CLASSIFICAÇÃO DAS SUBSTÂNCIAS QUÍMICAS: UM CONCEITO POUCO EXPLORADO NA EDUCAÇÃO QUÍMICA

The classification of chemical substances is a concept little explored in Chemistry teaching literature and in Chemistry textbooks at higher and secondary levels. The aim of this paper is to discuss theoretically the importance and contributions of this concept for teaching and learning Chemistry. The History of Chemistry reveals that the chemical criteria for classifying materials came up with the modern concepts of chemical element and chemical reaction, which gave rise to the notion of chemical similarity. Later, such similarity was related to molecular structure through functional groups. ...