chemical property

(noun)

Any characteristic that can be determined only by changing a substance's molecular structure.

Related Terms

  • extensive property
  • physical property
  • matter
  • intensive property
  • volume
  • mass
  • mole

Examples of chemical property in the following topics:

  • Physical and Chemical Properties of Matter

    • A chemical property, meanwhile, is any of a material's properties that becomes evident during a chemical reaction; that is, any quality that can be established only by changing a substance's chemical identity.
    • Chemical properties cannot be determined just by viewing or touching the substance; the substance's internal structure must be affected for its chemical properties to be investigated.
    • Physical properties are properties that can be measured or observed without changing the chemical nature of the substance.
    • Remember, the definition of a chemical property is that measuring that property must lead to a change in the substance's chemical structure.
    • Here are several examples of chemical properties:
  • Functional Groups

    • Functional groups refer to specific atoms bonded in a certain arrangement that give a compound certain physical and chemical properties.
    • Often, compounds are functionalized with specific groups for a specific chemical reaction.
    • Functionalization refers to the addition of functional groups to a compound by chemical synthesis.
    • In materials science, functionalization is employed to achieve desired surface properties; functional groups can also be used to covalently link functional molecules to the surfaces of chemical devices.
    • It is important to be able to recognize the functional groups and the physical and chemical properties that they afford compounds.
  • Properties of Carbon

    • Carbon has very diverse physical and chemical properties due to the nature of its bonding.
    • Carbon is the chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6 (contains 6 protons in its nucleus).
    • As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds.
    • Interestingly, carbon allotropes span a wide range of physical properties: diamond is the hardest naturally occurring substance, and graphite is one of the softest known substances.
    • This property allows carbon to form an almost infinite number of compounds; in fact, there are more known carbon-containing compounds than all the compounds of the other chemical elements combined, except those of hydrogen (because almost all organic compounds contain hydrogen as well).
  • Physical and Chemical Changes to Matter

    • There are two types of change in matter: physical change and chemical change.
    • As the names suggest, a physical change affects a substance's physical properties, and a chemical change affects its chemical properties.
    • Many physical changes are reversible (such as heating and cooling), whereas chemical changes are often irreversible or only reversible with an additional chemical change.
    • Chemical changes are also known as chemical reactions.
    • Rotting, burning, cooking, and rusting are all further types of chemical changes because they produce substances that are entirely new chemical compounds.
  • The Study of Chemistry

    • Chemistry is the study of the composition, structure, properties, and transformation of matter.
    • Chemistry is the study of matter and the chemical reactions between substances.
    • Chemistry is also the study of matter's composition, structure, and properties.
    • Physical chemistry is the study of the physical properties of chemicals.
    • Chemistry is the study of the properties, composition, and transformation of matter.
  • Molecules

    • Molecules are electrically neutral compounds made of multiple atoms bound together by chemical bonds.
    • When two or more atoms are held together by a chemical covalent bond, this new entity is known as a molecule.
    • Molecules are neutral and carry no charge; this property distinguishes them from polyatomic ions, such as nitrate (NO3-).
    • Because of these different arrangements, isomers often have very different chemical and physical properties.
    • The chemical formula for propanol (C3H7OH) describes several different molecules, which vary by the position of the alcohol (OH).
  • Substances and Mixtures

    • In chemistry, a chemical substance is a form of matter that has constant chemical composition and characteristic properties.
    • A pure chemical compound is a chemical substance that is composed of a particular set of molecules or ions that are chemically bonded.
    • A common example of a chemical substance is pure water; it always has the same properties and the same ratio of hydrogen to oxygen whether it is isolated from a river or made in a laboratory.
    • In practical terms, if the property of interest is the same regardless of how much of the mixture is taken, the mixture is homogeneous.
    • A mixture's physical properties, such as its melting point, may differ from those of its individual components.
  • Molecular Formulas

    • The molecular formula expresses information about the proportions of atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound, using a single line of chemical element symbols and numbers.
    • A molecular formula is not a chemical name, and it contains no words.
    • Although a molecular formula may imply certain simple chemical structures, it is not the same as a full chemical structural formula.
    • Molecular formulas are more limiting than chemical names and structural formulas.
    • Compounds that share a chemical formula but have different chemical structures are known as isomers, and they can have quite different physical properties.
  • Writing Chemical Equations

    • A chemical equation expresses a chemical reaction by showing how certain reactants yield certain products.
    • A chemical equation is the symbolic representation of a chemical reaction.
    • A chemical equation consists of the chemical formulas of the reactants (on the left) and the products (on the right).
    • For equations involving complex chemicals, read the chemical formulas using IUPAC nomenclature, rather than reading the letter and its subscript.
    • Also, please note that, as in the mathematical commutative property of addition, chemical equations are commutative.
  • Introduction to Bonding

    • Chemical bonding describes a variety of interactions that hold atoms together in chemical compounds.
    • Chemical bonds are the connections between atoms in a molecule.
    • Chemical bonds are the forces of attraction that tie atoms together.
    • These atomic properties help describe the macroscopic properties of compounds.
    • This pictures shows examples of chemical bonding using Lewis dot notation.
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