C4A – Acids and Bases

•Sulphuric acid is used to clean metal plates

•The pH scale
Red – Strong Acid
Yellow/Orange – Weak Acid
Green – Neutral
Blue/Purple – Weak Alkali
Purple – Alkali
•Neutralisation
A base is a solid that reacts with acids
acid + base → salt + water
H2SO4 (Sulphuric Acid) + 2NaOH (Sodium Hydroxide) → Na2SO4 (Sodium Sulphate) + 2H2O (Water)
All acids in solution with water contain hydrogen ions (H+)
All alkalis in solution with water contain hydroxide ions (OH-)
•More on bases
Metal oxides and hydroxides are always bases
Hydrochloric acid + Copper (II) hydroxide → Copper(II) chloride + Water
Ammonia is also a base
Carbonates can also neutralise acids, but carbon dioxide is also made
Hydrochloric acid + Calcium carbonate → Calcium Chloride + Carbon Dioxide + Water

C4B – Reacting Masses

•No mass is lost in any chemical reaction

•In a candle, mass is changed into water (hydrogen+oxygen) and carbon
dioxide (carbon+oxygen)
•This can be tested with soda lime as these elements are trapped in it and the
total mass of the candle and soda lime will always be equal
•The mass of products is always equal to the mass of reactants
•Relative formula mass
The bottom number on the periodic table is the atomic number
The top number is the relative atomic mass
We can work out the relative formula mass from the relative atomic mass
•Yield
Predicted Yield is the maximum possible amount of yield
Actual Yield is the actual yield
Percentage Yield = Actual Yield/Predicted Yield x 100

C4C – Fertilisers and Crop Yield

•Fertilisers are used to replace essential elements removed by previous crops

•Overuse of nitrogen-containing fertilisers causes eutrophication
Rain water causes fertiliser to run into rivers
Nitrate/Phosphate concentration in the water increases
Microscopic water plants (Algae) grow at an accelerated rate (Algal Bloom)
Dense algae prevents sunlight reaching underwater plants and they die, also
killing the nutrients of the algae
 Bacteria feed on the dead plants and use all the oxygen in the water
All other fish and water life dies due to no oxygen
•Nutrients and plant growth
Plants need minerals to grow
These are replaced by fertilisers
Fertilisers also add nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to help growth
Minerals must be soluble as they are taken in through the roots in water
Nitrogen is used for protein and helps growth increase and speeds it up
NH4NO3 (Ammonium Nitrate) is a good fertiliser as it contains a lot of nitrogen
and is very soluble
Mineral uptake can be lowered if the soil is too acidic/alkaline
An acid and an alkali make a fertiliser and are separated by filtration and
evaporation
•Examples of Fertilisers
Nitric Acid + Ammonia = Ammonium Nitrate
Sulphuric acid + Ammonia = Ammonium Sulphate
Phosphoric Acid + Ammonia = Ammonium Phosphate
Nitric Acid + Potassium Hydroxide = Potassium Nitrate
These are mixed to produce NPK

C4D – Reversible Reactions

•The Haber Process

Nitrogen and Hydrogen are mixed to make ammonia
The following conditions are applied
Temperature around 450oC – Too high will encourage decomposition, but a
high enough temperature increases the rate of reaction
A high pressure – encourages the formation of ammonia
An iron catalyst – speeds up the reaction
This is a reversible reaction
•Costs
Higher temperatures need more energy
Higher pressures need thicker containers and more money spent on materials
Catalysts cost to buy, but save fuel costs and time in speeding up the reaction
Reactions can be automated, so people do not have to be paid to control the
system
Two factors are required in the system
Cheap production for competition
Large yield to increase profit

