Thursday 21 May 2015

AQA AS Chemistry Revision Notes 2: Periodicity & Mass Spectrometry

The following are the typical questions that you'll find in many of the past papers. Each question also comes along with the generic answer that the examiners are looking for, so if you learn these then you should be able to answer these questions pretty easily when they come up. If you think that I've missed out any important questions/answers or you'd like to correct any mistakes then feel free to mention them in the comments and I'll make adjustments as soon as possible.

Typical structure: Question (Marks Available) [Paper]: Answer. Extra notes/comments.

NB: Underlined words/phrases are the key terms needed to get the marks. Different points are highlighted in different colours.

AQA AS CHEMISTRY REVISION NOTES 2: PERIODICITY

Which atom in Period 2 (C to Fl) has the largest atomic radius, and why? (3) [May 2013]

Carbon. Has the lowest nuclear charge/weakest nuclear attraction to electrons, but has similar/same shielding.
 
Similarly,

Why does the atomic radius decrease as you go across the Period 2 elements? (2)

Nuclear charge increases/stronger attraction between the outer shell and nucleus; similar/same shielding.

The main points to remember are that the atomic radius decreases as you go from left to right, the nuclear charge always increases, causing the attraction between the nucleus and outer electron shell to increase, and the shielding (no of shells between the outer shell and nucleus) is similar/the same.

What's the general trend in first ionisation energies from carbon to neon? Which element deviates from this trend and why? (4) [May 2013]

Increase. Oxygen. Paired electrons. Paired electrons repel.

Not as complicated as it seems, eh? Just remember that from group 3 to 8/0, the ionisation energies increases as the nuclear charge increases, which means the outer electrons become more attracted to the nucleus. But at Group 6, the 4th electron in the p-orbital pairs with the 1st electron in said sub-shell, and as they're both negative, they repel each other, making it easier to ionise.

Why is the second ionisation energy of carbon higher than the first ionisation energy? (1)

More energy is required to remove the electron from the positive ion.

Remember, an electron has already been removed, meaning that there is now more protons than electrons, making it a positive ion.

Why does lithium have the highest second ionisation energy in Period 2? (1)

Electron removed from the 1p orbital.

The electron removed is closer to the nucleus, as it's in a different shell, so it requires more energy to remove.

Why is more energy required to remove an electron from Al3+ than an Na+ ion? (3)

More protons/stronger nuclear charge; Al3+ is smaller than Na+/electrons are close to the nucleus; electron gets more attraction/pulled more strongly by Al3+.


AQA AS CHEMISTRY REVISION NOTES 2.1: MASS SPECTROMETRY

How are the atoms ionised in a mass spectrometer? (2)

Electron gun fires high speed electrons; which knock off electrons from the gaseous atom.

How is current detected at the detector? (2)

Electrons are transferred from the detector to the (+) ion.

How is the relative abundance of an ion measured? (2)

Ions hit detector and accept electrons/cause an electron flow; a bigger current means more of that isotope/current is proportional to abundance.

Why do we only use the minimum amount of energy required to ionise the sample? (1)

So only one electron gets knocked out.

Whenever you talk about the atoms/substance/sample, remember that it's always been vapourised, and is therefore in a gaseous form, and never forget to put the state symbol when you're writing an equation eg. C(g), Na(g), O(g) etc.


AKBIT-HOE, 23:45 15/05/2015

Friday 15 May 2015

AQA AS Chemistry Revision Notes 1: Simple Definitions

The following are the typical questions that you'll find in many of the past papers. Each question also comes along with the generic answer that the examiners are looking for, so if you learn these definitions then you should be able to answer these questions pretty easily when they come up. If you think that I've missed out any important questions/answers or you'd like to correct any mistakes then feel free to mention them in the comments and I'll make adjustments as soon as possible.

Typical structure: Question (Marks Available): Answer.

NB: Underlined words/phrases are the key terms needed to get the marks. Different points are highlighted in different colours.

AQA AS CHEMISTRY REVISION NOTES 1: SIMPLE DEFINITIONS

Relative atomic mass (2):
(Average/mean mass of one atom of an element) ÷ (1/12 mass of one atom of 12C) OR
(Average/mean mass of atoms of an element) ÷ (1/12 mass of one atom of 12C) OR
(Average/mean mass of atoms of an element x12) ÷ (mass of one atom of 12C) OR
(Average mass of one mole of atoms) ÷ (mass of one atom of 12C) OR 
(Weighted average mass of all the isotopes) ÷ (mass of one atom of 12C) OR
Average mass of an atom/isotope (compared to C-12) on a scale in which C-12 has a mass of 12.

