Chemistry

Course summary

Chemistry aims to answer the big question “what is the world made of?” To answer such a question we have to understand what matter is, how it behaves and why it behaves in the way that it does. The study of chemistry gives you intriguing insights into the nature of matter and provides many opportunities to tackle challenging ideas and experience the satisfaction of solving problems. Chemistry is an essential A level for a diverse range of careers, from medicine to geologist, dentist to environmental scientist. It is also a sound academic qualification for other subjects such as law, engineering or astronomy. A wide range of chemical topics will be studied, split into the three broad branches of chemistry: • Physical chemistry: atomic structure, bonding, amounts of substance, kinetics and equilibrium. Inorganic chemistry: periodicity, transition metals and the reactions of ions in aqueous solutions. • Organic chemistry: functional groups and their reactions eg. alkanes, alcohols and carboxylic acids. Other topics include; aromatic (Benzene) compounds, amino acids and their polymerisation to proteins and DNA, as well as modern instrumental techniques, such as mass and NMR spectroscopy. Chemistry is very much a practical based subject, and the course offers the opportunity to use a range of chemicals in a practical context. These include: measuring the energy changes in a chemical reaction, to more advanced forms of chromatography.