Mr. Bouyer
Day 1 - 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Lab | Skills Test

  • Recognize when a chemical reaction is taking place.
  • Know the four basic types of inorganic reactions.
  • Know the characteristics of a neutralization reaction.
  • Know the characteristics of an oxidation-reduction reaction.
  • Know the characteristics of a combustion reaction.
  • Given the reactants, predict the products of a reaction.

Chemical Reaction:

a process in which substances change into other substances.

What can you see that tells you a chemical reaction is taking place?


You know a chemical reaction takes place if one or more of these occur:

  1. Color changes - Different combinations of molecules reflect light differently. A color change indicates a change in molecules.
  2. Heat content changes - In all chemical reactions, the heat content of the reactants and the content of the products is never the same. Sometimes the difference is great and can be easily detected; at other times the difference is slight and is more difficult to detect.
  3. A gas is produced - Whenever a gaseous product forms in a liquid solution, bubbles can be seen. A colorless gas produced in a reaction of solids is much harder to detect.

    (chem lab 114)  

  4. A precipitate forms - Precipitates are insoluble products formed by a reaction taking place in a liquid solution. This insoluble product will eventually settle to the bottom, but might immediately appear by turning the clear solution cloudy.

the key points to useful information on this page

Most inorganic reactions can be placed into one of four types:
  1. Decomposition Reactions

  2. Synthesis Reactions

  3. Single Displacement Reactions
    • A single element replaces an element in a compound.
    • Zn + 2HCl H2 + ZnCl2   (chem lab 124)
    • element + compound element + compound

  4. Double Displacement Reactions
    • An element from each of two compounds switch places.
    • H2SO4 + 2NaOH Na2SO4 + 2H2O
    • compound + compound compound + compound

The major reaction types can be sub-classified in several ways: