National 5 Chemistry

Why reactions speed up or slow down, and how to measure and calculate an average rate.

The three subatomic particles, what atomic and mass number tell you, and what isotopes are.

How the table is arranged, and the trends in reactivity and electronegativity this arrangement creates.

How metals and non-metals transfer electrons to form ions, and how to work out an ionic formula.

How non-metal atoms share electrons, the shapes this builds, and the difference between single, double, and triple bonds.

Covalent networks, metallic bonding, and why each type of structure conducts (or doesn't) and melts where it does.

Complete versus incomplete combustion of hydrocarbon fuels, and calculating the energy a fuel releases.

How an ester is made from a carboxylic acid and an alcohol, and why esters smell the way they do.

Fats and oils as esters of glycerol, and the chemical difference between a saturated and an unsaturated one.

How amino acids join to build a protein, and how that process can be reversed.

The chemical changes heat causes in food, and why most of them can't be undone.

How soap is made, why its molecule has two different "ends", and how this lifts grease off into water.

Ranking metals by reactivity, what that predicts about reactions with acid, water and oxygen, and how it links to extraction.

Why a correct chemical equation must balance, and how to balance one without changing what it represents.

Using gram formula mass to convert between mass and moles, using a balanced equation to find a product's mass, and percentage composition.

What concentration in mol/l means, and calculating it, or rearranging it, from moles and volume.

The pH scale, water's own dissociation, common acids and alkalis, and balancing a neutralisation equation.

The elements plants need to grow, and how small monomer molecules join to build a plastic.