APPLIED SCIENCE TRANSITION WORK
Print off the tasks that have a printer symbol next to them you have 14 tasks in total to
do.
Chemical Formulae
1. Any chemical which you show using a formula should have superscripts and subscripts
where appropriate
2. A space means a new chemical. Never put a space in the middle of a formula.
3. A chemical has one capital and one small letter, or just one capital letter. A new capital
indicates a new atom/element.
4. Ionic charges go at the top.
Task 1: complete the table:
Wrong
Correct
CO2
2HO
NACL
C2 H4
Cl+
OH-
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Inorganic Compounds
(First element name) (Prefix) + (Second element name) + (Suffix)

Prefixes tell you about numbers of that element, but usually only apply to covalent
compounds (two non-metals bonding together)
o Mono is one
o Di is two
o Tri is three

Suffixes usually tell you what else is in that half of the chemical
o “ide” means there is nothing else combined with the element in that half of the
chemical.
o “ite” means a little bit of oxygen
o “ate” means a lot of oxygen
o “hydrate” means hydrogen and oxygen

Anything with a hydrogen atom at the start is usually an acid (except water, and hydrogen
peroxide) – these are named as
(Second element name) – ic acid
For example: k"
First element: Sodium
Second element: Carbon
Suffix: “ate” (there is oxygen in the second bit of the formula)
Therefore, this chemical is called sodium carbonate
For example: K2Cr2O7
First element: Potassium
Second element: chromium
Prefix: di (two chromium atoms)
Suffix: “ate”
Therefore, this chemical is called potassium dichromate
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Inorganic Compounds
Task 2:
Directions: In the space provided, write the correct name of the ionic compound.
1. NaI __________________________
6. NH4Br
__________________________
2. CaCl2__________________________
7. NaBrO3
__________________________
3. K2S __________________________
8. Fe2O
__________________________
4. MgO __________________________
9. Cu(NO3)2
__________________________
5. Li2SO4__________________________
10. Ag2CrO4
__________________________
Directions: In the space provided, write the correct formula for the ionic compound.
11. Beryllium nitride
____________________
12. Nickel (II) chloride
____________________
13. Magnesium sulfate
____________________
14. Potassium nitrate
____________________
Directions: In the space provided, write the correct name of the covalent compound.
15. CO
__________________________
16. CO2
__________________________
17. SO3
__________________________
18. H2O
__________________________
19. CCl4
__________________________
There are also some chemical chunks that you just need to know the names of:
Species
NH3
NH4+
Cu+
Cu2+
Fe2+
Fe3+
Al3+
Name
Ammonia
Ammonium
Copper (I)
Copper (II)
Iron (II)
Iron (III)
Aluminium(III)
Species
Cl-/BrN3NO2NO3S2SO32SO42-
Name
Chloride/Bromide
Nitride
Nitrite
Nitrate
Sulphide
Sulphite
Sulphate
Species
OHO2CO32HCO3Cr2O72CrO42PO43-
Name
Hydroxide
Oxide
Carbonate
Hydrogencarbonate
Dichromate (VI)
Chromate (VI)
Phosphate
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Equations
Task 3:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Should be on a line of their own
Should be balanced
A big 2 in front of a chemical means two lots of that chemical
A little 2 at the bottom of the chemical means that chemical has two of that atom in its
structure
_____Zn + _____HCl --> _____ZnCl2 + _____H2
_____NH3 + _____HCl --> _____NH4Cl
_____Al + _____HCl --> _____AlCl3 + _____H2
Task 3:
Balance
these
equations
_____Mg + _____H3PO4 --> _____Mg3(PO4)2 + _____H2
_____Cu + _____AgNO3 --> _____Cu(NO3)2 + _____Ag
_____Ca + _____Pb(NO3)2 --> _____Pb + _____Ca(NO3)2
Reliability, Validity and Accuracy
Task 4: match terms to meaning then the
There are three very important things you need to be able to say about scientific data:
Reliable
Accurate
I have accurately
represented the
real world with
my test
I always get the
same value when
I repeat my
experiment
Valid
I have measured
to a useful
amount of
decimal places
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Task 5: finish the table below
What units are important to include in coursework?
There are info sheets at the back to help you.
Describing
Solid chemicals
Necessary Units
Possible areas of work
