Topics

The activities in this topic provide opportunities to link experimental evidence and simple particle theory to help explain the properties of solids, liquids and gases, changes of state, gas pressure, and diffusion.

Bonding, structure, properties
This topic includes activities which focus on how structure and bonding affect the properties and uses of materials such as polymers, fibres, ceramics, composites, glasses, metals, alloys and salts. Activities with dyes, detergents, water and hydrogels explore the effects of intermolecular forces.

The activities in this topic cover the differences between compounds and mixtures, and techniques for separating mixtures and purifying substances. They include investigations into solubility, and precipitation reactions to form insoluble salts. More advanced activities deal with the solubility of solutes in aqueous and non-aqueous solvents, saturated solutions, solubility curves and sparingly soluble salts (K_sp).

The activities in this topic cover methods for qualitative and quantitative analysis. Activities include, for example, colorimetric analyses, titrations, chromatography, and calorimetry as well as a variety of observation exercises.

The activities in this topic can be used to illustrate the trends in the properties of the elements and their compounds. They include activities which explore the physical and chemical properties of elements and compounds and provide examples of chemical change which can be explained by the rearrangement of atoms. 

Activities in this topic include the use of indicators to classify solutions as acidic, neutral or alkaline, neutralisation reactions, and the preparation of soluble and insoluble salts. More advanced activities explore strong and weak acid-base behaviour, pH, indicator chemistry and buffer solutions.

The activities in this topic illustrate the reactivity series of metals, and oxidation and reduction processes such as corrosion and the extraction of metals.  They also illustrate the many different applications of electricity in chemistry and include examples of electrolysis to extract and purify substances as well as experiments involving fuel cells, for example.

The activities in this topic include experiments focusing on energy changes in chemical reactions. They illustrate, for example, what makes a useful fuel and how to measure the energy given out by different fuels. Exothermic and endothermic processes feature including combustion reactions, neutralisation reactions and solution formation. Other activities also focus on a consideration of entropy changes.

The activities in this topic provide a range of opportunities to measure the rate of chemical reactions and to investigate the factors affecting rate. The topic includes activities which can be used to demonstrate reversible reactions and reactions involving dynamic equilibria. There are activities relating to equilibria in solution, gaseous equilibria, acid-base equilibria and redox equilibria.

The activities in this topic can be used to consolidate knowledge and understanding of chemical formulae and balanced equations, and how these can be used to calculate how much product can be obtained in a reaction. More advanced activities provide opportunities to apply the concept of the mole. Empirical and molecular formulae, reacting masses, percentage yield, volumes of gases and titration calculations are all covered.

The activities in this topic illustrate how useful chemicals can be obtained from crude oil and the properties and uses of hydrocarbons. Polymers are explored through polymerisation reactions and investigations into polymer properties, such as making ‘slime’ and investigating ‘hydrogels’. More advanced activities include the synthesis and testing of the characteristic properties of a wide range of aliphatic and aromatic substances, alcohols, halogenoalkanes, organic acids and esters. The techniques covered include: reflux, distillation, vacuum filtration, purification and determination of yield and purity.

The activities in this topic can be used to investigate the chemicals and chemistry involved in food, food production and cooking. They include analysis techniques such as chromatography, testing for starch, and the importance of microbes in food production and food spoiling. More advanced activities cover topics such as enzyme reactions, food chemistry and metabolism, photosynthesis, and amino acids and proteins.

The practical activities in this section focus on the chemistry associated with the environment, including the rock cycle, gases in the Earth’s atmosphere, and the chemicals dissolved in water. The rock cycle reactions include crystallisation and chemical weathering. The section on water includes analysis techniques, for example in water treatment. Experiments covering pollution are also included.

The practical activities in this topic focus on applications (e.g. synthesis and analysis) of chemistry in industrial contexts.

The class practicals and teacher demonstrations in this section are perfect for chemistry clubs or to demonstrate spectacular effects.