GCE ‘O’ Level October/November 2013 Suggested Solutions

Chemistry (5072/01) version 1.2

# Ans Workings/Remarks
1 D The condenser is used for distillation which is not needed to determine the rate of
reaction. Only option D excludes this apparatus.
2 D Ammonia gas will turn the damp red litmus paper blue first before gaseous HCl turns
it back to red again.
3 D Only Zn2+ will form a white precipitate that will dissolve in excess aqueous ammonia.
4 A Since the boiling point of ethanol (78 °C) is lower than that of water (100 °C), it will
distil first. Concentration of ethanol would decrease over time.
5 B Isotopes are atoms of the same element with different number of neutrons and same
number of protons.

6 C Melting point of aluminium oxide is much higher than the melting point of calcium
oxide due to the aluminium ion (Al3+) having a bigger charge than the calcium ion
(Ca2+), thereby forming stronger electrostatic forces of attraction between oppositely
charged ions.

7 A X and Z have very high melting and boiling points with the difference being X is
unable to conduct electricity vs Z able to conduct electricity.
As such, Z is graphite while W is sand (silicon dioxide).
Since methane is a gas at room temperature, it would have a boiling point lesser than
25°C, making it W while Iodine would be Y.
8 C Element Q can accept a maximum of 4 electrons while R can accept a maximum of 2
electrons. As such, Q can form bonds with 2 R atoms, giving a formula of QR2.

Electron of R
Electron of Q

R Q R

9 B For 46 g of Na formed at the cathode,

No. of moles of Na = = 2 mol
Na+ + e- → Na
2Cl- → Cl2 + 2e-
Overall equation: 2Cl- + 2Na+ → 2Na + Cl2
Mole ratio of Na : Cl2, 2 : 1
 No. of moles of Cl2 = 1 mol

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GCE ‘O’ Level October/November 2013 Suggested Solutions

Chemistry (5072/01) version 1.2

10 A A: Aluminium sulfate  Al2(SO4)3 (aq) → 2Al3+ (aq) + 3SO42- (aq)

B: Ammonium sulfate  (NH4)2SO4 (aq) → 2NH4+ (aq) + SO42- (aq)
C: Copper (II) sulfate  CuSO4 (aq) → Cu2+ (aq) + SO42- (aq)
D: Sodium sulfate  Na2SO4 (aq) → 2Na+ (aq) + SO42- (aq)
For 1 mol / dm3 (assuming volume of 1 dm3) aluminium sulfate, 3 moles of SO42-
would be found as compared to the rest of the options, giving it the greatest number
of negative ions.

11 B The pH values are different because ethanoic acid is a weak acid, which only partially
dissociates to give lesser H+ ions as compared to the strong nitric acid.
12 D Aqueous copper (II) chloride contains Cu2+, Cl- , H+ and OH- ions.
13 A The energy profile diagram shows the profile of an endothermic reaction.

activation energy

energy products

∆H = +ve
reactants

progress of reaction

Endothermic reactions have:

 a positive H value
 energy involved in bond breaking greater than the energy involved in bond
forming.
 activation energy that starts from the reactant energy level to the peak.
Note: Option C which gives the combustion reaction of CH4 is exothermic.

14 B From the left to the right across a period of the Periodic Table, elements change from
metals to non-metals.
A : The ability to conduct electricity should decrease and not increase because of the
increasingly non-metallic character of the elements.
C : The number of neutrons in an atom generally increases, not decreases.
D : The number of protons in an atom increases, not decreases.
15 D When potassium iodide is oxidised, colour should change from colourless to brown.
When acidified potassium manganate (VII) is reduced, colour should change from
purple to colourless.

16 A Only X, which is the conversion of ethanol to ethanoic acid, is an oxidation reaction.

Reaction Y is not oxidation because the oxidation states of the elements in ethanoic
acid remain the same after forming sodium ethanoate, even after the loss of hydrogen.

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GCE ‘O’ Level October/November 2013 Suggested Solutions

Chemistry (5072/01) version 1.2

17 D The volumes of both HCl and NaOH taken are at the maximum temperature as
shown in the graph.
For a HCl concentration of 2 mol / dm3 and volume of 30 cm3,
No. of moles of HCl = 2
= 0.06 mol
Mole ratio of HCl : NaOH  1 : 1
 No. of moles of NaOH = 0.06 mol
Concentration of aq NaOH = 0.06 = 3 mol / dm3

18 C Oxide of T is an acidic oxide (non-metal combined with oxygen) since pH of solution

formed is 2.
Oxide of V is a basic oxide (metal combined with oxygen) since pH of solution formed
is 10.
Oxide of U being insoluble and white cannot be copper oxide but aluminium oxide.
19 B Only B is correct. Calcium sulfate being an insoluble salt should be prepared by
precipitation with two aqueous reactants.
Options A, C and D all have a reactant that is insoluble (Calcium carbonate, barium
sulfate, lead (II) sulfate).
20 D The reactivity of the halogens up Group VII is as follows:
I2, Br2, Cl2, F2 (in order of increasing reactivity)
As such, only D is correct. Cl2 can displace both Br- and I- while I2 cannot displace Br-.

