C2 REVISION

Key knowledge
What is the smallest part of an element?
An atom

What is formed when two or more different atoms are

bonded together ?
A compound

Why are the noble gases unreactive?

Because they have a full outer shell of electrons (a stable
electronic structure).

What type of bonding involved sharing electrons?

Covalent bonding.
Which type involves transferring electrons?
Ionic bonding
What happens to atom that loses or gains electrons?
It becomes a charged ion.
Metals lose electrons during ionic bonding. What is the
charge on their ions?
Positive
Non-metals gain electrons. What sort of ions do they
form?
Negative ions
What do oppositely charged ions do?
Attract each other due to electrostatic attraction and
form ionic bonds.
How do you show ionic bonding?
Using a dot and cross diagram
What is a giant ionic lattice?
Ions packed together and held strongly in a giant regular
structure by electrostatic forces acting in all directions.

What is the overall charge on an ionic compound?

Zero

How do we work out the formula of an ionic compound?

Make sure the positive and negative charges on the ions
are balanced.

What does (II) or (III) next to the name of a transition

metal tell us?
Whether its ions have a charge of 2+ or 3+

What is a complex ion?

An ion made up of more than one element.
What type of bonding happens when a metal and non-metal
react?
Covalent
What do two atoms share when a covalent bond is formed?
A pair of electrons.
What is a simple covalent molecule?
A few atoms sharing pairs of electrons to gain full outer
shells eg CO2 Cl2.
What is a giant covalent structure?
Huge numbers of atoms held together by covalent bonds eg
diamond. Also called a macromolecule.
How are atoms arranged in metals?
In layers with a regular pattern.
(H) What is metallic bonding?
Positively charged metal ions held together by delocalised
electrons from the outermost shell, experiencing strong
electrostatic attraction.
Why do ionic compounds have high melting and boiling
points?
It takes a lot of energy to break the strong ionic bonds.

What state are they all in at room temperature?

Solids

What has to happen for the ions to be able to move?

You need to melt or dissolve the compound.

What property do they have when molten or in solution?

They can conduct electricity.

What happens when they conduct electricity?

The ions move, carrying charge.
When non-metals share electrons, what can we say about
their outer shells?
They become full so they are like the noble gases.

Are covalent bonds inside molecules weak or strong?

Strong.

(H) Why do simple covalent molecules have low boiling

points?
The intermolecular forces between simple molecules are
weak.

Why dont simple covalent molecules conduct electricity?

They have no overall charge so they cant carry electrical
charge.
Give three examples of giant covalent structures.
Diamond graphite silicon dioxide
What properties do diamond and silica have?
Very hard, high melting and boiling points, insoluble
In diamond and graphite, how many carbon atoms is each
carbon bonded to?
Four in diamond Only three in graphite.
Graphite is another form of carbon but is very soft. Why?
It is made of giant layers that can slide over each other as
there are no covalent bonds between the layers.
(H) Why does graphite conduct electricity?
There are delocalised electrons between the layers as only
three of the possible four outer electrons are involved in
the covalent bonding.
What are fullerenes?
Large cage-like structures based on hexagonal rings of
carbon atoms.
Why can we bend and shape metals?
Because the layers of atoms can slide over each other.
Why are alloys often harder than pure metals?
There are different sized atoms in the layers which make
it harder for them to slide over each other.
(H) Why are metals good conductors of heat and
electricity?
The delocalised electrons can flow through the giant
metallic lattice, transferring current and heat.

What are shape memory alloys?

Alloys that return to their original shape when you heat
them.
What are they used for?
Dental braces, stents to widen arteries, pulling bones
together.
What are polymers?
Long chains of monomer units forming tangled webs.
What do their properties depend on?
The monomers they are made from and the conditions used
to make them.
What is the difference between low density LD and high
density HD poly(ethene)?
LD chains are branched and packed loosely. HD chains have
straighter molecules so pack more tightly and are stronger.

What happens to a thermosoftening plastic when it is

heated?
It softens and resets as it cools so it can be moulded.
What happens to thermosetting plastics when heated?
They dont melt, just char, due to strong covalent bonds
between chains called cross links.
What is nanoscience?
The study of really small things made of a few hundred
atoms and between 1-100nm in size.
What is unusual about nanoparticles?
They behave differently from the large scale materials
they are made from.
Give four uses of nanoparticles.
Titanium oxide nanoparticles on glass make it self cleaning.
Titanium oxide and zinc oxide nanoparticles make sun
screen invisible but more effective.
Nanoparticle sin face creams are absorbed more deeply
into the skin.
Gold nanocages can deliver drugs to cancer cells.
What could go wrong?
They could get into the air and our lungs or blood. The long
term health and environmental effects are unknown.
What are atoms made of?
Protons, neutrons and electrons.
Which two particles have the same mass?
Protons and neutrons both 1.
What is the mass of an electron?
Very small so we ignore it.
What does the atomic number tell us?
The number of protons.
What is the mass number?
The number of protons and neutrons added together.
How can you work out the number of neutrons?
Take the atomic number away from the mass number.
What are isotopes?
Atoms of the same element with different numbers of
neutrons.
Why are their chemical properties the same?
They have the same electronic structure.
What is relative atomic mass?
The mass of an atom of an element compared with the
mass of a Carbon 12 atom. It is an average of all the
isotopes of that element.

