Course info

Introduction

 Chemistry is the study of stuff!  You take some stuff, add some stuff and you get a whole NEW type of stuff.

 Matter

In the chemistry business, stuff is called matter.  Matter is anything that has mass (weight) and occupies space.

Element

Matter consists of particles of elements or a combination of elements, (see periodic table, section A).  There are 109 known elements; 91 have been found in nature, the rest are manmade.

Atom

If you could take a sample of an element and divide it into smaller and smaller pieces, you would eventually come down to a tiny particle that, if subdivided any more, would no longer show the characteristics of the original element.  The smallest particle that still retains the characteristics of an element is called the atom.