AP chemistry for dummies [learn to: maximize your exam score, master the critical course topics and themes, practice with two full-length tests, bring your skills up to the collegiate level

A practical and hands-on guide for learning the practical science of AP chemistry and preparing for the AP chem exam Gearing up for the AP Chemistry exam? AP Chemistry For Dummies is packed with all the resources and help you need to do your very best. Focused on the chemistry concepts and problems the College Board wants you to know, this AP Chemistry study guide gives you winning test-taking tips, multiple-choice strategies, and topic guidelines, as well as great advice on optimizing your study time and hitting the top of your game on test day. This user-friendly guide helps you prepare without perspiration by developing a pre-test plan, organizing your study time, and getting the most out or your AP course. You'll get help understanding atomic structure and bonding, grasping atomic geometry, understanding how colliding particles produce states, and so much more. To provide students with hands-on experience, AP chemistry courses include extensive labwork as part of the standard curriculum. This is why the book dedicates a chapter to providing a brief review of common laboratory equipment and techniques and another to a complete survey of recommended AP chemistry experiments. Two full-length practice exams help you build your confidence, get comfortable with test formats, identify your strengths and weaknesses, and focus your studies. You'll discover how to Create and follow a pretest plan Understand everything you must know about the exam Develop a multiple-choice strategy Figure out displacement, combustion, and acid-base reactions Get familiar with stoichiometry Describe patterns and predict properties Get a handle on organic chemistry nomenclature Know your way around laboratory concepts, tasks, equipment, and safety Analyze laboratory data Use practice exams to maximize your score Additionally, you'll have a chance to brush up on the math skills that will help you on the exam, learn the critical types of chemistry problems, and become familiar with the annoying exceptions to chemistry rules. Get your own copy of AP Chemistry For Dummies to build your confidence and test-taking know-how, so you can ace that exam! AP Chemistry for DUMmIES 1 About the Authors 3 Dedication 4 Authors’ Acknowledgments 5 Contents at a Glance 7 Table of Contents 9 Introduction 19 About This Book 19 What You’re Not to Read 19 Foolish Assumptions 20 How This Book Is Organized 20 Icons Used in This Book 22 Where to Go from Here 22 Part I: Thriving Inside the Test Tube: How to Prepare for the Exam 23 Chapter 1: Knowing What You’re Up Against: The AP Chemistry Exam 25 Seeing If You Have the Right Stuff 25 Knowing the Breakdown — So You Don’t Have One! 26 Tackling the Topics Covered 27 Understanding the AP Test Questions 28 Getting the Skinny on the Scoring 31 Chapter 2: Preparing Yourself for the Exam 33 Taking Your Tools to the Test 33 Needing Special Attention 34 Using Long-Term Strategies for Training and Survival 35 Feeling Confident: It’s All in Your Head 36 Surviving During the Test with These Four Stress-Busters 37 Part II: Building Matter from the Ground Up: Atoms and Bonding 39 Chapter 3: Looking Under the Atomic Hood: Atomic Structure 41 Picking Apart Atoms and the Periodic Table 41 Exercising Electrons: Ions and Electron Configuration 47 Isolating Info on Isotopes 51 Running into Radioactivity 54 Getting Electrons Excited 56 Chapter 4: Answering Questions about Atomic Structure 59 Reinforcing the Foundation for Atomic Structure 59 Testing Your Knowledge 61 Checking Your Work 62 Chapter 5: Working and Playing Together: Bonding 65 Bringing Atoms Together: Bonding Basics 65 Naming Names: Nomenclature, Formulas, and Percent Composition 67 Eyeing Ionic Bonds 71 Considering Covalent Bonds 72 Separating Charge: Polarity and Electronegativity 73 Chapter 6: Answering Questions on Bonding 77 