OPERATIONAL SKILLS

Concepts and Principles are what you should know. Operational Skills are what you
should be able to do.
Assessments will be based primarily on mastery of these operational skills; however,
assessments may also include questions concerning a fundamental understanding of
concepts and principles.

SCIENTIFIC AND MATHEMATICAL CONCEPTS

Given a number written as a decimal, determine the number of significant figures.
Given a number written as a decimal, express the number in correct scientific notation,
and vice versa.
Given mathematical operations applied to measurements, determine the correct number
of significant figures in the answer.
Given some combination of the mass, dimensions and density of a substance, use
appropriate formulas to determine unknown quantities.
Given a description of a substance, identify chemical and physical properties, and
chemical and physical changes.
Given the task of answering a question scientifically, describe an appropriate procedure
using the scientific method and evaluate the implications of expected outcomes.

NOMENCLATURE
Given one of the following atoms, identify the name and charge of ion formed from it:
hydrogen, oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen, carbon, phosphorus, fluorine, chlorine, bromine,
and iodine.

Given one of the following polyatomic ions, identify its formula and charge, or vice
versa: ammonium, nitrite, nitrate, sulfite, sulfate, carbonate, phosphate, cyanide,
hydroxide, chromate, dichromate, and acetate.
Given a polyatomic ion formed from oxygen and either chlorine, bromine or iodine,
identify its name, or vice versa.
Given a molecular compound consisting of two nonmetal elements, apply the
appropriate nomenclature rules to determine its name from a formula or its formula
from a name.
Given an ionic compound consisting of a cation with a unique charge and an anion,
apply the appropriate nomenclature rules to determine its name from a formula or its
formula from a name.
Given an ionic compound consisting of a cation with a variable charge and an anion,
apply the appropriate nomenclature rules to determine its name from a formula or its
formula from a name.
Given a mineral acid or an oxo-acid, determine its name from a formula or its formula
from a name.

STOICHIOMETRY
Given the formula of a compound, calculate its molar mass.
Given the mass of a compound, calculate the moles, or vice versa.
Given the percent composition by mass of a compound, determine its empirical formula.
Given a balanced reaction, convert between the mass or moles of reactants and
products.
Given information concerning the amounts of more than one reactant, determine the
limiting reactant and the theoretical yield of a product.
Given the theoretical and actual yields of a reaction, determine the percent yield.

REACTIONS
Given an unbalanced chemical reaction, determine an acceptable set of coefficients and
classify the reaction as a precipitation, decomposition, combustion, acid-base, single or
double displacement, or oxidation-reduction reaction.
Given an unbalanced reaction involving ions, balance the reaction and write it in
molecular, total ionic, or net ionic form.
Given information about the amount and volume of a compound dissolved in a solvent,
determine the molarity of the solution.

GAS LAWS
Given a pressure measured in either atmospheres, torr (mmHg) or kilopascals,
determine its value in either or both of the other two units.
Given some combination of the pressure, volume, temperature, and amount of a gas,
use appropriate formulas to determine unknown quantities.
Given data concerning the properties of a gas, determine its molar mass.

ENERGY
Given data concerning the amount, specific heat, and initial and final temperatures of a
substance or two substances in thermal contact, determine enthalpy changes or other
unknown quantities.
Given a balanced chemical reaction, determine the enthalpy change using
thermodynamic data or Hesss law.

ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE
Given one of the three quantities: the energy, frequency or wavelength of
electromagnetic radiation, determine the measurements of the other two quantities.
Given the energy, frequency, or wavelength of an electromagnetic transition for the
hydrogen atom and information concerning the initial and final quantum state of a
transition, use appropriate formulas to determine unknown quantities.
Given the position of an element on the periodic chart, identify the four quantum
numbers associated with the last filled electron.
Given and atom or ion, write its electron configuration.
Given and atom or ion, draw its orbital diagram.

PERIODIC TRENDS
Given a row or column of the periodic chart, identify trends in atomic radius, ionic
radius, first ionization energy, electron affinity or electronegativity.
Given two or more atoms or ions, rank them in terms of atomic radius, ionic radius, first
ionization energy, electron affinity or electronegativity.

CHEMICAL BONDING
Given a chemical bond between two atoms, determine if the bond is covalent or ionic.
Given a chemical bond between two atoms, determine the polarity of the bond.
Given an atom or ion, write its Lewis structure.
Given a molecule or polyatomic ion, write its Lewis structure.
Given a molecule or polyatomic ion, determine the most likely formal charge on each
atom.

Given a molecule or polyatomic ion, determine if resonance is present.

Given a molecule or polyatomic ion, determine the expected hybridization.
Given a molecule or polyatomic ion, determine the most likely electronic and molecular
geometries.
Given a diatomic molecular or ion, write its molecular orbital diagram and determine its
bond order and type of magnetism.