Organic Chemistry | AQA GCSE Chemistry, Higher tier (8462)
Organic Chemistry
- 222 questions
- 12 subtopics
- Paper 2
- Paper 2
Organic Chemistry is examined in Chemistry Paper 2.
It covers crude oil, hydrocarbons and alkanes, fractional distillation and petrochemicals, properties of hydrocarbons, cracking, and testing alkenes with bromine water, why cracking is useful, and equations for it, structure and formulae of alkenes, reactions of alkenes, alcohols, carboxylic acids, addition polymerisation, condensation polymerisation and amino acids, DNA and naturally occurring polymers.
Sample questions from Organic Chemistry
Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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Crude oil, hydrocarbons and alkanes
Which type of compound makes up most of crude oil?
Show the answer
Hydrocarbons. -
Fractional distillation and petrochemicals
What is a homologous series?
Show the answer
A homologous series is a family of similar compounds that share the same general formula and have similar chemical properties. -
Cracking, and testing alkenes with bromine water
State one thing that catalytic cracking and steam cracking have in common.
Show the answer
Both require the hydrocarbon to be vaporised and heated to a high temperature so that its molecules break apart. -
Why cracking is useful, and equations for it
Give one example that illustrates the usefulness of cracking.
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Cracking turns long-chain hydrocarbons that are in little demand into petrol for cars and ethene for making poly(ethene). -
Reactions of alkenes
What happens to the carbon–carbon double bond during an addition reaction?
Show the answer
Atoms add across it, and it becomes a single carbon–carbon bond. -
Alcohols
Explain why fermentation produces an aqueous solution of ethanol rather than pure ethanol.
Show the answer
The sugar is dissolved in water, so the ethanol is formed mixed with that water. -
Addition polymerisation
Describe what happens in an addition polymerisation reaction.
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Many small monomer molecules containing a carbon–carbon double bond join together to form one very large molecule, and nothing else is produced. -
Condensation polymerisation
How many carbon atoms are there in a molecule of hexanedioic acid?
Show the answer
Six.
The 12 subtopics
One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.
| Subtopic | What it covers | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Crude oil, hydrocarbons and alkanes | Crude oil as a finite resource formed from ancient plankton, hydrocarbons and why crude oil is a mixture, the alkanes and their general formula CₙH₂ₙ₊₂, the molecular formulae of methane, ethane, propane and butane, and what molecular and displayed formulae show. | 18 |
| Fractional distillation and petrochemicals | Separating crude oil into fractions of similar-sized molecules by fractional distillation, fuels such as petrol, diesel and kerosene, petrochemical feedstock for solvents, lubricants, polymers and detergents, why carbon forms so many compounds, homologous series, and how the fractionating column works. | 17 |
| Properties of hydrocarbons | How boiling point, viscosity and flammability depend on molecular size, what viscosity and flammability mean, complete combustion of hydrocarbons to carbon dioxide and water as an exothermic oxidation, balanced combustion equations for methane, ethane and propane, and choosing hydrocarbons as fuels. | 17 |
| Cracking, and testing alkenes with bromine water | Cracking as the thermal decomposition of large hydrocarbons into smaller molecules, catalytic cracking and steam cracking and their conditions, the alkanes and unsaturated alkenes produced, and the bromine water test, which turns from orange to colourless with an alkene. | 17 |
| Why cracking is useful, and equations for it | Why small hydrocarbons are in demand and large fractions are cracked, the uses of alkenes, balancing cracking equations such as C₁₀H₂₂ to C₈H₁₈ and C₂H₄, and how modern life depends on hydrocarbons. | 15 |
| Structure and formulae of alkenes | Alkenes as hydrocarbons with a carbon–carbon double bond, their general formula CₙH₂ₙ, unsaturated alkenes and saturated alkanes, the first four alkenes and their formulae, why ethene is the smallest alkene, and telling an alkene from an alkane by its formula. | 16 |
| Reactions of alkenes | The C=C functional group and why members of a homologous series react alike, complete and incomplete combustion of alkenes and their smoky flames, addition reactions with hydrogen, water and the halogens and their conditions, why alkanes cannot undergo addition, and naming and describing the displayed formulae of alkenes and their addition products. | 31 |
| Alcohols | The –OH functional group, the first four alcohols and their formulae, reactions of alcohols with sodium, air, water and oxidising agents, their uses as fuels and solvents, making ethanol by fermenting sugar with yeast and the conditions needed, and the combustion equation for methanol. | 20 |
| Carboxylic acids | The –COOH functional group and the first four carboxylic acids, the formulae of ethanoic and methanoic acid, reactions with carbonates, water and alcohols to form esters, why carboxylic acids are weak acids with a higher pH than strong acids, the difference between weak and dilute, and naming their salts and esters. | 20 |
| Addition polymerisation | Alkenes as monomers for addition polymerisation, poly(ethene) and poly(propene), what monomers and polymers are, how the double bond opens to join monomers into a single product, the repeating unit and why it matches the monomer, and recognising monomers and polymer chains from their structures. | 16 |
| Condensation polymerisation | Monomers with two functional groups joining with the loss of a small molecule such as water, how this differs from addition polymerisation, ethanediol and hexanedioic acid forming a polyester, why each monomer needs two functional groups, and what the repeating unit of a condensation polymer shows. | 17 |
| Amino acids, DNA and naturally occurring polymers | The amino and carboxylic acid groups of amino acids, condensation polymerisation into polypeptides, glycine and why it can form a chain alone, proteins and what decides their properties, DNA as two nucleotide polymer chains in a double helix carrying genetic instructions, and proteins, starch and cellulose as natural polymers. | 18 |
How the guide is worked
Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
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Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.
Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.
Nearby topics
AQA GCSE Chemistry, Higher tier Active Recall Guide
Every topic, not just this one. 1,648 questions with their answers.