Brushing Up on Bonding Forget-Me-Nots 77 Testing Your Knowledge 78 Checking Your Work 79 Chapter 7: Doing Atomic Geometry: Molecular Shapes 81 Drawing Dots and Lines with Lewis 81 Overlapping Orbitals to Form Valence Bonds 85 Polarity and Isomers 89 Chapter 8: Answering Questions on Molecular Shapes 93 Shaping Up the High Points 93 Testing Your Knowledge 95 Checking Your Work 97 Part III: Colliding Particles to Produce States 99 Chapter 9: Putting a Finger to the Wind: Gases 101 Moving and Bouncing: Kinetic Molecular Theory of Gases 101 Aspiring to Gassy Perfection: Ideal Gas Behavior 104 Getting Real: Nonideal Gas Behavior 107 Chapter 10: Answering Questions on Gases 109 Doing a Quick Review 109 Testing Your Knowledge 110 Checking Your Work 113 Chapter 11: Condensing Particles: Solids, Liquids, and Solutions 115 Restricting Motion: Kinetic Molecular Theory of Liquids and Solids 115 Getting a Firm Grip on Solids 117 Moving Through States with Phase Diagrams 119 Dissolving with Distinction: Solubility and Types of Solutions 121 Dissolving with Perfection: Ideal Solutions and Colligative Properties 126 Dissolving with Reality: Nonideal Solutions 131 Chapter 12: Answering Questions on Solids, Liquids, and Solutions 133 Getting a Grip on What Not to Forget 133 Testing Your Knowledge 136 Checking Your Work 140 Part IV: Transforming Matter in Reactions 145 Chapter 13: Reacting by the Numbers: Reactions and Stoichiometry 147 Stoichiometry Lingo: How to Decipher Chemical Reactions 148 Building and Breaking: Synthesis and Decomposition Reactions 149 Swapping Spots: Displacement Reactions 150 Burning Up: Combustion Reactions 151 Getting Sour: Acid-Base Reactions 151 Getting Charged: Oxidation-Reduction Reactions 151 The Stoichiometry Underground: Moles 152 Keeping the See-Saw Straight: Balancing Reaction Equations 156 Running Out Early: Limiting Reagents 159 Having Something to Show for Yourself: Percent Yield 160 Chapter 14: Answering Questions on Reactions and Stoichiometry 161 Making Sure You React to Questions with the Right Answers 161 Testing Your Knowledge 163 Checking Your Work 167 Chapter 15: Going Nowhere: Equilibrium 171 Shifting Matter: An Overview of Chemical Equilibrium 171 Predicting Shifts with Le Chatelier’s Principle 172 Measuring Equilibrium: The Equilibrium Constant 174 Specializing Equilibrium: Constants for Different Reaction Types 177 Chapter 16: Answering Questions on Equilibrium 179 Leveling Out the Facts on Equilibrium 179 Testing Your Knowledge 181 Checking Your Work 183 Chapter 17: Giving and Taking in Solution: Acids and Bases 185 Thinking Acidly: Three Different Ways to Define Acid-Base Behavior 185 Describing Acid-Base Equilibria with Constants 188 Measuring Acidity and Basicity with pH 189 Taking It One Proton at a Time: Titration 190 Keeping Steady: Buffers 193 Chapter 18: Answering Questions on Acids and Bases 195 Soaking Up the Main Points 195 Practice Questions 197 Answers with Explanations 198 Chapter 19: Transferring Charge: Oxidation-Reduction 201 Using Oxidation Numbers to Recognize Redox Reactions 201 Respecting the Hyphen: Oxidation-Reduction Half-Reactions 203 Keeping Current: Electrochemical Cells 205 Using Concentration and Standard Cell Potentials to Predict Results 210 Chapter 20: Answering Questions on Oxidation-Reduction 215 Remembering the Rules of Engagement 215 Testing Your Knowledge 217 Checking Your Work 221 Chapter 21: Knowing Speed from Spontaneity: Kinetics and Thermodynamics 225 Getting There Rapidly or Slowly: Kinetics and Reaction Rates 225 Measuring and Calculating with Rates 227 Changing Rates: Factors That Alter Kinetics 229 Getting There at All: Thermodynamics and State Functions 231 Adding Up the Energies: Free Energy, Enthalpy, and Entropy 233 Measuring Heat: Thermochemistry and Calorimetry 235 Dealing with Heat by Using Hess’s Law 238 Chapter 22: Answering Questions on Kinetics and Thermodynamics 241 Picking through the Important Points 241 Testing Your Knowledge 244 Answers with Explanations 247 Part V: