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CAIE A Level Chemistry 9701

States of matter questions

Exam-style questions on States of matter, ordered from foundation to challenge. Pick one, write your answer the way you would in the exam, and it comes back marked against the mark scheme, point by point.

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Written by Markquill to follow the Cambridge International syllabus. Markquill is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Cambridge International.

  1. Suggest4 marksStandardA technician tests two crystalline samples of pure carbon, A and B, at room temperature. Sample A is black, slippery and flakes easily. It conducts electricity when connected in a circuit. Sample B is colourless, very…
  2. Suggest4 marksStandardCopper is used for electrical wiring. It can also be beaten into thin sheets and bent without breaking. Suggest, in terms of the structure and bonding of copper metal, why copper is malleable and why it conducts…
  3. Compare5 marksStandardMagnesium oxide, MgO, and iodine, I2, are both crystalline solids at room temperature. MgO has a melting point above 2800 °C and does not conduct electricity when solid. Iodine sublimes at 113 °C and does not conduct…
  4. Explain4 marksStandardSubstance X is a white crystalline solid with a melting point of 2852 °C. It does not conduct electricity when solid, but when molten it conducts electricity. When added to water, it reacts to form a solution that…
  5. Describe5 marksStandardA bicycle tyre is inflated with air and then left parked. Describe, in terms of the kinetic theory, how the air inside the tyre exerts a pressure on the walls of the tyre. Describe the assumptions made about the…
  6. Explain4 marksStandardA fixed mass of an ideal gas is sealed in a rigid container. The container is heated and the pressure of the gas increases. Explain, in terms of the behaviour of the gas molecules, why the pressure increases. In your…
  7. Suggest4 marksStandardCopper can be hammered into thin sheets and, when solid, conducts electricity. Suggest how the lattice structure and bonding in a copper crystal account for these two properties.
  8. Suggest4 marksStandard(a) A sealed flask contains N2 gas at constant temperature. The gas behaves as an ideal gas. Suggest how the molecules of the gas produce a pressure on the inside of the flask. (b) A student claims that if the N2…
  9. Compare5 marksStandardA gas cylinder contains a real gas at high pressure and low temperature. Compare the behaviour of this real gas with the behaviour of an ideal gas under the same conditions, and explain why the ideal gas would not…
  10. Describe5 marksStandardA sample of carbon dioxide, CO2, is compressed to a high pressure. Describe how the pressure exerted by a gas arises from the motion of its molecules. Use the kinetic theory to describe why CO2, a real gas, deviates…
  11. Suggest4 marksStandardA sealed rigid container holds nitrogen gas. (a) Suggest, in terms of collisions, why the gas exerts a pressure on the inner surface of the container. (b) At very high pressure, nitrogen does not behave as an ideal…
  12. Explain4 marksStandardA white crystalline solid X melts at 801 °C. Solid X does not conduct electricity, but molten X is a good conductor. X dissolves in water, and the aqueous solution also conducts electricity. Explain these observations…
  13. Describe5 marksStandardA cyclist pumps extra air into a bicycle tyre with a hand pump. The air in the tyre exerts a pressure on the inner surface of the tyre, and the pressure increases as more air is pumped in. (a) Describe the origin of…
  14. Explain4 marksStandardA sealed steel cylinder contains nitrogen gas at high pressure. Explain how the nitrogen gas exerts a pressure on the inside walls of the cylinder. Nitrogen is sometimes treated as an ideal gas in calculations. Explain…
  15. Suggest4 marksStandardGraphite conducts electricity, but diamond does not, even though both are giant molecular lattices of carbon atoms. Suggest why, in terms of the arrangement of atoms and bonding in the two lattices.
  16. Compare5 marksStandardAn ideal gas is a model used to describe the behaviour of gases. Compare an ideal gas with a real gas in terms of the volume of the particles and the forces between the particles. Explain why an ideal gas exerts…
  17. Explain4 marksStandardA sealed, rigid container holds a fixed mass of an ideal gas. The container is heated and the pressure of the gas increases. Explain, in terms of the kinetic theory of gases, why the pressure increases.
  18. Suggest4 marksStandardA sealed rigid container is filled with a gas. The gas exerts a pressure on the inner surfaces of the container. (a) Suggest, in terms of the motion of the gas molecules, why the gas exerts a pressure on the container…
