Universidad de Antioquia

Una reacción química es el proceso mediante el cual tiene lugar una transformación química. Las reacciones químicas pueden llevarse a
cabo en medios líquidos, sólidos o gaseosos, y pueden ir acompañadas de cambios en las propiedades físicas tales como: producción de
un gas, formación de un sólido (precipitado), cambio de color, desprendimiento o absorción de calor, etc.

De la misma manera que cada sustancia puede representarse por una fórmula química, cada reacción química puede representarse por
una ecuación química. En ella se indican las sustancias que reaccionan o reactivos y las sustancias que se producen o productos y las
cantidades relativas de las mismas para la reacción en cuestión.

En forma general se pueden clasificar las reacciones químicas en:

Reacciones de síntesis o combinación. Dos o más sustancias simples se combinan para dar un producto más complejo.

Oxidación del fósforo

(ROCHA, 2009). Oxidación del fósforo

P4(s) + 3 O2 (g) → 2 P2O3 (g)

Reacciones de descomposición.Un compuesto se transforma por acción del calor o de la electricidad en dos o más compuestos.

CaCO3 (s) → CaO (s) + CO2 (g)

Reacciones de desplazamiento.Un elemento más activo reemplaza a otro menos activo en un compuesto.

Desplazamiento de la plata por el cobre

(GALEANO, 2011k). Desplazamiento de la plata por el cobre

Cu (s) + AgNO3 (ac) → CuSO4 (ac) + Ag (s)

Reacciones de doble desplazamiento.Particularmente comunes para reacciones iónicas en solución; se intercambian átomos o grupos
atómicos para dar una sal insoluble.

Precipitación del yoduro de plomo

(GALEANO, 2011l). Precipitación del yoduro de plomo

Pb(NO3)2 (ac) + NaI (ac) → PbI2 (s) + 2 NaNO3 (ac)

Reacciones de oxidación y reducción, o reacción redox. Ocurren cuando algunos átomos experimentan un aumento en su estado de
oxidación, proceso denominado oxidación y otros experimentan una disminución en su estado de oxidación, denominada reducción.

Reacción de un metal con un ácido

(GALEANO, 2011m). Reacción de un metal con un ácido

Zn (s) + 2 HCl (ac) → ZnCl2 (ac) + H2 (g)

El magnesio aumenta su número de oxidación de 0 a +2 y por lo tanto se oxida, a su vez el hidógeno del ácido disminuye su número de
oxidación de +1 a 0, es decir se reduce. El Mg es el agente reductor y el HCl es el agente oxidante.

Reacciones de neutralización o ácido-base. Cuando reacciona un ácido con una base para formar agua más un compuesto iónico
llamado sal.

Ca(OH)2 (ac) + HCl(ac) → CaCl2 (ac) + 2 H2O (l)

The Cast of Characters, Major and Minor Roles

King James I … he’d been persecuting the Separatists because they wanted to leave the Church of
England.

Separatists … not to be confused with the staid and drab Puritans, who didn’t arrive in the New
World until ten years later.

Christopher Jones … captain, or “master,” of the Mayflower and its crew.

Pilgrims … the term first meant the Separatists because of their wanderings in search of religious
freedom, but today it’s applied to everyone on the Mayflower.

William Brewster … leader of the group of Separatists who sailed on the Mayflower.

The “strangers” … others who joined the Separatists on the Mayflower.

Oceanus … the baby boy born to Stephen and Elizabeth Hopkins during the voyage.

John Carver … first elected governor of the Plymouth colony.

Miles Standish … led an exploration party onshore before the Pilgrims disembarked.

Samoset … native American of the Wampanoag tribe who brought Squanto to help the Pilgrims.

Squanto … his perfect English and knowledge of fishing, planting, hunting, and trapping saved the
Pilgrims who had survived the first harsh winter.

Massasoit … chief of the Wampanoag tribe, who signed a peace treating with the Pilgrims.

William Bradford … the colony’s second governor, who instituted the three-day feast we call the
first Thanksgiving in order to acknowledge the blessings of God.

A Thanksgiving Time Line

1524-1614. European explorers visited the Cape Cod area.

1611-1614. A total of 32 native men were captured and kidnapped to be sold as slaves. Among
them was Tisquantum (Squanto), who went first to Spain and then to England, where he learned
the English language.

1616-1620. European diseases, for which the native people had no immunity, hit the northeast. So
many from Squanto’s village of Patuxet died that the village was abandoned.

1618. Squanto came back to his homeland and discovered his village was gone.

September 6, 1620. Just over 100 men, women, and children—including a group of English
Separatists—set out from Holland on the Mayflower, a wooden cargo ship no more than 150 feet
long. Holland offered them freedom of religion but they feared the effects of living in a
materialistic culture. Although they intended to sail to the Hudson Bay area, a storm blew them off
course during their difficult, unpleasant 66-day journey. They reached land on November 11, 1620.
December 11, 1620. The Mayflower anchored at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts. The
travelers went ashore on December 16. All around them looked like wilderness, but it was actually
the lands of Patuxet, Squanto’s abandoned village.

Winter, 1621. The Pilgrims experienced severe sickness, starvation, and exposure. Nearly half of
the Mayflower settlers died.

March 16, 1621. Samoset visited the colony. Soon after, he brought Squanto, who agreed to live
with the colonists and teach them how to survive in his homeland. The Wampanoag chief
Massasoit and John Carver, the English governor, formed an alliance.

Early fall, 1621. The colony had a successful harvest. William Bradford, then the governor, called
for a feast to celebrate and to acknowledge God’s blessing. The feast might have taken place in
October. Some say the colonists invited some Wampanoags to join them; others say the native
Americans came to investigate the gunfire they heard as part of the Pilgrims’ festivities. However
it happened, 90 Wampanoags, including Massasoit, ended up joining the three-day celebration
and provided five deer for the meals.

November 1, 1777. The Continental Congress called for the first national day of Thanksgiving on
December 18 to commemorate victory over the British at the battle of Saratoga.

October 3, 1789. President Washington proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving for the United
States Constitution.

1846. Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, began to campaign for an annual
Thanksgiving holiday.

1863. President Lincoln called for two national days of thanksgiving, one in August after the battle
of Gettysburg, and one in November to give thanks for “the blessings of the fruitful field.” The idea
of an annual day of thanksgiving caught on.

November 26, 1941. President Roosevelt signed a bill making the fourth Thursday in November
our national Thanksgiving Day.