Mass number (of an isotope) (1):

Total number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom.

Electronegativity (2):

Power of an atom/nucleus to withdraw/attract electrons/electron density/a pair of electrons in a covalent bond.

Structural isomers (2):

Compounds that have the same molecular formula but a different structural/displayed/skeletal formula.

Rate of reaction (1):

Change in concentration (of a substance/reactant/product) in unit time/given time OR
Amount of substance used up/formed in unit time/given time.

Activation energy (1):

Minimum energy required for a reaction to start OR
Minimum energy for a successful/effective collision.


Le Chatelier's Principle (1):

If a factor is changed that affects an equilibrium, then the position of the equilibrium will shift/move so as to oppose/counteract the change OR
When a system/reaction in equilibrium is disturbed, the position of equilibrium shifts/moves in a direction which tends to reduce the disturbance.

What is a catalyst (1):

A substance that speeds up the reaction/alters the rate but is chemically unchanged at the end/not used up.

How does a catalyst work (2):

Catalyst provides an alternate route/pathway/different mechanism that has a lower activation energy.

Hess' Law (1):
The enthalpy change/heat (energy) change (at constant pressure) is independent of the route/path taken.

Carbon neutral (1):

An activity that has no net/overall carbon emissions to the atmosphere/air OR
An activity that has no net/overall greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere/air OR
There is no change in the total amount of carbon dioxide/carbon/greenhouse gases present in the atmosphere/air.

Mean bond enthalpy (2):

Enthalpy/heat (energy) change/required/needed to break/dissociate a covalent bond. Average/mean over different molecules/compounds/substances.

Hydration (1):

Addition of water to a molecule/compound.

Enthalpy change (1):

Heat energy change at constant pressure.

Standard enthalpy of combustion (3):

The enthalpy change when 1 mol of a compound/substance/alcohol is burned completely in oxygen OR is burned in an excess of oxygen with all reactants and products in their standard states OR with all reactants and products in their normal states under standard conditions.

Standard enthalpy of formation (3):

The enthalpy/heat change at constant pressure when 1 mol of a compound/substance/product is formed from its elements with all reactants and products in their standard states OR with all reactants and products in their normal states under standard conditions.

Empirical formula (1):

Lowest number/ratio of atoms of an element. 



I think this covers most of the simple definitions which you can easily learn to gain a few extra marks. Comment if there are any more that you think should be added to the list.


AKBIT-HOE, 22:47 15/05/2015

Tuesday 21 April 2015

2015 Blog Update

Hey everyone, I just thought that I'd post a short update. I'd firstly like to say that I'm sorry that I haven't been posting anything in the past couple of months, as I wasn't expecting the leap from GCSE to AS to be as big as it turned out to be. Exams are coming up in less than a month, and they'll all be over in two. Hopefully I'll be able to get back into the whole blogging business again with posting random content that I feel would be good to write about.
I've had an idea in my mind from a while back, and honestly, I don't know whether this idea will be a success or whether I'll just end up making more work for myself. The idea was that I would write up revision notes and key ideas/structures that are useful (mainly AQA Biology and Chemistry) and I would post them onto here, so that I could share my revision with others who could probably look at them and gain one or two extra marks. I plan on trying this idea out to see how things go, and hopefully those of you who do the subjects that I do will find them as useful as I do.
I've also added a new subscription section to my blog, after a few requests from those of you who take your time to read my posts, which should be positioned to the right side of my blog. All you need to do is enter your e-mail and click the subscribe button, and the site will do the rest! What this will do I send you an e-mail every time I upload a new post, so that you'll get notified when it happens.
In other news, Tackling Racism Part 2 is still in progress; I'll hopefully be uploading it in the summer, along with a few other ideas that I'm brewing up in my head. This is all that I have to say, so good luck to everyone doing their exams this summer!

TL;DR Planning to upload stuff again in the summer. New idea where I post my revision notes for others to revise from. New subscription box.