Mass in grams
Methods of practical’s
Describing industrial processes
Calculating yields and costs
Gases
Voltage
Current
Liquids
Force
Time
Rate
Acceleration
Speed
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Powers of 10
123.4678
Positive Powers of Ten
Negative Powers of Ten
Use the boxes below to
show the movement of
the decimal place using
arrows:
This is worked out really easily – the simplest way to show it is:
102 = 10 x 10 = 100
Therefore, anything multiplied by 102 is multiplied by 100.
1.234 x 100 = 123
(move the decimal place right by the number of zeroes spaces)
1.23 = 123
We can then write that as:
1.23 x 103 = 123
(move the decimal place to the right by the power on the ten spaces)
For negative powers of ten, you just move the decimal point the other way:
10-2 = = = 0.01
Therefore, anything multiplied by 10-2 is divided by 100.
1.23 / 100 = 0.0123
(move the decimal place left by the number of zeroes spaces)
1.23 = 0.0123
We can then write that as:
1.23 x 10-2 = 0.0123
(move the decimal place to the left by the power on the ten spaces)
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Task 6: Try to put the following into the form of decimal places:
1.
5.23 × 102 =
9.
5.50 × 10-1 =
2.
6.84 × 10-2 =
10.
4.62 × 105 =
3.
1.65 × 10-4 =
11.
7.03 × 10-2 =
4.
7.28 × 100 =
12.
6.64 × 10-4 =
5.
8.64 × 10-3 =
13.
2.60 × 10-3 =
6.
2.45 × 101 =
14.
7.12 × 102 =
7.
5.97 × 10-4 =
15.
8.00 × 10-5 =
8.
4.86 x 104 =
16.
8.58 × 103 =
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Rounding
Significant
Figures
Decimal
Places
Significant Figures
Decimal Places
Are figures which represent “real numbers” –
useful values telling you there are four tens
(the 4 in 40) or 8 tenths (the 8 in 0.8).
Are just digits which occur after the decimal
point, including all zeroes.
They do not include “placeholder zeros” – for
example, in 0.045, the 0 in the tenths column
after the decimal place is not a significant
figure, in the same way as we would ignore
the first zero in 0450 (four hundred and
fifty).
So, 0.045 to one decimal place would be 0.0,
two decimal places would be 0.05
(remember to round up!) and to three
decimal places would be as written, 0.045
The only difference is, for 0.045, we still have
to write the zero in the tenths column,
because it is telling us that the 4 is one
hundredth. It’s just a function of the way we
write numbers in the decimal system.
If the question asked for four decimal places,
you can simply fill in any extra slots with
extra zeroes – for example, 0.045 becomes
0.0450. These are known as “trailing zeroes”
and show a good accuracy level of the
measurement. However, you can’t just add
on zeroes unless your measurement was
actually to that many decimal places!
With significant figures, we start
counting at the first “real number” then
count all the digits after that. Therefore,
0.020567 to three significant figures
would be 0.0205
With decimal places we start counting
immediately after the decimal point.
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Task 7: Try the following practise exercises in rounding:
1. 7.4562 to
a. One decimal place
b. Three significant figures
2. 0.0249 to
a. Two decimal places
b. Two significant figures
3. 0.0405 to
a. Three significant figures
b. Three decimal places
4. 1.623 x 10-4 to
a. Two decimal places
b. Three significant figures
5. 8.95 x 105 to
a. Two decimal places
b. One significant figure
6. 0.834
a. Four decimal places
b. Two significant figures
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Tables
Dependent Variable (unit)
Independent
Variable
(unit)
Repeat 1
Repeat 2
Repeat 3
Mean
IV test value 1
IV test value 2
IV test value 3
IV test value 4
IV test value 5
Titration Tables
Titration readings are always to two decimal places, with the second decimal being 0 (on a
graduation mark) or 5 (between two graduation marks)
1
2
3
Final Volume /cm3
15.60
32.45
This is the volume which was recorded
after the colour change
Initial Volume
/cm3
0.00
15.60
This is the volume which you recorded
before you started this repeat
Titre/cm3
15.60
17.85
Mean Titre
/cm3
(15.60+17.85)/2 = 16.7 This must be to 1 d.p.
This is the average of the 2-3 closest numbers – ideally they should be within 0.5 cm3
of each other, but if not just use the two closest
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Graphs
Task 8:

