This term will be all about chemistry! We will cover the foundations of chemistry knowledge about the nature of atoms and ions, as well as acids, bases, salts, the pH scale, indicators, and reaction rates. We will look at chemical reactions in a range of contexts before completing an internally assessed report.
For the purpose of the achievement standard, context is a situation and environment the chemical reaction is occurring in. A context can be natural or human-made.
Examples of a context include:
- bacterial acid decaying a tooth is neutralized with toothpaste (neutralization)
- fuel in a burner producing sooty smoke when burning (combustion)
- phosphate chemicals in polluted waterways (precipitation)
- iron and oxygen degrading tools via rust (combination)
- carbonic acid in soft drinks reacting to produce fizzy carbon dioxide gas (decomposition)
Jess says that this standard is ESSENTIAL for any student wishing to study chemistry beyond Level 1 NCEA. Michelle, Suze and Jess say that if you are keen to study biology beyond Level 1, then an understanding of chemistry is really useful. Matt P says you should just do this course as it will be really fun...
The assessment for this course will be via a 6 credit internally assessed report - AS92021 'Demonstrate understanding of chemical reactions in context'
Note: This is the same course as Matt Parkes course running in Whero