Chemical Reactions

What is a Chemical Reaction?

A chemical change is one in which new substances are formed. This happens
because electrons can move, or be shared, between different atoms.

To understand why, think about the element Neon. It’s electron arrangement is 2,8
(check this by looking at your periodic table). That means its outer orbital is full – it has
the maximum number of electrons. Having a full outer orbital makes an atom stable.
The electrons in an atoms outer orbital are called the valence electrons.

Now consider Sodium – its electron arrangement is 2,8,1(check this too!). Its outer
orbital is not full – there is only one electron there, even though there is room for eight!
If only Sodium could get rid of this pesky electron – then it would have a full outer
orbital and be stable – its electron
arrangement would be 2,8. In fact, in a
chemical reaction, this is exactly what
happens: atoms gain or lose electrons to gain
full outer orbitals and become stable. In the
process, new substances are formed. An atom
that has lost or gained electrons is called an
ion.
Patterns of Reactions.

The Periodic table was first put together grouping elements by their properties –
particularly their mass, and their reactivity. For example, the elements Fluorine,
Chlorine and Iodine all behave in similar ways in chemical reactions. This is why they
were all put in the same group of the periodic table. The periodic table has a surprise,
however. How many valence electrons does Fluorine have? What about Chlorine?
This is no coincidence!

There are other interesting cases: the Group 1 elements, or alkali metals, which are all
very reactive with water, and which all have only one valence electron! Again this is
not by coincidence – it very easy to lose or gain only one electron. Meanwhile, the
group 18 elements, on the far right, all have full outer orbitals. This makes them all very
unreactive – so they are called the noble gases.
Counting Atoms

In a chemical reaction, the atoms move around – but the same number of atoms of
each elements must be conserved. For example, consider the following reaction of
Copper Sulfate (CuSO4) and Aluminium Hydroxide (Al(OH)3) to make Copper
Hydroxide and Aluminium Sulfate.
3CuSO4 + 2Al(OH)3  3Cu(OH)2 + Al2(SO4)3

This might all look very confusing, so let’s Just look at One example: 3CuSO4.
This is a molecule called copper sulfate. Each molecule is made of of one copper
atom, one Sulfur atom, and four oxygen atoms. The “3” out the front means there are
three molecules. So in total there are three copper atoms, three sulfur atoms, and
twelve oxygen atoms. Can you try the others?