I must have labels for:
o
o
o
o




Scales are linear and go up in easy-to count numbers
The graph takes up at least half the page – use all the paper you want, but make it clear
The graph is of an appropriate type
Anomalies identified, and a line of best fit drawn if appropriate
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Task 9: Name the types of graph, and match them to the appropriate use
Used for showing relative quantities
e.g. different uses of a chemical
Used for showing correlation
e.g. resistance increase when wire length increases
Used for showing how information changes over
different groups
e.g. biodiversity at different points in a wood
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Example Practicals
Task 10: Using the following examples fill in the variables and table & graph ready for
results to be added.
Biology
An experiment is carried out to count the number of species of plants on the ground at increasing
distance from a tree
Results Table
Appropriate Graph:
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Introductions
An introduction should not start in any of
the following ways:
An introduction is there to do the
following things:
“In this essay, I will be writing about…”
(Not objective)
Introduce the context
“We have many chemicals in our world…”
(Non-scientific style)
Provide background information, and define
key terms
“I am going to investigate…”
(Not objective)
Set out aims of a report
“I am a scientist working for a chemical
company…”
(Non-scientific, and plagiarised directly from
the workbook!)
Briefly discuss any research which already
exists
Look at the following introduction to a report investigating the purity of baking soda.


What errors has the student made?
 What have they done well?
Can you write a better introduction?
In this report, I am acting as a scientist working at BakeChem company. I am testing baking soda for
purity as part of routine quality checks. Baking soda is sodium hydrogen carbonate, NaHCO3. The
company also produces and packages flour and sugar in the same factory.
I will carry out three tests:

