Higher Chemistry

Trends in ionisation energy, atomic size and bonding across a period, and what they reveal about atomic structure.

Why bonds are pure covalent, polar covalent or ionic depending on electronegativity difference, and the three types of intermolecular force.

Assigning oxidation states, and how oxidation and reduction are defined in terms of electron transfer.

Writing ion-electron half-equations, and combining a reduction and an oxidation half-equation into one balanced redox equation.

Classifying alcohols as primary, secondary or tertiary, and what each is oxidised to.

Acid and base hydrolysis of esters, and how fatty acid chain length and unsaturation affect a fat or oil's melting point.

The three levels of protein structure, and how an enzyme's shape gives it its catalytic specificity.

The Maillard reaction and caramelisation as two distinct causes of browning in cooked food, and enzymic browning in fruit.

Terpenes as the basis of many natural fragrances, oil-in-water and water-in-oil emulsions, and why fats and oils turn rancid.

Finding empirical formula from percentage composition, and identifying the limiting reactant in a reaction.

Calculating percentage yield and atom economy, and why a reaction can score very differently on each.

Calculating the enthalpy of combustion of a fuel experimentally, and why measured values are usually less exothermic than data book values.

Dynamic equilibrium in a reversible reaction, and predicting how it shifts when conditions change.

Using moles = concentration × volume, and using a titration result to calculate an unknown concentration.