What is relative formula mass?

The mass of all the atoms in a compound added together.
e.g. NaCl = 23 + 35.5 = 58.5

What is a mole?
The relative atomic mass or formula mass in grams.

How do you work out the percentage of an element X in a

compound?
Mass of X x100
Total mass of compound
(H) What is empirical formula?
The simplest ratio of each element in a compound.
How do you calculate it?
Divide the mass of each element by its atomic mass to find
the number of moles.
Find the ratio of the number of moles of each as the
simplest whole number ratio.
How do we know if an equation is balanced?
There are the same numbers of each atom on each side.
What does it tell us about moles?
It tells us the number of moles of each substance that
react or are produced.
How do we calculate % yield in a reaction?
Amount of product produced x100
Maximum amount of product possible
Why is it usually less than 100%?
May be reversible, product may be lost, reactants may be
impure, unexpected products may be produced.
What are the features of a profitable chemical reaction?
High yield, low waste, fast reaction, little energy wasted,
low pollution, low energy inputs so less fossil fuel needed.

What happens in a reversible reaction?

It can go in both directions so the product can turn back
into the reactants.
What is the symbol for a reversible reaction?

Why are food additives used?

To improve appearance, taste and shelf life.
How are coloured substances analysed?
Using chromatography.
What are the advantages of instrumental methods?
More accurate and sensitive, quicker and can analyse small
samples. May be expensive though.
What is gas chromatography-mass spectrometry used for?
To analyse the parts of a mixture.

What happens in gas chromatography?

A gas moves through a column packed with a solid.
The sample is vaporised and added to the carrier gas.
Substances that are more attracted to the column have
longer retention times.
What does the mass spectrometer do?
Identifies substances quickly and accurately.

(H) How does a mass spectrometer measure molecular

mass?
The last peak on the right is the molecular ion peak where
just one electron has been removed. As electron mass is so
tiny, the mass equals the relative molecular mass.
What is the rate of a chemical reaction?
How fast reactants turn into products.

How can we find the rate of a reaction?

Measure how quickly reactants are used up or how quickly
products are produced.

Suggest three practical ways this can be done.

Measure the decreasing mass of a reaction mixture when a
gas is given off.
Measure the increasing volume of the gas produced.
Measure the decreasing light passing through a solution as
an insoluble product is formed.

How do you calculate the rate?

amount of reactant used or product made time taken
What must particles do for a chemical reaction to occur?
Collide with enough energy.

What is the activation energy for a reaction?

The minimum amount of energy needed for particles to
react.

What four factors affect the rate of chemical reactions?

Temperature
Surface area
Concentration or pressure in gases
A catalyst

Why does a larger surface area increase the rate of a

reaction?
Because the particles collide more frequently.
Why does a higher temperature increase the rate of a
reaction?
The particles collide more frequently
The particles collide with more energy
More of the collisions are above the activation energy

Why does a higher concentration in a liquid or a higher

pressure in a gas increase the rate?
There are more particles in the same space so the
collisions are more frequent.

What is a catalyst?
A substance that speeds up the rate of a chemical reaction
but is not used up or changed so it can be used over again.

Catalysts are often powders, pellets or fine gauzes. Why?

This gives them a very large surface area.
Why are catalysts valuable in industry?
They speed up reactions and make them happen at lower
temperatures and pressures. This helps to reduce energy
costs.
Catalysts are often transition metals or their compounds.
Why is this a problem?
They are often toxic if they get into the environment
How can we afford to use precious metals in catalysts?
They are not used up so they can be used for a long time.
What are the modern advances in catalyst use?
Using nanoparticles to give a very large surface area.
Using biological molecules instead of transition metals.
What are enzymes?
Biological catalysts made in living cells.
How are they used in the biotechnology industry?
They are bound to solids and reactants flow over them so
they are not present in the product.
What happens in an exothermic reaction?
Energy is transferred from the reacting particles to the
surroundings and often heats them up.
What happens in an endothermic reaction?
Energy is transferred to the reacting particles from the
surroundings and often cools them down.

Name three common exothermic reactions.

