Chemistry - Broad General Education (BGE) level 3/4

Online Lessons for Students in Scotland learning Broad General education Chemistry

• Energy Sources
• Electricity
• Properties and Uses of their Substances
• Chemical Changes
• Earths Materials

Planet Earth: this session talks about the varied features of our Planet Earth, the sources of energy, sates of matter and more.

Renewable and non-renewable energy: there are two types of energy: renewable and non-renewable. Non-renewable energy includes coal, gas and oil.They are made by burning fossil fuels to create energy. Renewable energy includes solar, hydro and wind energy.

States of matter: in physics, a state of matter is one of the distinct forms in which matter can exist. Four states of matter are observable in everyday life: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma.

Forces, electricity and waves: his lesson explains Forces – friction, gravity and weight. Electricity – series and parallel circuits. Waves – light waves and electromagnetic spectrum.

Electricity – batteries and chemical cells: Chemical cells use chemical reactions to transfer energy by electricity. A simple cell can be made by connecting two different metals in contact with an electrolyte. A number of cells can be connected in series to make a battery, which has a higher voltage than a single cell.

Materials: this section introduces you to chemical changes, materials found on Earth and properties and uses of the substances

Properties and uses of their substances: This lesson talks about various subjects like – atomic mass, atomic structure, atoms and isotopes, atomic numbers, filtration, distillation and more.

The Periodic Table:,also known as the periodic table of chemical elements, is a tabular display of the chemical elements. It is widely used in chemistry, physics, and other sciences, and is generally seen as an icon of chemistry.

The structure of an atom: atoms consist of three basic particles: protons, electrons, and neutrons. The nucleus (centre) of the atom contains the protons (positively charged) and the neutrons (no charge). The outermost regions of the atom are called electron shells and contain the electrons (negatively charged).

Element: consists of only one kind of atom, cannot be broken down into a simpler type of matter by either physical or chemical means, and can exist as either atoms or molecules.

Compound: consists of atoms of two or more different elements bound together, can be broken down into a simpler type of matter (elements) by chemical means (but not by physical means), has properties that are different from its component elements, and always contains the same ratio of its component atoms.

Mixture: consists of two or more different elements and/or compounds physically intermingled, can be separated into its components by physical means, and often retains many of the properties of its components.

Naming chemical compounds: a chemical nomenclature is a set of rules to generate systematic names for chemical compounds. The nomenclature used most frequently worldwide is the one created and developed by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.

Separating techniques:  mixtures can be separated using a variety of techniques. Chromatography involves solvent separation on a solid medium. Distillation takes advantage of differences in boiling points. Evaporation removes a liquid from a solution to leave a solid material. Filtration separates solids of different sizes.

Solvents and solubility: solubility is the ability of a solid, liquid, or gaseous chemical substance (referred to as the solute) to dissolve in solvent (usually a liquid) and form a solution. The solubility of a substance fundamentally depends on the solvent used, as well as temperature and pressure.

Chemical changes: chemical changes occur when a substance combines with another to form a new substance, called chemical synthesis or, alternatively, chemical decomposition into two or more different substances. These processes are called chemical reactions and, in general, are not reversible except by further chemical reactions.

The pH scale: in chemistry, pH is a scale used to specify the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. Acidic solutions are measured to have lower pH values than basic or alkaline solutions.

Rates of chemical reactions: the reaction rate or rate of reaction is the speed at which a chemical reaction takes place, defined as proportional to the increase in the concentration of a product per unit time and to the decrease in the concentration of a reactant per unit time.

Signs of chemical reaction: there are five signs of a chemical change: colour change; production of an odour; change of temperature; evolution of a gas (formation of bubbles) and precipitation (formation of a solid).

Earth’s materials: materials include minerals, rocks, soil and water. These are the naturally occurring materials found on Earth.

Types of rocks: there are three kinds of rock: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic.

Extracting metals: metal is extracted from the crushed ore by one of two major methods: smelting or electrolysis. Smelting uses heat to separate the valuable metal from the rest of the ore. Electrolysis separates metal from ore by using acid and electricity.