Latest books from me available at amazon or CT Publications
Starting your AS level in Chemistry or biology? The maths parts of the specs from AQA, OCR, Edexcel and WJEC ALL demand a good knoweldge of maths principles. These books cover everything you need and have tons of worked examples and exam questions from the four boards.
Hop along to www.writingthesynopticessay.co.uk for tons of help on the essay preparation and some free essays!
Visit my A-level biology blog here … www.howscienceworks.wordpress.com
New resources site for the AQA synoptic biology essay
Enjoy, there will be regular updates of free essays
More on oxidation states
This post gives you more worked examples of how to calculate oxidation states.
A simple study technique to prioritise your time
Don’t waste effort revising stuff that’s only ever worth a few marks. Simply carry out the process below using past papers from the resource links on the right and you will soon get a “league table” of marks to rank your revision priorities. Read more »
Learning from Exam Papers
If I told you you were going to be involved in a boxing competition on Friday what would you do? My students have so far told me:
- Learn how to box
- go to the gym
- run off
- read up on boxing
Not one of them asked me “what do I have to do?”
And in the above example, I forgot to tell them they would be the ticket person on the door! So they may have done all that preparation for no purpose whatsoever, as they failed to find out what was expected of them. Read more »
Biodegradability and disposal of polymers
Biodegradability
| Polyesters | Polyamides |
| Chemically inert … and so … | Chemically reactive … and so… |
| CANNOT be hydrolysed and so … | CAN be hydrolysed … and so … |
| Are NOT biodegradable | Are biodegradable |
Cramming is a bad idea
Cramming is a throw back to GCSE days. GCSE exams are designed to be learn … regurgitate … forget. A-level on the other hand is understand … apply … develop. This is why many of you have stuggled in A-level, it’s not because the material is so much harder, it’s that your mindset is wrong.
If you’re in AS you may find that this approach gets you through the first January exam, but it becomes less useful in June or in A2 as the material changes to more application. Also, the A2 material starts to contain synoptic elements (pieces of information that are key to understanding how the subject connects at all levels). If you manage to forget everything as soon as your exam is over, these elements are never given a chance to enter your long-term understanding of the subject which cause problems in June of A2.
If your in A2 you may now be finding that that a higher proportion of material is demandng a knowledge of previous studies. I’ve had many students that are annoyed at this as they feel it’s unfair. But is it unfair to expect an A-level student to have a grasp of the fundamentals of the subject he or she chose to study? I don’t think it is. I mean, if you studied languages for example, you’re ability to carry out a conversation in French will improve over the years as your comprehension of the grammar and lirary of vocabulary increases. It’s the same for sciences. Read more »
Oxidation States, Half Equations and Redox
Oxidation reactions are hugely important in chemistry, in that they relesae large amounts of energy in the form of heat. In biology too, we’ve learned that oxidation reactions form the basis of provide energy for growth (respiration and the production of ATP). But the concepts can be confusin and its easy to get muddled up. This post will hopefully sort it out a little and help you get a clearer picture of how to tackle oxidation states and half-equations.
Many of my students get confused at some point by oxidation, reduction and half equations. The topic gets recapped in CH5 so it is important to get the key points right:
- Remember, oxidation is a process of electron loss and reduction is a process of electron gain, OILRIG (Oxidation Is Loss, Reduction Is Gain).
- The Reducing agent is the electron donor and gets oxidised. the Oxidising agent is the electron acceptor and gets reduced.
- The number of electrons lost (donated) by the reducing agent equals the number of electrons gained (accepted) by the oxidising agent.
- Oxidation number is essentially the amount of charge an element brings to a compound (eg Na brings +1 and Cl brings -1 to NaCl)
- Oxidation numbers of all elements is zero, of all ions alone (Na+, Cl-, Ca2+, O2-) is its charge (+1, -1, 2+, -2 respectively), H is usually +1 and O is ussually -2
- Oxidation numers of elements in ions can be calculated by cancellation of charge, eg Mn in MnO4- must be giving +7 as 7 pluses cancel out seven of the 8 minuses from O (4x-2) leaving – left over.
Oxidation of alcohols
Alcohols can be oxidised using potassum dichromate(vi) acidified with dilute sulphuric acid as the oxidising agent. Learn this name in full and do not short cut bu calling it dichromate or acidified dichromate. Read more »
Mass spectroscopy key points
This article lists the important points on mass spectroscopy that AQA ask again and again …
Downloadable ebooks now available
My three books are now available for download from CTPublications.co.uk at a offer price of £4.99 for a limted peiod.
Surviving Maths in AS Chemistry
AQA A2 Biology: Writing the Synoptic Essay
Go on! You know you want to!
Weird ‘n wonderful from New Scientist- Zoologger: How a blurry-eyed spider pounces on target January 26, 2012The Adanson's house jumper is the first animal found using out-of-focus vision to judge the distance to its victims
- Zoologger: Gecko's amputated tail has life of its own January 19, 2012Faced with a predator, the leopard gecko can jettison its tail – we explain how it keeps moving without a body
- Zoologger: Unique life form is half plant, half animal January 13, 2012A newly discovered single-celled organism isn't an animal, isn't a plant, and isn't even a neat hybrid of the two
- Zoologger: Transgender fish perform reverse sex flip January 6, 2012Boys will be boys… or girls, if it's convenient. From female to male and back again, gender bending means dwarf hawkfish can find a mate in any situation
- 2011 review: The year in Zoologger's extreme beasts December 22, 2011Zoologger is our weekly column highlighting extraordinary animals – and occasionally other organisms – from around the world. Here's our top 10
- Zoologger: My brain's so big it spills into my legs December 14, 2011Little spiders have a big problem – their brains are so big they have literally spilled out of their body cavities and into their legs
- Zoologger: To kill a mockingbird? No, parasitise it December 7, 2011Cowbirds lay their eggs in other birds' nests and often kill their young, so why do mockingbirds let them get away with it?