A reducing sugars test for glucose contamination

A titration with acid to find the percentage purity

A visual test and starch test for flour

A melting point test to see if the baking soda is pure
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Practical Reports
Methods
Aim and Hypothesis
o
o
o
This is a brief summary telling the reader what the point
of the practical is
You should write out the vocational context in your own
words – you are acting as a scientist in a lab, not a
student in a class
You must write in a neutral way – don’t use “I”, “my”,
“your” etc. See the scientific writing section for more
help on this.
Layout
o
o
o
Each separate practical should have its own method,
for example, this will mean that for the citric acid
test in Unit 2 you will write five methods, one for
each test
When you list equipment and chemicals, they should
each be a separate list. Include concentrations and
volumes for solutions, and masses for chemicals.
Methods should be step-by-step and numbered 1, 2,
3 etc, NOT in paragraphs
Writing
o
o
Methods should be written in the future – think of a method
like a recipe, you are saying what you are going to do
Methods should not use “I” or “We” – try to write in the
passive tense, for example “Place the beaker on the stand”
Expected Observations
o
o
o
o
You should include a description of what you expect the
result to be for a positive and negative test
For example, “If the citric acid is pure, there will be no
white precipitate. If a white precipitate appears, the citric
acid is contaminated with chloride ions”
What will the product look like? Smell like? Will it be
solid, liquid, or gas? How will you know you’ve made the
right thing?
For Chemistry units, you must also include a theoretical
yield.
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Dearest June,
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Mavis
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Task 11:
Use Mavis’ letter to June to write a “method” for making the cake:
What should a method always include/look like?
1. Instructions should be
and
2. There should be a list of
3. There should also be a list of
4. There should be
,
and
5. It should be written as if it were being done in the
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Risk Assessments
Important: You will not be allowed
to complete any practical activities
without a safe, completed risk assessment.
Risk assessments are mostly common sense. There are four main sections you need to
complete:
Chemical Hazards
Practical Information
•List any chemicals being used
•You must give amounts - 10g of a hazardous
substance is a very different situation to 100g
of a hazardous substance
•Likewise, a more concentrated solution will
probably be more hazardous than a more
dilute solution -give concentrations and
volumes fo solutions
•Use COSHH data (from the internet) to label
hazards - don't just guess
•Your name
•Practical Date
•Title
•Outline (this does mean outline
- you don't need to copy the
whole method)
Procedures
Non-Chemical
Hazards
•This is things like slipping
on spills, breaing glass etc
•You should fill out the box
next to it as well describing
how you will avoid these
things happening
•Emergency actions - what you do if one of
your chemical or physical hazards occurrs
(usually tell the teacher)
•Standard Safety - lab coats, goggles and so on
•Disposal - when you are done, how will you
get rid of your extra chemicals? Some can go
down the sink, but some will need to be
disposed of specially - ask your teacher or
listen in class for further instructions
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Task 12:
Use this risk assessment for task 12, making a cake
This is a copy of the standard risk assessment form – you might like to note down any common
hazards or procedures here for future reference. It is also a good idea to keep an electronic copy of
the risk assessment saved in your area on the intranet – you can save it complete with typical
hazards such as glassware breaking so that you don’t have to type them out every time.
Name:
Date:
Title of practical
activity:
Outline of the procedure:
Substance being used or made:
Amount, or
concentration and
volume:
Non-chemical hazards:
Steps to minimise non-chemical
hazards:
Nature of hazards:
Standard safety procedures for
this practical:
Emergency action:
Disposal of residues:
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Task 13:
Plagiarism
All of the following things count as plagiarism:
1. Putting large chunks of text from a source into my work, with quote marks, and listing
the site.
Instead, I should:
2. Giving my work to other people to help them, or taking someone else’s work to help me,
including risk assessments and researched work where we are trying to achieve the
same outcome
Instead, I should:
3. Copying a worked example of a calculation without explaining the steps and formatting
it in a way which makes sense to me
Instead, I should:
4. Copying text and using the synonyms function in word to change a few words.
Instead, I should:
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References
Reliability
Notes
Good
All of these sources were written by experts in their
subject, and are regularly used as teaching aids by A level
teachers.
Reasonable
These sources are generally highly regarded, and
intentionally publishing misinformation might cause their
reputation to be damaged. However, they are non-expert
resources so may contain errors or misconceptions.
However, they made information easier to understand.
Poor
Information on these sites can be edited by anyone.
However, they matched information gained from more
reliable references, and they made the information easier
to access.
N/A
Credit is given to the original owners of image copyrights.
