CH 221 Chapter Guides

Chapter Guide One: Overview | Resources | Practice

  Overview of Chapter Guide One

The goal of this assignment is to learn the "building blocks" of chemical knowledge. These include topics such as significant figures, dimensional analysis, temperature conversions, mastering the metric system, and more.

Chapter 1 introduces us to a host of concepts which we will use repeatedly over the entire year. Some of the material might be familiar to you; some may not be, but it is important to fully master the concepts before proceeding to subsequent chapters. Especially important in Chapter 1 are the ideas of temperature conversion, significant figures, dimensional analysis, mass percentages, the concept of matter, the Kinetic Molecular Theory, precision versus accuracy, and much more.

For a complete list of important concepts, see the Chapter 1 Study Guide.

  Resources for Chapter Guide One

To understand the basic concepts of chemistry, you should read Chapter 1 in your textbook. .

The following screencasts and Complete Lectures might prove useful to you as you study this chapter.

The Chapter One Lecture notes which accompany this lesson will be helpful when going through this section. These are Web versions of the lecture notes used in the "normal" CH 221 class and should let you see what is important in this chapter. You can also view the Lecture Notes in presentation software: Keynote, PowerPoint

A variety of handouts are available from Chapter One. Feel free to explore all of them or just the ones which give you difficulty.

An Introductory Mathematics Concept Guide is available to help you with math concepts (if necessary). Also check out the Chapter One Concept Guide for a series of worked problems relating to this chapter. They will help you to ensure the mastery of the knowledge from this chapter.

Finally, test yourself (and get extra-credit in the bargain!) on the following chemistry concepts. If you get 9 out of 10 correct (or some multiple thereof), submit the information to receive extra credit.

  1. Significant Figures
  2. Scientific Notation
  3. Predicting Exponents
  4. Direct and Inverse Relationships
  5. Direct/Inverse Problems
  6. General 3 Variable #1
  7. General 3 Variable #2
  8. General 3 Variable #3
  9. Percentages
  10. Mass, Density and Volume
  11. Converting Volume
  12. Converting Mass
  13. Converting Distance
  14. Converting Density
  15. Converting Temperature
  16. Metric Conversions
  17. More Metric Conversions

  Practice the Concepts of Chapter Guide One

Complete problem set #1 to further explore the ideas in our introductory chapter. Problem set #1 covers several questions from Chapter 1, and it can be found here. We will discuss problems like these during recitation, so come prepared to ask and answer questions.

For additional practice, try completing practice problem set #1 (with answers included at the end) and/or the non-assigned problems in Chapter 1 (which have many answers provided at the end of the textbook.) Additionally, try this self-graded practice quiz relating to the use of significant figures and math in our textbook.

If you need assistance on these problems, you have several options. You can visit the AVID / Learning Success Center located above the MHCC library on the Mt. Hood Community College campus; they have tutors available to help you with your chemistry homework. You can also contact me if you have any questions.

This sample Quiz #1 (with answers at the end) which was given during a previous year's CH 221 class will help you understand the kind of questions that will be asked on the quiz.

You can also test your mastery of the subject matter by trying the self quiz for Chapter 1. This is an ungraded quiz that you can use to gauge your comfort level with these concepts.

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The Chapter Guides:

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Questions? Contact me!