Chemistry

In the Atmosphere and Changing Climate unit, pupils will build on their understanding of Earth's resources to learn about the evidence for the composition and evolution of the Earth's atmosphere and the impact of human activity on climate change.

In the Earth's Resources unit, pupils learned about the composition and structure of the Earth, and the rock cycle.

This unit covers crude oil, its role as a hydrocarbon source, and separation by fractional distillation. It explores cracking, metal reactivity, and extraction methods, including biological alternatives. Emphasis is on recycling, life-cycle assessments, and evaluating decisions.

Using Earth's resources

In the Chemical Analysis unit, pupils will build on their knowledge of the periodic table to explore various techniques for analysing substances and interpreting data.

In the Patterns in the Periodic Table unit, pupils learned about the arrangement of elements in the periodic table and the trends in properties of elements.

This unit explores how elements' reactions are related to electron arrangement and atomic number. It covers the properties of Groups 1, 7, and 0 and explains how these depend on outer electrons. It also predicts element reactivity and reactions based on their positions in the periodic table.

Groups of the periodic table

In the Industrial chemistry unit, pupils will learn about chemical, industrial, environmental and economic factors of some large-scale chemical processes.

In the Carbon Cycle and Climate Change unit, pupils learned about the carbon cycle, the formation of sedimentary rocks, and the impact of burning fossil fuels.

This unit explores the composition and evolution of Earth’s atmosphere, evidence of climate change, and effects of pollutants like sulphur dioxide. It highlights scientific explanations, ethical considerations, risk evaluation, and the role of peer review in communication.

Atmosphere and changing climate

In the Using Earth's Resources unit, pupils learned about the extraction, production and uses of hydrocarbons from crude oil, as well as metal extraction.

This unit focuses on electrolysis, electrode reactions, and predicting products, including competing reactions in solutions. It explains metal extraction through electrolysis and writing ionic equations. It also covers tests for gases like oxygen, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and chlorine.

Electrolysis

In the Rates and energy changes unit, pupils learned about how energy changes are always involved in reaction, along with a range of methods for measuring and comparing rates of reaction using properties of reactants and/or products.

This unit covers corrosion, prevention methods, and properties of alloys, ceramics, polymers, and metals. It explores industrial processes like the Haber process, fertiliser production, reaction rates, yields, atom economy, and the trade-offs involving conditions and equilibrium.

Industrial chemistry

In the Groups of the Periodic Table unit, pupils learned about the properties and reactivity of elements in the same group.

This unit covers tests to identify aqueous cations and anions, including flame tests for metal ions like lithium, sodium, and copper. It explains the benefits of instrumental analysis, such as sensitivity and accuracy, and focuses on interpreting results from charts, tables, and spectroscopy data.

Chemical analysis

In the Chemistry of Carbon unit, pupils learned about the structure and bonding of carbon, and its ability to form various compounds.

This unit covers identifying functional groups, naming and drawing structural formulae, and predicting reactions of alkanes, alkenes, alcohols, and carboxylic acids. It explains addition and condensation polymerisation and discusses natural polymers like DNA, sugars, and amino acids.

Chemistry

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These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.