- Zoologger: Chill out with the world's coldest insect December 1, 2011While cold-shy mammals flee north, the larvae of the Antarctic midge stick it out through the depths of the polar winter
- Zoologger: 'Werewolf birds' hook up by the full moon November 25, 2011Barau's petrel is one of a handful of tropical birds that navigates using the full moon as a kind of Bat-Signal to guide them to their love nests
- Zoologger: Cannibal shrimp shows its romantic side November 17, 2011These small shrimps are no wimps: cannibalistic and willing to fight till death do them part – but only after dark
- Zoologger: The only cross-dressing bird of prey November 9, 2011Some male marsh harriers spend their adult lives mimicking females, apparently to avoid being attacked by other males
- Zoologger: The biggest spider web in the world November 3, 2011A spider less than 2 centimetres long builds webs that span rivers
- Zoologger: Slime killer hagfish feasts in rotten flesh October 27, 2011Despite not having any jaws, hagfish hunt fish, deter predators with slime, and eat rotting corpses from the inside out
- Zoologger: Female monkeys indulge in synchronised sex October 20, 2011In a bid to mate with as many males as possible, female Assamese macaques coordinate when they're willing to have sex
- Zoologger: The toad that's part clone, part love child October 13, 2011Is it a clone, or the result of an amphibian liaison? The Batura toad is both at once
- Zoologger: The first reptile with a true placenta October 6, 2011One African lizard has embryos that implant themselves into the wall of its womb – just as they do in mammals
- Zoologger: The fearsome jaws of a mini movie monster September 28, 2011As if sliding helplessly into a pit weren't bad enough, there's no hope of escaping the jaws of the monster at the bottom
- Zoologger: Stealth millipede wears living camouflage September 22, 2011A newly discovered species of Colombian millipede wears moss on its back, in a bizarre partnership between creepy-crawly and plant
- Zoologger: Dozy hamsters reverse the ageing process September 15, 2011Anyone who has kept them as a pet knows that hamsters don't live long. But they can repair some of the ravages of time
- Zoologger: World's nicest bird murders chicks September 6, 2011The greater honeyguide is famous for helping humans find bees' nests, but it begins its life as an infanticidal parasite
- Zoologger: How a blurry-eyed spider pounces on target January 26, 2012
- News from SciAm
- How Google's New Privacy Policy Could Affect YouYou’re on the way to a meeting. Traffic seems to be slowing. A text comes in: “You’re going to be late. Take the next exit for alternate route.” It’s from Google. [More]
- Primitive Attraction: Magnetized Moon Rock Points to Lunar Core's Active PastThe moon of today is a static orb with little to no internal activity; for all intents and purposes it appears to be a dead, dusty pebble of a world. But billions of years ago the moon may have been a place of far more dynamism--literally. [More]
- Race and Religion at the Ballot Box: Building a Better Bias DetectorThe color of a candidate’s skin failed to sway voters to depress the lever for either Obama or McCain in the 2008 election, immediate analyses of that contest seemed to suggest. Some pundits hailed it as the first postracial election. [More]
- Children May Be Exposed to Higher Chemical Concentrations Than Their MothersChildren living near DuPont’s plant in West Virginia are exposed to much higher concentrations of an industrial chemical than their mothers, according to a newly published study. [More]
- Has Petroleum Production Peaked, Ending the Era of Easy Oil?Despite major oil finds off Brazil's coast, new fields in North Dakota and ongoing increases in the conversion of tar sands to oil in Canada , fresh supplies of petroleum are only just enough to offset the production decline from older fields. At best, the world is now living off an oil plateau--roughly 75 million barrels of oil produced each and every […]
- Tame Theory: Did Bonobos Domesticate Themselves?Time and again humans have domesticated wild animals, producing tame individuals with softer appearances and more docile temperaments, such as dogs and guinea pigs. But a new study suggests that one of our primate cousins--the African ape known as the bonobo --did something similar without human involvement. It domesticated itself. [More] […]
- Why the Supreme Court GPS Decision Won't Stop Warrantless Digital SurveillanceOn January 23 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that law enforcement authorities do not generally have a right to affix a GPS tracking device to a suspect's car without first obtaining a valid warrant. Of the many things that can be said about the case, which has been called the most important Fourth Amendment test in a decade , perhaps the most […]
- The Scientist: Jim Hansen Risks Handcuffs to Make His Research ClearEditor's note: Climate Query is a semi-weekly feature offered by Daily Climate, presenting short Q&A's with players large and small in the climate arena. Read others in the series at http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/query/climate-queries . [More]
- Women Feel Pain More Intensely Than Men DoWhen a woman falls ill, her pain may be more intense than a man's, a new study suggests. [More]
- Study Fails to Confirm Existence of Arsenic-Based LifeA strange bacterium found in California’s Mono Lake cannot replace the phosphorus in its DNA with arsenic, according to researchers who have been trying to reproduce the results of a controversial report published in Science in 2010. [More]
- How Google's New Privacy Policy Could Affect You
