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A-Levels Physical Chemistry — practice questions

Explore 30 free Physical Chemistry questions in A-Levels Chemistry. Open each question or exercise to read its content, reference answers and available explanation.

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Physical Chemistry questions and exercises with answers

Showing questions 1–30 of 30.

Sodium hands an electron to chlorine and the two ions then cling together. What holds them is an:Read the answer and worked solution →A calcium atom loses both valence electrons. The particle left behind carries a positive charge and is called a:Read the answer and worked solution →Two chlorine atoms pull on electrons with exactly equal strength, so neither wins the pair outright. The bond between them is:Read the answer and worked solution →Hydrogen bonds to fluorine, which drags the shared electrons much closer to itself. The property that decides this tug of war is:Read the answer and worked solution →The chemist who produced the first electronegativity values, by comparing energies needed to break different bonds, was:Read the answer and worked solution →Because one end of a polar bond is slightly negative and the other slightly positive, the bond acquires a:Read the answer and worked solution →In a Lewis structure a dash is drawn between two atoms. That dash stands for:Read the answer and worked solution →Each chlorine atom in Cl2 sits with three lone pairs plus the bonding pair. The number of valence electrons it therefore interacts with is:Read the answer and worked solution →An oxygen molecule holds its two atoms together with two shared pairs. Compared with a single bond between the same atoms, that bond is:Read the answer and worked solution →A chemist compares two bonds and finds one needs far more energy to break. That bond is:Read the answer and worked solution →Two atoms approach until the potential energy of the pair is at its lowest. That separation defines the:Read the answer and worked solution →Two Lewis structures both look plausible for one molecule. A chemist decides between them by calculating the:Read the answer and worked solution →A model that arranges electron pairs around a central atom so they get as far apart as possible is:Read the answer and worked solution →A student measures the angle between two bonds meeting at the same atom. That measurement is the:Read the answer and worked solution →Beryllium fluoride has just two regions of electron density around the central atom. VSEPR predicts a bond angle of:Read the answer and worked solution →A central atom carries three regions of electron density and no lone pairs. The geometry and angle are:Read the answer and worked solution →Ammonia has four electron pairs around nitrogen. Its electron-pair geometry is therefore:Read the answer and worked solution →Yet ammonia's measured H-N-H angle is a little under 109.5 degrees. The reason is that a lone pair:Read the answer and worked solution →Water also has four electron pairs on its central atom, but two of them are lone pairs. Its molecular shape is:Read the answer and worked solution →That distinction matters because the arrangement counting all electron pairs and the arrangement of the atoms alone are:Read the answer and worked solution →A chemist wants to compare how tightly an ionic solid is held together. The quantity to use is the:Read the answer and worked solution →A student is told to name the arrangement that includes every electron pair around the central atom. That name is the:Read the answer and worked solution →Catch the covalent cluesRead the answer and worked solution →Pop the molecular shapesRead the answer and worked solution →Run the bonding gatesRead the answer and worked solution →Slice the bonding wordsRead the answer and worked solution →Ionic or covalentRead the answer and worked solution →Sort the bonding wordsRead the answer and worked solution →Type the numberRead the answer and worked solution →Bonding bingoRead the answer and worked solution →

Worked practice questions

Sodium hands an electron to chlorine and the two ions then cling together. What holds them is an:

  1. Ionic bond
  2. Idle bond
  3. Inert bond
  4. Isotope bond
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Correct answer: A. Ionic bond

1. Once the electron moves across, sodium is left positive and chlorine negative. 2. Opposite charges attract, and that electrostatic pull is the whole bond. 3. A bond made of that attraction between a cation and an anion is an ionic bond. _Source: OpenStax Chemistry 2e, Chapter 7, Chemical Bonding and Molecular Geometry._

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A calcium atom loses both valence electrons. The particle left behind carries a positive charge and is called a:

  1. Anion
  2. Cation
  3. Neutron
  4. Isotope
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Correct answer: B. Cation

1. Electrons are negative, so losing two leaves two positive charges unbalanced. 2. A particle with net positive charge is named for moving toward the cathode. 3. It is a cation, here Ca with a 2+ charge. _Source: OpenStax Chemistry 2e, Chapter 7, Chemical Bonding and Molecular Geometry._

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Two chlorine atoms pull on electrons with exactly equal strength, so neither wins the pair outright. The bond between them is:

  1. Pure covalent
  2. Hydrogen bond
  3. Ionic bonding
  4. Metal bonding
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Correct answer: A. Pure covalent

1. Both atoms are identical, so their pull on the shared pair is identical. 2. The electrons therefore sit equally near each nucleus rather than shifting. 3. That equal sharing makes it a pure covalent bond. _Source: OpenStax Chemistry 2e, Chapter 7, Chemical Bonding and Molecular Geometry._

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