Task 14:
For EACH of the 2 students on the following pages:
1. Give three good things about their referencing, with examples.
2. Give three less good things about their referencing, with examples.
3. How could they improve these less good things?
4. Which is their best source evaluation?
5. Which is their worst source evaluation?
6. What grade do you think each student got on their report overall?
7. In your groups, come up with and note down in everyone’s handbooks, five features
of a perfectly referenced piece of work
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STUDENT 1:
www.madehow.com
This website gave me information on how to find the yield. I used it to find a definition for the word
yield. It was the same definition as Wikipedia, so that proves that they are both the right definition.
www.en.wikipedia.org/biocatalysts
Wikipedia must be reliable as if the website were to publish false information it could scrutinize the
website origins and reliability considering millions of people use the encyclopaedia for information
and facts.
www.wisegeek.com
This website gave me information on catalysts. I used it to find a definition for the word catalyst. I
also used it to give me the equation for a catalyst. It is reliable as it was written by a science teacher.
This proves that the information is true.
www.basf.co.uk
This website gave me information on the Haber process. I used it to find an equation for the Haber
process. It said that there were no harmful side products of the reaction. It is reliable as the
company would not lie about what they do.
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STUDENT 2:
1. www.chemguide.co.uk
2. http://www.gcsescience.com/m28.htm
I used these references to help me explain
how to calculate numbers of moles. I believe
the information was accurate as the same
information was given on both pages. Both of
these websites are used by teachers to help
support A level and GCSE learning, and they
match information given in the AQA syllabus.
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalysts
I used this reference to find a definition of a
catalyst. Wikipedia is a useful tool for finding
other references, but as it can be edited by
anyone, it is not always reliable, so I checked
the references at the bottom of the page.
These are all from scientific journals and
government websites, and therefore should
be reliable as these agencies would lose
creditability if they were caught being
dishonest.
4. http://www.ehow.com/howdoes_5245012_do-catalysts-work_.html
I used this reference to explain how catalysts
worked. It was very easy to understand, but
this means that it could have been simplified
and missed bits out of the explanation. It is
taken from eHow, which can be edited by
anyone, and therefore might be unreliable.
However, it made sense with the other reliable
information I had, and what I already knew.
5. www.basf.co.uk
This is a company website of a company which
performs the Haber process. I got the chemical
equation for the Haber process from this
website. However, the company website did
not mention any side products or ethical
issues.
6. www.fischersci.co.uk
This company sells chemicals – I used their
pricing guide to suggest possible costs of
manufacture.
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STUDENT 3:
This student put references into their work like this:
“Catalysts are chemicals which speed up the rate of reaction without being used up themselves.1
They are often made from metals, such as palladium in the Haber process.2”
They then put a bibliography at the end with the references listed in order like this:
1. www.chemicool.com
Reliable – information matches source 2 and 3.
2. www.chemguide.co.uk
Reliable – matches A level syllabus.
3. www.gas-plants.com
Potentially unreliable – company website, might be biased on some things like ethics. I only used it
to find equations and definitions, though, so my information should be reliable as it is factual.
4. www.chemguide.co.uk
This should be reliable as it was provided by my school. However, I didn’t understand some of it so I
checked with reference 1 to confirm it.
5. www.wikipedia.co.uk
Unreliable – anyone can edit it so the authors might not know what they are talking about. The
references given at the bottom of the page were reliable as they were scientific journals, but I did
not understand them so I checked with reference 2.
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Appendices
Appendix A: SI units
Aspect
Symbol
Standard Unit
Other possible
measurements
Conversion
Acceleration
a
Metres per second per
second, m s-2
-
-
Amount of
chemical
n
Moles, mol
-
-
Area
a
Square metres, m2
Square Centimetres, cm2
X10,000
Capacitance
C
Farad, F
-
-
Charge
Q
Coulombs, C
-
-
Concentration
c
Mols per decimetre
cubed, mol dm-3
-
-
Force
F
Newtons, N
-
-
Frequency
f
Hertz, Hz
-
-
Length
l
Metres, m
Magnetic field
strength
B
Teslas, T
Centimetres, cm
Inches, “
Feet , ‘
-
/1000
x 0.0025
X 3.33
-
Mass
m
Grams, g
Kilograms, kg
X 1000
Power
P
Watts, W
-
-
Pressure
P
Kilopascals, kPa
Atm, atmospheres
-
-
Resistance
R
Ohms, Ω
(omega, see Appendix:
Greek Letters)
-
-
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Aspect
Speed
Temperature
Symbol
s
T
Standard Unit
Metres per second,
m s-1
Other possible
measurements
Conversion
Kilometres per hour, km h1
x 0.28
x 0.045
Degrees Kelvin, K
Miles per hour, mph
Degrees
Celsius/centigrade, °C
+ 273
X 1.8 - 459
X 60
X 3600
Time
t
Seconds, s
Degrees Fahrenheit, F
Minutes, min
Hours, h
Velocity
u
Metres per second, m s-1
-
-
Voltage
v
Volts, V
Millivolts, mV
/1000
Volume
V
Decimetres cubed, dm3
Centimetres cubed, cm3
Millilitres, mL
Litres, L
/1000
As cm3
No
conversion
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