This post is officially the smartest thing we've ever read, and we officially didn't understand any of it. Sunwave, you should work for NASA.—Sparkitors
If you’re anything like me, you’re starting to panic that the AP exams are only a few weeks away. Not to worry, though, because I’ve put together a guide for AP Chemistry that summarizes the entirety of the curriculum in a few super-fun bullet points!
1. Math/numbers x chemistry/dimensional analysis = Stoichiometry. My AP teacher’s mantra of stoichiometry: When in doubt, convert to moles.
2. Thermodynamics: Spontaneous reactions usually increase entropy and are exothermic, just like when you randomly spill your hot chocolate on your lap in front of your entire Spanish class. This is a completely legitimate analogy: no work was required to make it happen, it increased disorder by making a mess, and released heat onto my legs. My AP teacher’s mantra of thermodynamics: Breaking bonds is endothermic, making bonds is exothermic.
3. Electromagnetic stuff: Good news! Light is both a particle and a wave! Bad news: you can’t surf on light.
4. Orbitals: They're shaped weirdly and can be classified by the letters s, p, d, or f. They can also only hold 2 electrons. Oh! I almost forgot—they don’t actually exist.
5. As you go across a row of the periodic table, the size of the radius of an atomic nucleus shrinks, but as you go down a column, the radius size increases. Why? In reality it’s something about the number of electrons in each shell, but I think it’s because the goal of chemistry is to confuse you.
6. Lewis structures are pictures of lines, dots, squiggles and letters that supposedly represent molecules. To draw them, just use the VSEPR theory, which basically says that electrons hate each other and try to spread out as far away from one another as possible.
7. Gas laws basically come down to PV=nRT. Also, you can never ever forget the gas constant (R in the aforementioned equation) because it’s .0821 and August 21st happens to be my birthday.
8. Colligative properties: The more chocolate chips you add to cookie dough, the longer it takes to bake. (Note: This may or may not actually be true. Hey, I think I just found a new science fair project idea!)
9. Reaction rates tell you how fast a reaction goes, so that you won’t have to sit in the chem lab all day wearing your spiffy apron and goggles.
10. Equilibrium = K. Ksp: Remember all those solubility rules you learned at the beginning of the year that said that some salts aren’t soluble? Turns out, those salts are actually kind a teensy bit soluble after all. Oh, bother. Ka x Kb = Kw, which is always 10^(-14). My class forgets this all the time, so make sure you don’t.
11. There are two major ways to classify acids and bases: Bronsted-Lowry and Lewis. Bronsted-Lowry acids are proton donors and Lewis acids are electron acceptors. Bronsted-Lowry bases are proton acceptors and Lewis bases are electron donors. This is not nearly as confusing as it seems. (Just kidding, it totally is!)
Obviously, this doesn’t cover the entire AP curriculum, but I think it’s a pretty comprehensive guide. Actually, that’s a lie, but I think it’s a pretty good start. So get your textbook out and start cramming, Sparklers! I’ll be right there on May 2nd with you, writing down chemical equations frantically in hopes of getting a 5.
We know you're going to ace the test, sunwave! You're already smarter than all of our brains put together. Who else is freaking out about the AP exams?
Related post: Surviving Your APUSH Class
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