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AS and A Level: Physical Chemistry

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363 AS and A Level Physical Chemistry essays

  • Marked by Teachers essays 14
  • Peer Reviewed essays 19
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  1. Marked by a teacher

    Revision Notes. Substances Manufactured for use in Industries. Chemicals, alloys and polymers.

    5 star(s)

    This is a very comprehensive set of notes. It goes into a good level of detail although the science is at an intermediate level (not too difficult). It is very…

    • Essay length: 1420 words
    • Submitted: 24/03/2012
    • Marked by teacher: (?) Brady Smith 10/04/2013
  2. Marked by a teacher

    Write an essay on electrode potentials.

    5 star(s)

    This is an extremely well explained report on electrochemical cells. The author explains how a cell works with incredible clarity and very helpful equations and diagrams. The paragraphs may seem…

    • Essay length: 1107 words
    • Submitted: 10/03/2012
    • Marked by teacher: (?) Brady Smith 10/04/2013
  3. Marked by a teacher

    Write an account of buffer solutions.

    5 star(s)

    This is a highly detailed account with lots of correct equations and in depth chemistry.

    This is a 5* piece of work…

    • Essay length: 974 words
    • Submitted: 10/03/2012
    • Marked by teacher: (?) Brady Smith 14/12/2012
  4. Marked by a teacher

    Objective To find out the equilibrium constant, Kc, for the reaction below, using acid hydrolysis:

    5 star(s)

    This is a very descriptive, well through out practical. It contains advanced mathematical analysis for an A2 course and draws good conclusions

    This piece of work is 5 stars…

    • Essay length: 1372 words
    • Submitted: 19/11/2011
    • Marked by teacher: (?) Brady Smith 23/05/2112
  5. Marked by a teacher

    Heat of Neutralization. Objective: To investigate the enthalpy changes () of various acid-base neutralizations.

    5 star(s)

    This is a very good report. It has a detailed, reliable method and excellent graphs of results. The calculations within it are set out very well and allow valid conclusions…

    • Essay length: 2605 words
    • Submitted: 13/11/2011
    • Marked by teacher: (?) Brady Smith 14/12/2012
  6. Marked by a teacher

    Experiment investigating hydrogen bonding in different chemicals.

    5 star(s)

    This is a well through out and explained report. The calculations are correct and of a high standard. The conclusions drawn are valid and concise.

    Overall, this piece…

    • Essay length: 2533 words
    • Submitted: 21/10/2011
    • Marked by teacher: (?) Brady Smith 10/04/2013
  7. Marked by a teacher

    Stereochemistry of Butenedioic acid

    5 star(s)

    A very high level account of isomerism. This goes into much detail and is explained beautifully. There are some answers to commonly asked questions at the end of the report

    • Essay length: 1911 words
    • Submitted: 08/09/2010
    • Marked by teacher: (?) Brady Smith 10/04/2013
  8. Marked by a teacher

    Chiral Drugs What is chirality? Chirality is the property possessed by a molecule with such spatial arrangement of atoms that it cannot superimpose on its mirror image.

    5 star(s)

    This is an excellent, in depth account of stereochemistry, covering many difficult topcis. It is clear and well written with a good list of references at the end. It also…

    • Essay length: 1051 words
    • Submitted: 13/12/2009
    • Marked by teacher: (?) Brady Smith 17/06/2112
  9. Marked by a teacher

    Electrochemical Cells

    5 star(s)

    This is a fantastic , very detailed report. The results are shown in a clear and coherent manner and sensible conclusions are drawn

    This is a 5* report…

    • Essay length: 1904 words
    • Submitted: 14/08/2009
    • Marked by teacher: (?) Brady Smith 14/12/2012
  10. Marked by a teacher

    Revision notes - Test For Gases and Ions

    4 star(s)

    This is an excellent summary of the different tests for gases and ions. This work deserves 4/5 but with a few minor changes could easily reach 5/5.
    - structure is…

    • Essay length: 858 words
    • Submitted: 29/04/2012
    • Marked by teacher: (?) Kathryn Bradley 24/09/2012

The dynamic equilibrium and 'Le Chatelier Principle'

  1. 1 Le Chatelier Principle states “If a system that is in dynamic equilibrium is subjected to a change, the position of equilibrium will shift to minimise that change”. Put simply- if you do something, the system will try and reverse what you’ve done!
  2. 2 Adding a catalyst does not change the concentration, pressure or temperature of a system. Therefore adding a catalyst has no effect on the position of equilibrium.
  3. 3 If you increase the concentration of one side of an equation, the position of equilibrium will shift to the other side (to try and return the concentration back to its original value).
  4. 4 If you increase the pressure of the system, the position of equilibrium will shift to the side of the reaction with less moles of gas (to try and reduce the pressure back to its original value).
  5. 5 If you increase the temperature the position of equilibrium will shift in the direction of the endothermic reaction (to try and reduce the temperature back to its original value).

Top equations for acid / base chemistry (A level only)

  1. 1 For a strong acid the acid concentration is equal to the H+ concentration. This is because strong acids fully dissociate their H+ ions. [acid] = [H+]
  2. 2 For a weak acid, because they only partially dissociate their H+ ions, to find the H+ concentration we must use the following equation: [H+] = √ka[acid]
  3. 3 For a buffer, we calculate the value of H+ by using: [H+] = Ka[acid] / [salt] (where Ka is the acid dissociation constant)
  4. 4 For a strong base, we calculate the H+ value by using: [H+] = Kw / [base] (where Kw is the ionic product of water = 1 x 10-14)
  5. 5 To convert [H+] into pH, we would use the equation: pH = -log[H+]

Top tips for ionisation energy

  1. 1 One of the factors which will affect ionisation energy is electron shielding. This is how many inner shell electrons an atom has. The more electron shielding, the lower the ionisation energy. Electron shielding stays the same across a period and increases down a group.
  2. 2 The second factor affecting ionisation energy is the proton number / nuclear charge. The higher the nuclear charge the higher the ionisation energy. Nuclear charge increases across a period and down a group.
  3. 3 The third factor affecting ionisation energy is the atomic radius (size of the atom). The higher the atomic radius the lower the ionisation energy. Atomic radius decreases across a period (as the increased number of protons pulls the electron shells closer) and increases down a group.
  4. 4 All three of these factors combine to have an effect of increasing the ionisation energy as we go across a period (eg F has a higher ionisation energy than O)
  5. 5 All three of these factors combine to have an effect of decreasing ionisation energy as we go down a group (eg K has a lower ionisation energy than Na)

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