AKBIT-HOE, 22:09 21/04/2015

Friday 24 October 2014

Tackling Racism 101 with AKBIT-HOE Part 1:- The Racism That I Came Across


(Note: I would firstly like to say beforehand that I am not writing this post for any sympathy or for people to feel sorry for me, but to help others who are struggling with racism, and to help myself sort out the thoughts of my past. So if you happen to be a hater, then I don't care; you can hate all you want, because remember the wise words of Taylor Swift: "Haters gonna hate hate hate hate hate, baby".)
Taylor Is Love. Taylor Is Life.

 So, as the name of this blog suggests, I am a Korean, who is currently living in West Yorkshire. I've lived in England ever since I was born, and so naturally, my mind became to be more British than Korean. I've been living in West Yorkshire for 9 years and 1 month now, if my calculations are correct (wow, that's so Asian of me, because all Asians are good at maths, right?). Anyway, the reason why I am telling you all of this is because I want to firstly let you all know about the things that I have been through, and how I managed to surpass these obstacles. In the first 11 years of my life, I don't really think that I had any problems that were to do with racism, probably due to the fact that I was still in primary school then, when most kids at that age were still young and innocent (no creepiness intended).
Some schools will be located in rougher areas than others, and therefore the behaviour of the pupils may differ from school to school, but I am 100% certain that almost every school in Great Britain will have at least 1 pupil who has been racist to another. Statistics from CILT say that there are 3,127 maintained secondary schools in England, so if put this together with my idea, that means that there are at least 3,127 pupils that have been in racist incidents, and we all know that the actual number will turn out to be a lot higher than that, as it's definitely likely that on average, more than one pupil will have been in a racist incident in most schools. In fact, data from 90 areas in the UK show that between 2007 and 2011, there were 87,915 recorded cases of racist bullying in primary and secondary schools, with the top two areas being Birmingham and Leeds, which is where I live. However, these statistics aren't accurate, as the DailyMail reported that a lot of the 87,915 recorded cases included kids as young as 3 being classed as "racists over playground spats". But the point that I'm trying to make here is that there are lots of pupils who will have heard racist comments said to them.
Here's a little bit of fun trivia for you guys: I have written up a brief list of as many of the names that I have heard said to me or to my friends, ranging from mild to wild, but not necessarily in that order: yellow, Chinese (this isn't technically racist to Chinese people, but to other Asians, it is), chinaman, chink, chinky, Bruce Lee, Short Round, small eyes, slit eyes, postbox (because most postboxes have slits, like the eyes of an Asian), the one inch wonder, ninja/samurai, Jackie Chan, dog muncher, and ching chong. Here are a few of the phrases that have been said to me: Do you like egg fried rice/egg roll/ king prawn? You bring shame and dishonour to your family. (The past two sentences seem normal enough, but you know that the person saying it means it in a racist way if they speak in that stereotypical Asian voice.) How do you see with eyes as small as that? How are you going to make love if you have a penis that small? Go away and eat some dog/noodles. Go back to your country. Go back and support Kim Jong Un. There have sometimes even been some extreme sentences that are so wrong that I would feel uncomfortable to put onto this post, but you all get the flavour, right?

See? This kid knows.

