Get up to speed with Chemistry

In this section, you will find all the information you need to help you get up to speed with chemistry.

There are some parts of the Chemistry A Level syllabus that will come up quite often in Materials Science and Engineering, so it will be useful to have a good understanding of topics like Atomic Structure, Bonding, Thermodynamics, Periodicity, Introductory Organic Chemistry and Polymers. You will also need some understanding of aspects of physical chemistry, energetics and kinetics.

You will need to know about the following:

Atomic structure and reactions

  • The atom

  • Fundamental particles

  • Electron shells

  • Atomic mass & numbers

  • Isotopes

  • Relative mass

  • Relative molecular mass

  • Ions

  • Ionising energy

The Periodic Table and ionisation

  • The Periodic Table

  • Atomic radius

  • Ions

  • Ionisation energy

  • Ionisation energy and the Periodic Table

  • Trends in the Periodic Table

Electron orbitals

  • Electron spin

  • Electron orbits

  • Electron orbitals

  • Rules for filling energy levels

Bonding

  • Ions

  • Ionising energy

  • Ionisation energy

  • Electron affinity

  • Types of bonds

  • Ionic bond

  • Covalent bond

  • Metallic bond