A2-LEVEL

A-LEVEL
CHEMISTRY

CHEMISTRY
NOTES

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INDEX
TOPIC 11: EQUILIBRIUM II. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

TOPIC 12: ACID-BASE EQUILIBRIA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

TOPIC 13: ENERGETICS II. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

TOPIC 14: REDOX II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

TOPIC 15: TRANSITION METALS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

TOPIC 16: KINETICS II. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

TOPIC 17: ORGANIC CHEMISTRY II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

TOPIC 18: ORGANIC CHEMISTRY III. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

TOPIC 19: MODERN ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES II . . . . . . . . . . 61

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 TOPIC 11

Equilibrium
II
Equilibrium II
•• Equilibrium constant Kp for homogeneous gaseous systems
○○ When a system involving gases reaches equilibrium, a relationship between the partial
pressures of the products and reactants is established
○○ The partial pressures are related by the constant Kp
○○ For the reaction mA + nB pC + qD where all species are gases:

○○ Solids and pure liquids are not included in the expressions for Kc and Kp
○○ Kp is only affected by temperature
○○ In an endothermic reaction, an increase in temperature causes an increase in Kp
○○ In an exothermic reaction, an increase in temperature causes a decrease in Kp
○○ A mole fraction, XA, of substance, A, is the fraction of the total moles in a system that are
of substance A
○○ The partial pressure, PA, of a gas, A, in a mixture of gases is the pressure it would exert if
it was alone in the container
○○ It can be found by multiplying mole fraction and the total pressure
•• Equilibrium constant Kp for heterogeneous systems
○○ The same as for homogeneous system but you leave out the non-gaseous elements from
the equation
•• The equilibrium constant, Kc
○○ Measure of where an equilibrium lies
○○ For the reaction mA + nB pC + qD:

○○ In an endothermic reaction, an increase in temperature causes an increase in Kc

○○ In an exothermic reaction, an increase in temperature causes a decrease in Kc
•• A change in temperature can therefore be explained by a change in Kc or Kp
•• Equilibrium constants Kp and Kc can be calculated from experimental data
○○ For Kc substitute the equation with the relative concentrations of each species in the
equilibrium system
○○ For Kp find the partial pressure of each species in the system by:
–– Finding the mole fraction for each gas (moles of that gas total moles of gas)
–– Multiplying the mole fraction of each gas by the total pressure exerted by the system
–– This gives you the partial pressures of each gas in the system which you can then use
to apply the formula
•• Value of equilibrium constant is not affected by changes in concentration, pressure, or
addition of a catalyst

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 TOPIC 12

Acid-Base
Equilibria
Acid-Base Equilibria
•• Brønsted–Lowry acid–base equilibria in aqueous solution
○○ In the Bronsted-Lowry theory of acids and bases
–– Acids are substances that donate protons to a base
–– Bases are substances that accept protons from an acid
○○ In a Brønsted–Lowry reaction in water the acid will donate a proton to the base to form
the conjugate pair of each
○○ An acid-base reaction involves the transfer of protons
○○ Conjugate Pairs
–– Acids form their conjugate bases through the loss of a proton
–– Bases form their conjugate acids through the gain of a proton
○○ When an acid dissociates in water, water acts as the base
○○ It forms a hydronium/hydroxonium ion H2O(l) + H+(aq) H3O+(aq)
○○ Meanwhile the acid forms its conjugate base
○○ The base is a water molecule

•• Definition of pH
○○ A huge range of acidities exist
○○ We use pH as a measure of the acidity (specifically the concentration of H+(aq) ions) of a
solution.
○○ The pH can be found using pH = -log10[H+(aq)]
•• Strong acids and bases dissociate fully, whereas weak acids and bases dissociate partially,
forming an equilibrium with their conjugate acids/bases
•• Weak acids and bases, Ka for weak acids
○○ These are only partially disassociated
○○ Bases/acids are in equilibrium with their conjugate acids/bases

○○ When a generic acid HA dissolves in water, Ka is defined as:

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