Topic 6 - Chemical Reactions

6.1 Rate of reaction
6.2 Redox
6.3 Reversible reactions

6.1 Rate of reaction
(a) describe the effect of concentration, pressure, particle size and temperature on the rates of reactions and explain these effects in terms of collisions between reacting particles

(b) define the term catalyst and describe the effect of catalysts (including enzymes) on the rates of reactions

(c) explain how pathways with lower activation energies account for the increase in rates of reactions

(d) state that transition elements and their compounds act as catalysts (see 8.3) in a range of industrial processes and that enzymes are biological catalysts

(e) suggest a suitable method for investigating the effect of a given variable on the rate of a reaction

(f) interpret data obtained from experiments concerned with rate of reaction

6.2 Redox

(a) define oxidation and reduction (redox) in terms of oxygen/hydrogen gain/loss

(b) define redox in terms of electron transfer

(c) identify redox reactions in terms of oxygen/hydrogen, and/or electron, gain/loss (calculation of oxidation numbers is not required)

(d) describe the use of aqueous potassium iodide in testing for oxidising agents and acidified potassium manganate(VII) in testing for reducing agents from the resulting colour changes

6.3 Reversible reactions

(a) describe the idea that some chemical reactions can be reversed by changing the reaction conditions

(b) describe the idea that some reversible reactions can reach dynamic equilibrium and predict and explain the effect of changing the conditions (see 7.3(b) and 7.3(c))