  19. Compare5 marksStandardSilicon(IV) oxide, SiO2, has a very high melting point and is extremely hard. Iodine, I2, is a crystalline solid with a low melting point and is soft. Compare the structure and bonding of silicon(IV) oxide and iodine…
  20. Suggest4 marksStandardA gas cylinder contains helium. (a) Suggest how the helium exerts pressure on the inside walls of the cylinder. (b) The ideal gas model assumes that gas particles have zero volume and that there are no forces between…
  21. Describe5 marksStandardIce is a crystalline solid. Unlike most substances, its solid form is less dense than its liquid form, so ice floats on water. Describe the lattice structure of ice and use your description to explain why ice is less…
  22. Suggest4 marksStandardA sealed flask contains nitrogen gas at constant temperature. In the kinetic theory model of an ideal gas, molecules have negligible volume and there are no forces of attraction between them. Using this model, suggest…
  23. Describe5 marksStandardA sample of nitrogen, N2, is compressed in a sealed cylinder to a very high pressure. At this pressure the gas does not behave as an ideal gas: its measured volume is greater than the value predicted for an ideal gas…
  24. Explain4 marksStandardTwo crystalline solids are described below. Solid A melts at 801 °C. It does not conduct electricity when solid, but it conducts when molten. Solid B sublimes at 113 °C. It is an insulator both when solid and when…
  25. Describe5 marksStandardA pond freezes from the surface downwards because ice is less dense than liquid water. Describe the lattice structure of ice and show how this structure accounts for the lower density of ice compared with liquid water.
  26. Describe7 marksChallengeDescribe, in simple terms, the lattice structure of each of the following crystalline solids. (a) magnesium oxide, MgO (b) ice, H2O (c) graphite, C For each substance, explain how its structure and bonding account for…
  27. Compare5 marksChallengeThe kinetic theory treats gases as ideal. A real gas is kept at high pressure and low temperature, and an ideal gas is kept under the same conditions. Compare the two gases in terms of the volume of their particles…
  28. Describe6 marksChallengeA student says that the pressure exerted by the air inside a bicycle tyre comes from air molecules colliding with each other. Describe how the air in the tyre exerts pressure on the tyre walls. Describe what is meant…
  29. Explain7 marksChallengeA sealed metal cylinder contains nitrogen gas, N2. Using the kinetic theory of gases: (a) explain why the gas exerts a pressure on the inner walls of the cylinder; (b) explain why this pressure is steady, even though…
  30. Compare5 marksChallengeSolid iodine, I2, is a simple molecular substance. It dissolves only slightly in water, but is much more soluble in cyclohexane, C6H12, a non-polar liquid. Compare the solubility of iodine in water and in cyclohexane…
  31. Suggest7 marksChallengeHelium gas is stored in a rigid steel cylinder at 20 °C and 150 kPa. (a) Suggest how the kinetic theory model of an ideal gas explains the pressure that the helium exerts on the inner walls of the cylinder. (b) The…
  32. Compare7 marksChallengeTwo identical containers fitted with pistons hold equal numbers of gas molecules at the same temperature. One container holds a gas that behaves as an ideal gas; the other holds a real gas, in which the molecules…
  33. Compare6 marksChallengeTwo sealed flasks of equal volume are at the same temperature and pressure. One flask contains an ideal gas and the other contains a real gas, ammonia. In each flask the gas exerts a pressure on the inner walls…
  34. Suggest5 marksChallengeHelium gas is stored under pressure in a sealed metal cylinder. A student suggests that the pressure on the inside walls of the cylinder is caused by the helium atoms repelling one another and pushing the walls…
  35. Explain6 marksChallengeAn ideal gas is sealed in a rigid container of fixed volume. The container is heated and the temperature of the gas rises. Explain, with reference to the kinetic theory and the assumptions of an ideal gas, why the…
  36. Describe5 marksChallengeA cyclist pumps more air into a bicycle tyre, keeping the temperature of the air constant. Describe, in terms of the kinetic theory of gases, how the pressure exerted by the air on the inside of the tyre arises and why…
  37. Describe7 marksChallengeCarbon dioxide, CO2, in a sealed cylinder at 300 K behaves almost exactly as an ideal gas when its pressure is very low. When the same sample is compressed to a very high pressure, the actual pressure recorded is…