So after the first 11 years, there was the leap from primary school to secondary school (for any of you American readers out there, that's from 5th grade to 6th grade, I think). Of course, this could be different for some of you, if you happen to live in rougher parts of the world, where some kids, even at a young age, are racist due to the way that they have been brought up. From what I remember, I first met racism in Year 7. This was at an age where we were the big fish, jumping out of the little pond, only to find ourselves in a bigger pond, with fish that were bigger and scarier than us. So in Year 7, at the start of this life that was totally different to primary school, I realised that I was different. I realised that I looked different to most of the other boys. But I didn't realise that people could and would use this difference against me. Year 7 therefore was one of the hardest years for me so far. I had just moved into a new school where I didn't know anybody, and this school happened to be an all boy's school. Now don't get me wrong; I'm sorry if this sounds sexist to any readers, but I think that the general behaviour at an all boy's school is different from the behaviour from boys at a mixed-sex school. I think that the majority of boys will feel like they are more free, as they don't have girls watching what they're doing. They therefore like to sometimes act differently to how they would normally act if they were around girls. I'm not saying that only guys are racist, or that guys are more racist than girls, or any other sexist message that you conjure from what I'm saying, but in my experience, I feel like being in a single-sex school affected the 'volume' of racism that I received. To be honest, I may have received an equal/larger amount of racism if I went to a mixed-sex school, but I didn't go to one, so I guess we will never know.
Anyway, at the start of Year 7, things were fine, as all of the students were settling in to this new environment, but after that, I started to see the formation of groups. One of the biggest groups, who everyone calls the ATL (All The Lads) were probably the scariest group to me in our year. They mostly consisted of very sporty guys (ie. the jocks (no offense, guys)), who were a lot larger than me, and they would hang out together being silly, getting told off and doing stuff that only "the bad boys" would have done back at that age. This was one of the many groups that had formed, and at around this time, I started to hear the racism. It was pretty slow at first, and most of them didn't really offend me; I would just ignore them as I didn't want to show them that my emotions were hurt, but suddenly there was a time where more and more people saw the others being racist to me, and they would join in, thinking that it was 'okay' or just 'banter'. The racism seemed to pile up on top of me, until I couldn't handle it, and I felt like the weight was too much. I couldn't tell anyone about the words that they had said, as I didn't want to seem weak by telling a teacher or my parents, just to end up seeing their smug faces as they saw my ashamed face whilst they were getting told not to say mean words like that again. Why, there were some times when I couldn't keep in the anger anymore, and I would say the most hurtful things that would pop up in my head. There was even a time when I just grabbed my ruler and slapped this guy across the face out of pure hatred and anger (if you're reading this Henry, then I'm sorry, and I hope that you have forgiven me if you still remember that time). If there's any help that I can give you in this post, then it's this: don't slap them with a ruler; the teacher doesn't approve of it.
If I had to say that there were any benefits of being a victim to racism, then I would say that it made me tougher. However, if I had the choice to relive my life and choose whether people were racist to me or not, then I would definitely not let people be racist to me and be less tough, rather than having to endure all of the racism and be more tough. Having said that, I would still be born as a Korean if I could choose which nationality I was born to. (Or a potato. I've always wanted to be a potato.) So I started to slowly learn through Years 7 and 8 that if I was just able to ignore them, and keep my cool, then they would eventually get bored of it, and leave me alone. And it worked. I took those lemons that life gave and turned them into lemonade. But then they started to leave me alone, which meant that I was running out of lemons, and you can't make any more lemonade without any lemons. I began to run out of my lemonade, and I forgot how to ignore the comments. I forgot how to use my tools to block out the haters. So when the next huge supply of lemons came, they were too much for me to handle, and I wasn't able to make enough lemonade in time. This was around the time of Year 9.

You'll need to learn how to do this (the blocking, not the spoon balancing).

Now, I'm going to say something that I don't think I've told anybody. (Disclaimer: Again, I'm just reminding you that I'm not saying all of this for the attention and/or sympathy, but I'm just trying to be as honest as I can, and so I can look back at my (now) 17 year old self and remember the good and the bad times I used to have.) So when the next surge of lemons flew towards me, I wasn't able to cope with it. This was also the time when I realised that I had to focus on my work and realise how important and life-changing they were going to be. There was a lot of stress and hidden depression in this year. There were times when I would sit and just think to myself, "Why? Why am I alive? Why am I going through these years? What will happen to me in the future?", and other similar deep questions about life. This was the first stage, which I will call... Stage A. Then came the next stage (oh yes, you clever people), Stage B. This was when I thought about what life would be like if I wasn't alive, and what would happen if I commit suicide? Just before you start to think "attention seeking whore", NO, I didn't actually think about killing myself. I just thought of what would things be like if I did. I realised that I wouldn't have to suffer any more of the stress or the pain. Then I realised that I was being silly and that committing suicide was not the right path. My lemonade came back and I said to myself, "it wouldn't be very smart to kill yourself over a few silly words that some people said to you, would it?". So that night I stopped thinking, went to my desk, and started to revise for my degree in medicine like a good Asian boy, because all Asians do that, right? (I guess we can call that Stage C.)

But seriously, don't commit suicide. Life's too sweet to give up.

Now, after this, the pains went away. (Well, at least I thought they did until a few weeks ago, but I'll save that for another day, as it's only partially to do with racism, and I think that this post is already longer than it should be.) Unfortunately, the stress is still here, right to this very moment, but I think that the stress that I have now is a good kind of stress, if that's possible. I learnt to cope with all of the hate and racism, and as some may say, I "grew some balls". Even now, I will hear the odd racist comment, and sometimes it may get through my magical shield of lemonade and poke me, but now I can happily ignore the comment, realising how silly that racist is, and just walking along, carrying on with whatever I was doing.