21 A The chemical symbol J contains 2 protons, 2 electrons and 1 neutron.

As such, J would belong to Group 0 according to its arrangement in the periodic table
and also because it has only 2 electrons, giving it a duplet electronic configuration.
22 B Only option B is an example of thermal decomposition.
23 D A decrease in activation energy can only be caused by using a catalyst and not by the
changes listed by options A, B and C.
24 B Only B is not correct. The oxidation state of N in NO is +2 and not +4.

25 B From the equation, mole ratio of Na to H2  2 : 1

 0.2 moles of Na would give 0.1 moles of H2
Volume of hydrogen produced = 0.1 × 24 dm3 = 2.4 dm3

26 A The element obtained from crude oil is hydrogen.

Ammonia, upon reacting with Q, gives a salt which suggests that Q should be an
acid.
The resultant ammonium salt produced when reacted with R displaces ammonia
which implies that R is a base.
27 C Only C is correct. Dilute aqueous solution of strong acid HX also contains OH- ions
due to the dissociation of water molecules.
A: The pH value of the acid should be below 7 and not above.
B: The solution should contain a low concentration of HX molecules since it is a
strong acid that would be fully dissociated.
D: Because it is dilute, the solution should contain less H+ ions than water
molecules.

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GCE ‘O’ Level October/November 2013 Suggested Solutions

Chemistry (5072/01) version 1.2

28 D Bromine molecules would be formed at the anode.

29 C Given that sodium is a very reactive metal, sodium carbonate will melt on heating but
not decompose because it is a thermally stable carbonate.
30 C Hydrogen is kept flowing to prevent the copper from reacting with the air.

31 A The metal that can be obtained by the reduction of its oxide with carbon and from its
aqueous chloride by electrolysis is copper.
Lead (II) chloride and silver (II) chloride are not aqueous since they are insoluble.
Sodium oxide cannot be reduced by carbon, but it can be reduced by electrolysis.
32 C The gases from the hot air that enters through the bottom of the blast furnace that
undergo a reaction are carbon dioxide and oxygen only.
Temperatures in the blast furnace are not high enough for the fairly inert nitrogen to
react, causing it to leave the top of the furnace.
33 C The only pair of reagents that can be used to produce hydrogen is zinc and dilute
hydrochloric acid.
Copper metal is not reactive enough to react with acids while zinc cannot react with
water (only steam).
34 B According to the results displayed in the table,
X is the most reactive since it displaces the W2+, Y2+ and Z2+ ions.
Y is the least reactive because it cannot displace any aqueous metal ion.
Z is less reactive than W because it cannot displace W2+.
Hence the order of reactivity from the most to the least reactive is:
X, W, Z, Y
35 D From the ester formula, C2H5CO2C2H5, ethanol combines with a carboxylic acid
formula of C2H5CO2H (propanoic acid).

36 B There are 3 isomers of C4H8

H H H H H H H H

H C C C C H H C C C C H

H H H H
H

H C H
H H

H C C C H

H
Note: technically speaking, butene has four isomers, with the inclusion of stereoisomers like cis-trans
isomers that differ in their bond directions and rotations. However, since this has not been covered in the
syllabus, consideration of these spatial isomers was not done. So whether Option C is acceptable will
depend on Cambridge (grrr I really dislike such scenarios :( )

37 A Since both Q and R have the same empirical formula, and R can be obtained by
heating of Q with a catalyst, R is an addition polymer formed by monomers of Q.

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GCE ‘O’ Level October/November 2013 Suggested Solutions

Chemistry (5072/01) version 1.2

38 B From the structures, all of them are alkanes which have the same general formula of
CnH2n+2.

1. C3H8 2. C4H10 3. C4H10

H H H H H H H H

H C C C H H C H H C C C C H
H H
H H H H H H H
H C C C H

H H H

A: Only 2 and 3 are isomers of each other.

C: Not all have the same physical properties since two of them are isomers of each
other.
D: They cannot react with aqueous bromine since they do not have C=C double
bonds.
39 D The structure shown is that of propanoic acid which is formed by the oxidation of
propanol.
A: Propanoic acid can react with ammonia which is a weak alkali.
B: It can also react with sodium carbonate.
C: It is not ethanoic acid.
40 C From the formulas of L and M, the macromolecule formed would be a polyamide
since L is a di-carboxylic compound while M is a di-amine compound.

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