Chemistry

Course summary

A-level Chemistry attempts to answer the big question ‘What is the world made of’ and it is the search for this answer that makes this subject so fascinating. From investigating how one substance can be changed drastically into another, to researching a new wonder drug to save millions of lives, the opportunities that chemistry provides are almost endless. A-level Chemistry lasts two years, with exams at the end of the second year. Students will do at least 12 assessed practical activities across the two-year A-level. The Year 12 course covers; - Physical chemistry Including atomic structure, amount of substance, bonding, energetics, kinetics, chemical equilibria, and Le Chatelier’s principle. - Inorganic chemistry Including periodicity, Group 2 the alkaline earth metals, and Group 7(17) the halogens. - Organic chemistry Including introduction to organic chemistry, alkanes, halogenoalkanes, alkenes, alcohols, and organic analysis. The Year 13 course covers; - Physical chemistry Including thermodynamics, rate equations, the equilibrium constant Kp, electrode potentials, and electrochemical cells. - Inorganic chemistry Including properties of Period 3 elements and their oxides, transition metals, and reactions of ions in aqueous solution. - Organic chemistry Including optical isomerism, aldehydes and ketones, carboxylic acids and derivatives, aromatic chemistry, amines, polymers, amino acids, proteins and DNA, organic synthesis, NMR spectroscopy, and chromatography. Chemistry, like all sciences, is a practical subject. Throughout the course, you will carry out practical activities including: - Measuring energy changes in chemical reactions - Tests for identifying different types of compound - Different methods for measuring rates of reaction - Studying electrochemical cells - Preparation of organic solids and liquids - An advanced form of chromatography for more accurate results.