Describing Patterns and Predicting Properties 251 Chapter 23: Knowing Chemistry When You See It: Descriptive Chemistry 253 Using Your Senses: Qualitative Aspects of Common Reaction Types 253 Surveying the Table: Predicting Properties and Reactivity 257 Chapter 24: Answering Questions on Descriptive Chemistry 261 Keeping the Important Stuff Straight 261 Testing Your Knowledge 263 Checking Your Work 267 Chapter 25: Living with Carbon: Organic Chemistry 269 Naming Names: Nomenclature and Properties of Hydrocarbons 269 Decorating Skeletons: Organic Functional Groups 275 Rearranging Carbons: Isomerism 280 Changing Names: Some Common Organic Reactions 283 Chapter 26: Answering Questions on Organic Chemistry 285 Making the Main Points Stick 285 Testing Your Knowledge 287 Answers with Explanations 287 Part VI: Getting Wet and Dirty: Labs 289 Chapter 27: Knowing Your Way around the Lab: Equipment and Procedures 291 Gearing Up: An Overview of Common Lab Equipment 291 Following Protocol 293 Chapter 28: Taking the Tour: Recommended AP Experiments 299 Determination of the Formula of a Compound 299 Determination of the Percentage of Water in a Hydrate 300 Determination of the Molar Mass by Vapor Density 301 Determination of the Molar Mass by Freezing Point Depression 301 Determination of the Molar Volume of a Gas 302 Standardization of a Solution Using a Primary Standard 303 Determination of Concentration by Acid-Base Titration, Including a Weak Acid or Base 303 Determination of a Concentration by Oxidation-Reduction Titration 305 Determination of Mass and Mole Relationships in a Chemical Reaction 305 Determination of the Equilibrium Constant for a Chemical Reaction 305 Determination of Appropriate Indicators for Various Acid-Base Titrations and Determining pH 306 Determination of the Rate of a Reaction and Its Order 307 Determination of the Enthalpy Change Associated with a Reaction 308 Separation and Qualitative Analysis of Anions and Cations 309 Synthesis of a Coordination Compound and Its Chemical Analysis 310 Analytical Gravimetric Determination 311 Colorimetric or Spectrophotometric Analysis 311 Separation by Chromatography 313 Preparation and Properties of Buffer Solutions 313 Determination of Electrochemical Series 314 Measurements Using Electrochemical Cells and Electroplating 315 Synthesis, Purification, and Analysis of an Organic Compound 316 Part VII: Measuring Yields: Practice Tests 317 Chapter 29: Practice Test One 319 Multiple-Choice Questions (90 Minutes) 321 Free-Response Questions 330 Answers to Practice Test 1 332 Chapter 30: Practice Test Two 341 Multiple-Choice Questions (90 Minutes) 343 Free-Response Questions 353 Answers to Practice Test Two 356 Part VIII: The Part of Tens 367 Chapter 31: Ten Math Skills to Bring with You to the Exam 369 Dimensional Analysis/Conversion Factors 369 pH and Logs 369 Isolating a Variable 370 Significant Figures 370 Scientific Notation 371 Percent Error, Percent Yield, and Percent Composition 371 The SI System of Units 371 Metric System Prefixes 372 Deducing Qualitative Trends from an Equation 372 The Greek Letter Delta 373 Chapter 32: Ten Critical Types of Chemistry Problems 375 Periodic Table 375 Composition and Structure 376 Solubility and Colligative Properties 376 Gas Behavior and Phase Behavior 377 Stoichiometry and Titration 377 Equilibrium 378 Thermodynamics and Thermochemistry 379 Kinetics 379 Redox and Electrochemistry 379 Descriptive and Organic Chemistry 380 Chapter 33: Ten Annoying Exceptions to Chemistry Rules 383 Hydrogen Isn’t an Alkali Metal 383 The Octet Rule Isn’t Always an Option 384 Some Electron Configurations Ignore the Orbital Rules 384 One Partner in Coordinate Covalent Bonds Giveth Electrons; the Other Taketh 385 All Hybridized Electron Orbitals Are Created Equal 385 Use Caution When Naming Compounds with Transition Metals 385 You Must Memorize Polyatomic Ions 386 Liquid Water Is Denser than Ice 387 No Gas Is Truly Ideal 387 Common Names for Organic Compounds Hearken Back to the Old Days 387 Index 389