Get ready for Part 2:- The Types Of Racism, which I'll write up as soon as I get the time. Until then, learn to lemonade.

AKBIT-HOE 00:38 24/10/2014

Tuesday 9 September 2014

#HeartSave, A Quick Guide To Saving Someone's Life

As I was talking to one of my friends about medicine and medical schools, he mentioned this site called MedLink. He told me that his brother had told him about this event. Basically, MedLink is a site that supports all of those who wish to study medicine, and hence become a doctor. MedLink hold a few conferences every year at The School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, where they will have presentations, practicals, and many exhibitions/people from all lots of different medical schools who come, set up displays and talk to those who have attended, answering any questions that they might have. So, I decided to have at look at this, and whilst I was browsing the site, I had come across an idea by MedLink, called #HeartSave.
#HeartSave is a campaign created by MedLink which uses Instagram's geo-tagging system to show people where they can find a portable defibrillator, if one is needed urgently. If you find a defibrillator, all you would have to do is take a photo of it, and upload it onto Instagram, with a description like: "#HeartSave This defibrillator was found by AKBIT-HOE at Leeds Train Station Main Entrance". That way, when someone else is in need of a defibrillator, they are able to search #HeartSave and see if there is one close by. The only problem with this is that there are currently only 111 posts on Instagram with the #HeartSave tag, and some of them aren't even to do with defibrillators.
Cardiac arrests and heart attacks are a lot more common than you may think. This could happen to anybody anywhere. Your parents. Your friends. Even yourself. Every year, over 60,000 cardiac arrests/heart attacks happen outside hospital grounds. For those who do not know what cardiac arrest is, it is when your heart will stop beating, and will stop pumping blood around your body. This is very dangerous, and if you ever do witness this, then it is important to call 999 immediately. After that, you should either perform CPR or use a defibrillator on them. The defibrillator is a machine that will send an electric shock to the heart, to try and get it to 'restart'. If someone does go into cardiac arrest, then for every minute that they don't receive CPR or defibrillation, then their chances of surviving will drop by 10%. This is why it is important to gain access to a defibrillator if nobody is able to perform CPR safely.
I am sure that there are more than just 111 defibrillators in the UK, but yet nobody has found and uploaded these onto Instagram yet. So the reason why I'm writing this blog post is to simply raise awareness. Nobody wants to have a cardiac arrest, and nobody really wants to be under the pressure of waiting for an ambulance without being able to do anything else. So, if you ever do come across a public portable defibrillator, then take a moment. If you're with a group of friends, and you see one, then just take a moment. Ignore them if they laugh at you for being 'strage' and take that photo. It doesn't matter if you don't get any likes on your photo. If you post one less selfie, and upload a defibrillator instead, your photo could just be saving someone's life.

Here are some links that you may want to visit:


AKBIT-HOE, 23:55 09/09/2014

Thursday 21 August 2014

And So We Start...

Well... This is interesting...
I never knew that I would ever try and blog. I have seen a few of my friends try blogging before, and it has always looked interesting, but I've never actually had the thought to try it out myself until today. As it's getting late, I will be making this a short one.
Let me introduce myself first. My name is AKBIT-HOE, and I'm a Korean who lives in West Yorkshire. I was born in Durham and have been living in England for all of my life. I decided to start blogging as I have been recently finding it hard to get rid of the stress that has been building up inside of me. I thought that if I could write my feelings out onto a blog, then that would help clear my mind out. I feel like this is a good way of getting my feelings out clearly, as those of you who know me will know that I'm quite a shy guy. Also, there would be you guys who will be reading this right now. I hope that I will be able to get enough views for other people to give back feedback, and/or to share some of their experiences. Feel free to say what you want below! Whatever it is, I'll try my best to reply to as many comments as I can (if I ever get any, that is XD). The best part that I think though, is that I will be able to look back at myself through this very blog, and bring back all the memories which I plan to write up. I also can't wait to laugh at myself when I read though any cringey stuff that I put up here.
I may end up posting random things up onto this blog, or I may post stories of the same theme over and over again. Who knows? I guess you'll just have to follow this blog to find out. This is all that I think I will be putting for my first ever blog post, and I hope that you will be able to enjoy reading this as much as I did writing this. Now... how should I finish this post... I guess I'll be trying out a few different endings until I find the one that suits me :D Meh.


AKBIT-HOE, 00:00 22/08/2014