C4E – Detergents

•Water is the most common solvent, but not everything dissolves in it

•Water molecules have small positive and negative charges so they dissolve
substances which also have positive and negative charges
•They do not attract substances without a charge
•Washing powders are a complex mixture of ingredients
The active detergent does all the cleaning and are often made by a
neutralisation
Some use soap which is less damaging to delicate fibres
Some use synthetic detergents (soap-less) and are better at cleaning
•Detergent molecules
Have charge hydrophilic heads
Have uncharged hydrophobic tails
The hydrophobic tails link to the stain and then pull them towards the water
•Soap is made by the neutralisation of fatty acids and alkalis
The acids have long chains of hydrogen and carbon and form the hydrophobic
tail
Saponification - When a fatty acid with glycerol (triglyceride) reacts with
sodium hydroxide, a sodium salt is formed (soap)
The charged sodium adds to the hydrophilic head
Synthetic detergents are made by neutralising a synthetic acid with an alkali
to form a molecule similar to soap, but with stronger detergent properties
•Other ingredients
Water softeners for hard water areas – Stops clothes being covered in scum
and means less detergent is used
Bleach can be used to remove coloured stains
Optical brighteners make clothes very bright
Bio detergents are detergents with enzymes (biological catalysts) that break
down the stains
They will denature at high temperatures

C4F – Batch or Continuous?

•Developing a pharmaceutical drug or medicine is a long, costly process

•It can take £300,000,000 and 15 years to develop
•Discovery→Phase 1: Test on Animals→Phase 2 : Test on human volunteers→Phase 3 : Clinical
Trial→Marketing
•Drugs must be legalised and must be marketed which also costs
•Many drugs cannot be automated in production, which can cost
•Manufacture can require a lot of energy
•Extracting chemicals
Extraction from plants has many stages
Crush Plants
Mix with solvent
Filter
Purify
Evaporate Solvent
DRUG
Use chromatography to test for impurities
•Decisions to be made before producing the drug
Cost of research and development
Time taken to reach legal requirements
Demand for the product
 How long will it take for profits to repay the investment
•Batch or Continuous
The Haber process is continuous
Continuous processes are used when there is a constant demand and are
called bulk chemicals
Many products are made by batch and are called speciality chemicals

C4G – Nano chemistry

•Different forms of carbon such as graphite and diamond are called 'allotropes'
•Diamond – Transparent, very hard, very high melting point, insulator, lustrous
with a brilliant shine
•Graphite – Opaque and black, soft and slippery, high melting point, conducts
electricity, lustrous
•Structures
Diamond
All carbon atoms are joined to four others by strong covalent bonds
There are no ions or free electrons
Graphite
Atoms are in layers
Strong bonds within layers
Weak bonds between layers
Electrons are delocalised so it can conduct electricity
Buckminsterfullerene
Made of 60 carbon atoms joined together
Each molecule is called a “Bucky” ball
Other fullerenes have been discovered since
Nanotubes
Fullerenes joined together make tube shapes called nanotubes in a new area
of study called nanotechnology
They are very strong and can conduct electricity
•Semiconductors in electrical circuits
•Industrial Catalysts
•A reinforcement for tennis racquets
They have a large surface area so they are good for attaching catalysts
•Nanochemistry was born with nanotubes
It works with materials at an atomic level and works with small particles called
nanoparticles
They are the only particle that can act as a true metallic conductor
The spacing and size of nanotubes can make them act like semiconductors
such as silicon
•Caging molecules
It is possible to trap molecules or cage them inside nanotubes
They could be used to inject into the bloodstream to prevent cancer as
medicine
•Making molecules could be done (molecular manufacture) by using nanotubes
to precisely position parts (positional chemistry)
C4H – How pure is our water?

•Tap water is impure, but the chemicals are harmless to us

•Water pollutants include:
Nitrate Residues – Get in the water when rain dissolves fertilisers into rivers
Lead compounds - Can dissolve into water from lead pipes
Pesticide residues – From farmers spraying too close to rivers and lakes
•In developing nations where water is not purified, it contains disease-causing
microbes
•Water is used as:
A cheap raw material for manufacture
A coolant
A solvent
•Purification is important to remove:
Microbes
Dissolved salt and minerals
Pollutants
Insoluble materials
•Purification process
Water goes to the sedimentation tank to allow large materials to settle
Then it goes to filtration which traps finer materials
Finally it goes through chlorination where microbes are killed
Not all impurities are gone, but most are harmless and at low concentration
•Seawater is often distilled for homes and is 3% salt
Distilled water is tasteless as it is pure
Distillation costs a lot
•Water is often tested for chemicals by precipitation
•A precipitate will make the water cloudy if there is an impurity
Three halides form precipitates with different colours
Silver Chloride – White
Silver Bromide – Cream
Silver Iodide – Yellow
•An example reaction
Sodium Chloride + Silver Nitrate → Sodium Nitrate + Silver Chloride