Burning fuels
Respiration
Neutralisation between acids and alkalis
Name a common endothermic reaction.
Thermal decomposition

What apparatus could you use to investigate temperature

changes in a reaction?
Insulated cups and a thermometer
What happens to energy in a reversible reaction?
One way is exothermic and the other direction is
endothermic.
What can we say about the size of the energy change?
The amount of energy given out in one direction is exactly
the same as the amount absorbed in the other direction
What happens to blue hydrated copper sulfate when it is
heated?
It loses water to form a white powder (anhydrous copper
sulfate)
What can anhydrous copper sulfate be used to test for?
Water as it turns blue when water is added.

What other chemical is used to test for water?

Cobalt chloride paper which goes from blue to pink when
water is added.
What are some practical uses of exothermic reactions?
Hand warmers.
Self-heating cans.

What reaction is used in reusable warmers?

Crystallisation of a supersaturated solution.
It can be put in boiling water to redissolve the crystals.

What type of reaction is used in cool packs?

Ammonium nitrate dissolving in water.

Why are they useful?

They can treat minor injuries when no ice is available.
What is a base?
A substance that can neutralise an acid.

What is an alkali?
A soluble base, often a hydroxide.

What ions are present in all acids?

H+ ions
What ions are present in alkalis?
OH- ions
What does the state symbol (aq) mean?
Dissolved in water.
What does the pH scale tell us?
How acid or alkaline a substance is.
What does the scale go from?
0 (very acidic) to 14 (very alkaline) with 7 neutral
What is formed when an acid reacts with a metal?
A salt and hydrogen
What is formed when an acid reacts with a base?
A salt and water
What salts are formed by the three common laboratory
acids?
Sulfuric acid makes sulfates
Hydrochloric acid makes chlorides
Nitric acid makes nitrates.
How can you make copper sulfate crystals from copper
oxide and sulphuric acid?
Add excess copper oxide to sulphuric acid and stir.
Warm gently.
Filter to remove unreacted copper oxide.
Evaporate some of the water.
Leave to evaporate slowly so crystals will form.
What is a neutralisation reaction?
When an acid and an alkali react.
What happens to the H+ and OH- ions?
They combine to form water H2O

How do we know when the reaction has finished if the

salt is soluble?
We use an indicator
How can an insoluble salt be made?
In a precipitation reaction by using two soluble
reactants.
How is the product obtained?
By filtration, washing with distilled water and gentle
drying.
How are precipitation reactions used in waste
treatment?
To remove some metal ions from waste water.
What is electrolysis?
Using an electric current to break down an ionic compound.

Which way do the ions move?

Positive metal ions move to the negative electrode.
Negative ions move to the positive electrode.

What happens when they reach the electrodes?

The ions lose their charge and become elements.

What state must the substance be in for electrolysis to

work?
Molten or in solution.

Why?
So the ions are free to move.
Why cant aluminium be extracted by reduction using
carbon?
It is too reactive.
What is aluminium used for?
Pans, over head power lines aeroplanes cans car bodies.
What do we extract aluminium from?
Bauxite ore (aluminium oxide).
What happens to the ore first?
It is separated from impurities like iron oxide.
How is it melted?
By mixing it with molten cryolite at 850C using electrical
energy.
What happens at the two electrodes?
At the negative electrode each aluminium ion gains three
electrons to form aluminium metal.
At the positive electrode each oxygen ions loses two
electrons to form oxygen atoms. They then pair up.
What is brine?
Concentrated sodium chloride solution.
What are the three useful products of brine electrolysis?
Hydrogen gas at the negative electrode
Chlorine gas at the positive electrode
Sodium hydroxide solution.
What happens at the positive electrode?
Chloride ions are oxidised and lose an electron each to
form chlorine atoms and bond in pairs to form chlorine gas.
What happens at the negative electrode?
Hydrogen ions from the water are less reactive than
sodium ions so they are discharged as hydrogen gas when
they gain electrons (are reduced).
How can the remaining solution be tested?
By adding indicator than shows it is alkaline as it contains
OH- ions from the water.
(H) What are the half equations?

2Cl 2e Cl2 (oxidation) at the positive electrode.

2H++ 2e H2 (reduction) at the negative electrode.

What is chlorine used for?

To react with sodium hydroxide to make bleach.
To make disinfectants.
To make plastics.

What is hydrogen used for?

To make margarine from vegetable oils.

What is sodium hydroxide used for?

To make soap and paper as well as bleach.
Why do we electroplate objects?
To improve their appearance, protect their surface or
conserve precious metals. May use chrome, tin, gold, silver
or nickel.
What is the negative electrode made from?
The object that is to be plated.
What is the positive electrode made from?
The metal used for the plating.
What happens at the positive electrode?
The plating metal ions lose electrons and go into solution
(are oxidised) Ni (s) Ni2+ (aq) + 2e-
What happens at the negative electrode?
The plating metal ions gain electrons (are reduced) and are
deposited on the surface of the metal object.
Ni2+ (aq) + 2e- Ni (s)
What must be in the electrolyte (solution in between).
Ions of the plating metal e.g. Ni2+