Industrial chemistry
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Why this why now
This unit builds on pupils’ prior learning from Rate of reaction, where they explored the factors influencing how quickly reactions occur. It deepens their understanding by focusing on Industrial chemistry, examining how large-scale chemical processes are optimised for efficiency, including reaction rates and energy use. As the final unit in the big question, How can substances be made and changed?, it reinforces pupils’ understanding of how chemical reactions are applied in industry to produce useful substances, highlighting the importance of controlling and optimising these processes.
Prior knowledge requirements
- The rate of a chemical reaction is equal to the amount of product formed per unit time.
- The gradient of a rate of reaction graph can be calculated from a tangent drawn at a point on the curve.
- A catalyst affects the rate of a chemical reaction, but is not a reactant or a product of the reaction.
- Ceramics are made from soft substances, which when heated become hard and brittle.
- Plastics are made from polymers and there are many types of plastics with very different properties.
- Some polymers are made of a single long chain of atoms, and other have many chains branching off each other.
- The properties of a composite material can be predicted or designed based on the properties of the materials it contains.
- Transition metals can be located in the centre of the periodic table, and have typical properties of metals
Threads
Why this why now
This unit builds on pupils’ prior learning from Rate of reaction, where they explored the factors influencing how quickly reactions occur. It deepens their understanding by focusing on Industrial chemistry, examining how large-scale chemical processes are optimised for efficiency, including reaction rates and energy use. As the final unit in the big question, How can substances be made and changed?, it reinforces pupils’ understanding of how chemical reactions are applied in industry to produce useful substances, highlighting the importance of controlling and optimising these processes.
Prior knowledge requirements
- The rate of a chemical reaction is equal to the amount of product formed per unit time.
- The gradient of a rate of reaction graph can be calculated from a tangent drawn at a point on the curve.
- A catalyst affects the rate of a chemical reaction, but is not a reactant or a product of the reaction.
- Ceramics are made from soft substances, which when heated become hard and brittle.
- Plastics are made from polymers and there are many types of plastics with very different properties.
- Some polymers are made of a single long chain of atoms, and other have many chains branching off each other.
- The properties of a composite material can be predicted or designed based on the properties of the materials it contains.
- Transition metals can be located in the centre of the periodic table, and have typical properties of metals
Chemistry
Industrial chemistry
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.
3 lessons in unit
slide decks, worksheet PDFs, quizzes and lesson overviews. You can select individual lessons from the Industrial chemistry unit and download the resources you need, or download the entire unit now. See every unit listed in our Edexcel secondary combined science curriculum and discover more of our teaching resources for Edexcel secondary combined science programmes.