Chemistry and Society

What chemistry studies, how it is used in industry and in Rwanda's economy, and the careers it opens. You will explain why chemistry matters and weigh its benefits against its risks.

2

Laboratory Safety and Apparatus

How a chemistry laboratory is laid out, the safety rules and hazard symbols that protect you, and the apparatus used for holding, measuring, heating and separating. You will name and draw common apparatus and use it safely.

3

States and Changes of State of Matter

The three states of matter and the kinetic theory that explains them, density, changes of state and heating curves, physical and chemical changes, and the evidence from diffusion and Brownian motion that matter is made of moving particles.

4

Pure Substances and Mixtures

How chemists tell pure substances (elements and compounds) from mixtures, what solutions are made of, and how to separate mixtures by filtration, evaporation, crystallisation, distillation and chromatography, ending with how drinking water is treated and a project to build a water filter.

5

Atoms, Elements and Compounds

What atoms, molecules, elements and compounds are; the particles inside an atom, atomic number, mass number and isotopes; how the electrons of the first 20 elements are arranged; why atoms gain or lose electrons to form ions; and how to write and name chemical formulae using valencies and radicals.

6

Arrangement of Elements in the Periodic Table

How chemists from Döbereiner and Newlands to Mendeleev searched for order among the elements; how the modern periodic table arranges the first 20 elements by atomic number into groups and periods that match their electronic structure; and how metallic and non-metallic character change across a period and down a group.

7

Chemical Reactions

What happens to atoms in a chemical reaction and how to recognise one; the law of conservation of mass; how to write word equations and chemical equations with state symbols; how to balance chemical equations; and how to turn a description of a reaction into a balanced chemical equation.

8

Acids, Bases and pH

What acids, bases and alkalis are and how indicators tell them apart; their typical properties and neutralisation; natural and household indicators such as red cabbage, hibiscus flowers, blackberries and tea; the pH scale and universal indicator; and the uses and dangers of acids and bases, including how to dilute an acid safely.

9

Water

Where water comes from, the physical properties of pure water and the chemical tests for it, hard and soft water and the other categories of water, how water is treated at a works such as Nzove and at home, the water cycle as changes of state, and the uses, pollution and protection of water in Rwanda.

10

Air Composition and Pollution

What air is made of and in what proportions, how to measure the oxygen in air, why air matters for life, fuels and industry, the main air pollutants and where they come from, acid rain, and the ways Rwanda monitors and reduces air pollution.

11

Waste Materials and Their Effective Management

What waste is and how it is classified (solid, liquid and gas; biodegradable and non-biodegradable; hazardous, including e-waste), where it comes from, a waste audit of your own school, the hazards of badly managed waste in Rwanda, and how to manage it: reduce, reuse, recycle, composting and biogas.

Units