve this, scientists follow a definitive series of steps that together make up the Scientific Method. This approach involves making observations, asking questions, building a hypothesis, conducting experiments, analyzing results, and forming a conclusion. 
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The Scientific Method01:32

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The scientific method is a detailed, empirical problem-solving process used by biologists and other scientists. This iterative approach involves formulating a question based on observation, developing a testable potential explanation for the observation (called a hypothesis), making and testing predictions based on the hypothesis, and using the findings to create new hypotheses and predictions.
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Chemical Reactions01:19

Chemical Reactions

A chemical reaction is a process by which the bonds in the atoms of substances are rearranged to generate new substances. Matter cannot be created or destroyed in a chemical reaction—the same type and number of atoms that make up the reactants are still present in the products. Merely, the rearrangement of chemical bonds produces new compounds.
Chemical Reactions Rearrange Atoms into New Substances
A chemical reaction takes starting materials—the reactants—and changes them...
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A balanced chemical equation provides the information of chemical formulas of the reactants and products involved in the chemical change. A reaction’s stoichiometry helps predict how much of the reactant is needed to produce the desired amount of product, or in some cases, how much product will be formed from a specific amount of the reactant.
The relative amounts of reactants and products represented in a balanced chemical equation are often referred to as stoichiometric amounts. However, in...
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