A practical and hands-on guide forlearning the practical science of AP chemistryand preparing for the APchem exam

Gearing up for the AP Chemistry exam??AP Chemistry For Dummies?is packed with all the resources and help you need to do your very best.Focused on the chemistry concepts and problems the College Board wants you to know, this AP Chemistry study guide gives you winning test-taking tips, multiple-choice strategies, and topic guidelines, as well as great advice on optimizing your study time and hitting the top of your game on test day.

This user-friendly guide helps you prepare without perspiration by developing a pre-test plan, organizing your study time, and getting the most out or your AP course. You'll get help understanding atomic structure and bonding, grasping atomic geometry, understanding how colliding particles produce states, andsomuch more.

To provide students with hands-on experience, AP chemistrycourses include extensive labwork as part of the standardcurriculum.This is why the book dedicates a chaptertoproviding abrief review of common laboratoryequipment and techniques and anothertoacomplete survey ofrecommendedAP chemistry experiments.Twofull-length practice exams help you build your confidence, get comfortable with test formats, identify your strengths and weaknesses, and focus your studies.

You'll discover how to

• Create and follow a pretest plan
• Understand everything you?must?know about the exam
• Develop a multiple-choice strategy
• Figure out displacement, combustion, and acid-base reactions
• Get familiar with stoichiometry
• Describe patterns and predict properties
• Get a handle on organic chemistry nomenclature
• Know your way around laboratory concepts, tasks, equipment, and safety
• Analy

gearing Up For The Ap Chemistry Exam? ap Chemistry For Dummies Is Packed With All The Resources And Help You Need To Do Your Very Best. This Ap Chemistry Study Guide Gives You Winning Test-taking Tips, Multiple-choice Strategies, And Topic Guidelines, As Well As Great Advice On Optimizing Your Study Time And Hitting The Top Of Your Game On Test Day.

This User-friendly Guide Helps You Prepare Without Perspiration By Developing A Pre-test Plan, Organizing Your Study Time, And Getting The Most Out Or Your Ap Course. You’ll Get Help Understanding Atomic Structure And Bonding, Grasping Atomic Geometry, Understanding How Colliding Particles Produce States, And Much More. Two Full-length Practice Exams Help You Build Your Confidence, Get Comfortable With Test Formats, Identify Your Strengths And Weaknesses, And Focus Your Studies. Discover How To

• create And Follow A Pretest Plan
• understand Everything You must Know About The Exam
• develop A Multiple-choice Strategy
• figure Out Displacement, Combustion, And Acid-base Reactions
• get Familiar With Stoichiometry
• describe Patterns And Predict Properties
• get A Handle On Organic Chemistry Nomenclature
• know Your Way Around Laboratory Concepts, Tasks, Equipment, And Safety
• analyze Laboratory Data
• use Practice Exams To Maximize Your Score

ap Chemistry For Dummies Gives You The Support, Confidence, And Test-taking Know-how You Need To Demonstrate Your Ability When It Matters Most.

Gearing up for the AP Chemistry exam? "AP Chemistry For Dummies" is packed with all the resources and help you need to do your very best. This AP Chemistry study guide gives you winning test-taking tips, multiple-choice strategies, and topic guidelines, as well as great advice on optimizing your study time and hitting the top of your game on test day. This user-friendly guide helps you prepare without perspiration by developing a pre-test plan, organizing your study time, and getting the most out or your AP course. You'll get help understanding atomic structure and bonding, grasping atomic geometry, understanding how colliding particles produce states, and much more. Two full-length practice exams help you build your confidence, get comfortable with test formats, identify your strengths and weaknesses, and focus your studies. Discover how to: create and follow a pretest plan; understand everything you must know about the exam; develop a multiple-choice strategy; figure out displacement, combustion, and acid-base reactions; get familiar with stoichiometry; describe patterns and predict properties; get a handle on organic chemistry nomenclature; know your way around laboratory concepts, tasks, equipment, and safety; analyze laboratory data; and, use practice exams to maximize your score. "AP Chemistry For Dummies" gives you the support, confidence, and test-taking know-how you need to demonstrate your ability when it matters most Review material and expert test-taking tips to help students ace the AP Chemistry exam In 2006, over 90,000 high school students took the Advanced Placement chemistry exam, and since 2002, there has been a 30 percent increase in the number of students taking AP Chemistry courses in U.S. high schools.