CHEMISTRY GLOSSARY

polar solvent    →   polarno otapalo

Polar solvent is a liquid with polar molecules which dissolves polar compounds, because the charges on the endings of the solvent’s molecules attract the elements from ion crystals.

reaction order    →   red reakcije

Order of a reaction (n) is the sum of the exponents of the concentration terms in a rate equation.

Total order of a reaction is

electronegativity    →   elektronegativnost

Electronegativity is a parameter originally introduced by L. Pauling which describes, on a relative basis, the power of an atom to attract electrons. For example, in hydrogen chloride, the chlorine atom is more electronegative than the hydrogen and the molecule is polar, with a negative charge on the chlorine atom.

There are various ways of assigning values for the electronegativity of an element. Pauling electronegativities are based on bond dissociation energies using a scale in which fluorine, the most electronegative element, has the value 4 and francium, the lowest electronegative element, has the value 0.7.

Fajans’ rules    →   Fajansova pravila

Fajans’ rules, formulated by American chemist of Polish origin. Kazimierz Fajans (1887-1975), indicating the extent to which an ionic bond has covalent character caused by polarisation of the ions. Covalent character is more likely if:

1. the charge of the ions is high;

2. the positive ion is small or the negative ion is large;

3. the positive ion has an outer electron configuration that is not a noble- gas configuration.

fuel cell    →   gorivi članak

Fuel cell is a device that converts chemical energy into electrical energy. It is different from a battery in that the energy conversion continues as long as fuel and oxidising agent are fed to the fuel cell; that is, in principle indefinitely. (A battery is manufactured with a limited amount of chemicals, and it is exhausted when all the chemicals have reacted.) It is a galvanic cell where spontaneous chemical reactions occur at the electrodes. The fuel is oxidised at the anode, and the oxidising agent (almost always oxygen or air) is reduced at the cathode. Presently, the most commonly used fuel is hydrogen. More conventional fuels (e.g., petrol or natural gas) must be converted (reformed) into hydrogen before they can be utilised in a fuel cell.

Some fuel cells employ an aqueous solution as electrolyte, that can be either acidic or basic (alkaline), or an ion-exchange membrane soaked in aqueous solution can act as the electrolyte. These fuel cells operate at relatively low temperatures (from room temperature to not much above the boiling point of water). Some fuel cells employ molten salts (especially carbonates) as electrolytes and have to operate at temperatures of several hundred degrees centigrade (Celsius). Others employ ionically conductive solids as electrolyte and must operate close to 1 000 °C.

regeneration    →   regeneracija

Regeneration is the process of restoring an ion exchange medium to a usable state after exhaustion. The cation exchanger is normally regenerated with hydrochloric acid and the anion exchanger with sodium hydroxide.

salt    →   soli

Salt is an ionic compound formed by the reaction of an acid and a base. The reaction of sodium hidroxide to hydrochloric acid gives sodium chloride

strong electrolyte    →   jaki elektrolit

Strong electrolytes are those electrolytes which in water solutions completely dissociate into their ions. They conduct electric current very well.

superconductor    →   supervodič

Superconductor is a material that experiences a nearly total loss of electrical resistivity below a critical temperature T_c.

equilibrium constant    →   konstanta ravnoteže

The equilibrium constant (K) was originally introduced in 1863 by Norwegian chemists C.M. Guldberg and P. Waage using the law of mass action. For a reversible chemical reaction represented by the equation

chemical equilibrium occurs when the rate of the forward reaction equals the rate of the back reaction, so that the concentrations of products and reactants reach steady-state values.

The equilibrium constant is the ratio of chemical activities of the species A, B, C, and D at equilibrium.

To a certain approximation, the activities can be replaced by concentrations.

For gas reactions, partial pressures are used rather than concentrations

The units of K_p and K_c depend on the numbers of molecules appearing in the stoichiometric equation (a, b, c, and d).

The value equilibrium constant depends on the temperature. If the forward reaction is exothermic, the equilibrium constant decreases as the temperature rises. The equilibrium constant shows the position of equilibrium. A low value of K indicates that [C] and [D] are small compared to [A] and [B]; i.e. that the back reaction predominates.

The equilibrium constant is related to Δ_rG°, the standard Gibbs free energy change in the reaction, by