Luckily, you don't need to be a science major to do well with MAT science analogies. You just need to know the basics about the major natural sciences (biology, chemistry, and physics). Some chemistry terms are familiar because we use them in everyday conversation: "reaction", "catalyst", etc. Others may be a little bit less familiar.
Overall, chemistry analogies on the MAT require knowledge of many terms you encounter in a typical high school chemistry class, plus a familiarity with the who's who of chemists throughout history. These lists fill you in on the most important chemistry terms and figures.
Chemistry terms that appear on the MAT test
Brush up on your chemistry knowledge by studying these terms and their definitions.
Absolute zero: Theoretical temperature, the coldest possible
Acid: Something that reacts with a base, with a pH of less than 7
Activation energy: Energy that must be overcome for a chemical reaction to occur
Aeration: Process in which air is mixed with a liquid
Anion: Negatively charged ion
Atom: Smallest form of a chemical element, made of protons, neutrons, and electrons
Atomic number: Number of protons in the nucleus of an atom
Barometer: Device used to measure atmospheric pressure
Base: Something that reacts with an acid, with a pH of more than 7
Biochemistry: Study of chemical processes in life forms
Boiling: Phase transition of a liquid rapidly vaporizing
Bond: Attraction between atoms that allows chemicals to form
Catalyst: Substance that changes the rate of a reaction
Cation: Positively charged ion
Centrifuge: Device that uses rotation to separate substances
Chemical reaction: Process that changes one chemical substance to another
Colloid: Mixed substances that are evenly dispersed
Combustion: Burning with fuel, heat, and oxygen
Compound: Pure substance with at least two chemical elements
Condensation: Change from a gas to a liquid
Conductor: Material that allows electricity to flow
Deposition: Settling of particles in a solution
Electrolyte: Electrically conducive substance
Electron: Elementary particle with no charge
Entropy: Even distribution of a system
Freezing: Phase transition of a liquid to a solid
Frequency: Number of events per unit of time
Gas: State of matter in which particles have no definite volume
Geochemistry: Chemistry of the Earth's composition
Indicator: Compound added to a solution that changes color depending on acidity
Inorganic compound: Nonbiological, or lacking carbon and hydrogen
Insulator: Material that resists the flow of electricity
Ion: Atom that has gained or lost an electron
Ionization: Process of converting an atom into an ion
Kinetics: Study of the rates of chemical processes
Lattice: Arrangement of atoms or molecules in a crystal
Liquid: State of matter that has a fixed volume but not shape
Melting: Phase change from a solid to a liquid
Mole: Measurement that contains 6.02x1023 units
Molecule: Neutral group of atoms held together by bonds
Neutron: Neutral part of an atom's nucleus
Nucleus: Center of an atom, made of protons and electrons
Organic chemistry: Chemistry of carbon-based compounds
pH: Measure of the acidity of a solution
Plasma: State of matter similar to a gas, in which some particles are ionized
Precipitate: Formation of a solid in a solution
Proton: Positive part of an atom's nucleus
Quark: Elementary particle of matter
Reagent: Substance that is added to a system to get a reaction
Sol: Suspension of solids in a liquid
Solid: State of matter in which molecules resist movement
Solute: The part of the solution that is put into the solvent
Solvent: The part of the solution that dissolves the solute
Sublimation: Phase transition from a solid to a gas
Triple point: Temperature and pressure at which three states of matter exist simultaneously
Valence electron: Outermost electrons of an atom
Vaporization: Phase change from a liquid to a gas
Viscosity: Measure of resistance of a fluid, or thickness
Yield: Amount of a product made in a chemical reaction
Important figures in the field of chemistry
The following lists important people in the chemistry field you should become familiar with before taking the MAT.
Avogadro, Amedeo: Italian scientist who worked in molecular theory
Curie, Marie: French-Polish chemist known for work in radioactivity
Lavoisier, Antoine: French father of modern chemistry
Lewis, Gilbert: American chemist who discovered the covalent bond
McMillan, Edwin: American chemist who first produced the transuranium element
Mendeleev, Dmitri: Russian chemist who invented the periodic table of elements
Mohr, Karl Friedrich: German chemist known for conservation of energy principle
Nobel, Alfred: Swedish chemist and inventor of dynamite
Pauling, Linus: American quantum chemist who won multiple Nobel prizes
Woodward, Robert Burns: American organic chemist