Lab Activity: A New Language - Honors Chemistry Coursework

Extensions:Additional Information: An element is a unique form of matter that serves as a building material for more complex matter.Elements cannot be broken apart chemically into two different substances. Each element has a name and a chemical symbol. The symbols for elements consist of upper case lettersthat are sometimes followed by lower case letters. Each upper case letter, along with the lower caseletter, if there is one, is a symbol for a different element. These are all listed on the periodic table youwere supplied at the start of this course. Sometimes the symbol relates to the name of the element andsometimes the symbol comes from its language of origin or an ancient language, like Greek. Sometimes elements combine chemically (they react with one another) to create a new substance that ismade of a specific arrangement of multiple elements. These collections are called compounds. A compound is a substance that consists of two or more elements chemically combined together in a setratio, resulting in a neutral end product. A chemical formula is the set of symbols a scientist uses to represent a chemical compound. It is thecombination of the symbols of its constituent elements. Often, subscripts are part of a chemical formula;these represent the number of the element or ion directly preceding the subscript. For example, carbon dioxide is a chemical compound made of both carbon and oxygen. Its formula isCO 2 indicating carbon dioxide is made of 1 carbon atom and 2 oxygen atoms. Copper (II) sulfate is also a compound with a formula CuSO 4 ; this tells us that copper (II) sulfate is madeof 1 copper atom, 1 sulfur atom, and 4 oxygen atoms. A final example: the compound zinc (II) nitrate has a formula of Zn(NO 3 ) 2 . The subscript 2 outside theparentheses indicate that there are two nitrate ions in this compound. So all totaled, this compoundconsists of 1 zinc, 2 nitrogen, and 6 oxygen atoms.11. For each of the substances in the first seventeen vials, write the formula (include all symbols), list how manyatoms of each element exist in the substance, as well as the total number of atoms in the entire substance.Vial 1Vial 2Vial 3Vial 4Vial 5Vial 6Vial 7Vial 8Vial 9Vial 10Vial 11Vial 12Vial 13Vial 14Vial 15Vial 16Vial 17substance atoms of each element total # of atomsRevised Sept 2011 Page 4 of 5