Unit 3 Higher Past Paper Questions 2018

George Heriot’s School

Higher Chemistry

SQA Past Paper Questions

Unit 3—Chemistry in Society

 Topic – Chemical Analysis

 Chromatography
 Volumetric Analysis

Instructions DO NOT WRITE ON THIS BOOKLET

 Write your answers clearly on paper.
 Section 1 is made up of 6 multiple choice questions. Each
question has only one correct answer.
 In Section 2 there are 6 questions requiring written answers.
 You may refer to the Data Book at any time.
 A calculator may be used.

Make sure you read each question carefully!

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Unit 3 Higher Past Paper Questions 2018

Section 1

1. Which of the following would not help a student determine the end point of a titration
accurately?
A Swirling the flask.

B Using a white tile.

C Adding the solution dropwise near the end-point.

D Repeating the titration.

[Questions 30 from 2015 – Revised Higher]

2. The correct method of filling a 20 cm3 pipette is to draw the liquid into the pipette

A doing it slowly at the end, until the top of the meniscus touches the mark

B doing it slowly at the end, until the bottom of the meniscus touches the
mark
C to above the mark and then release liquid from the pipette until the top of
the meniscus touches the mark
D to above the mark and then release liquid from the pipette until the
bottom of the meniscus touches the mark.

3. A 0·10 mol l−1 solution could be prepared most accurately from a 1·0 mol l−1 solution
using
A a 1 cm3 dropping pipette and a 10 cm3 measuring cylinder
B a 10 cm3 measuring cylinder and a 100 cm3 volumetric flask
C a 25 cm3 pipette and a 250 cm3 volumetric flask
D a 50 cm3 burette and a 500 cm3 measuring cylinder.
[Questions 29 & 30 from 2014 – Revised Higher]

4. 45 cm3 of a solution could be most accurately measured out using a

A 50 cm3 beaker
B 50 cm3 burette
C 50 cm3 pipette
D 50 cm3 measuring cylinder.
[Question 29 from 2013 – Revised Higher]
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Unit 3 Higher Past Paper Questions 2018

5. An organic chemist is attempting to synthesise a fragrance compound by the following

chemical reaction.
compound X + compound Y → fragrance compound
After one hour, a sample is removed and compared with pure samples of compounds
X and Y using thin-layer chromatography.
Which of the following chromatograms shows that the reaction has produced a pure
sample of the fragrance compound?

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Unit 3 Higher Past Paper Questions 2018
[Question 29 from 2012 – Revised Higher]

6. A student was carrying out a titration to establish

The concentration of vitamin C using iodine solution.
Which of the following
would help the student
achieve a precise end-
point?
A Placing a white tile underneath the conical flask
B Using the bottom of the meniscus when reading
the burette
C Repeating titrations
D Carrying out a rough titration first
[Questions 20 from 2016 – CfE Higher]

Section 2
1. Some fruit drinks claim to be high in antioxidants such as vitamin C.
(a) Students carried out an investigation of fruit drinks to determine their
vitamin C content. The following steps were followed in each experiment.
Step 1 A 20·0 cm3 sample of fruit drink was transferred to a conical
flask by pipette.
Step 2 A burette was filled with a standard iodine solution.
Step 3 The fruit drink sample was titrated with the iodine.
Step 4 Titrations were repeated until concordant results were obtained.
The burette, pipette and conical flask were all rinsed before they were used.
Tick the appropriate boxes below to show which solution should be used
to rinse each piece of glassware.

(2)
(b) Titrating a whole carton of fruit drink would require large volumes of iodine
solution.
Apart from this disadvantage, give another reason for titrating several smaller
samples of fruit drink. (1)
[Question 5(a)(ii) & (iii) from 2014 – Revised Higher Specimen]
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Unit 3 Higher Past Paper Questions 2018

2. A major problem for the developed world is the pollution of rivers and streams by
nitrite and nitrate ions.
The concentration of nitrite ions, NO2–(aq), in water can be determined by titrating
samples against acidified permanganate solution.
(a) Suggest two points of good practice that should be followed to ensure that an
accurate end-point is achieved in a titration. (1)
(b) An average of 21·6cm3 of 0·0150 mol l–1 acidified permanganate solution was
required to react completely with the nitrite ions in a 25·0 cm3 sample of river
water.
The equation for the reaction taking place is:

Calculate the nitrite ion concentration, in mol l–1, in the river water.
Show your working clearly. (2)
[Question 16 from 2010 –Higher]

3. When forensic scientists analyse illegal drugs, anaesthetics such as lidocaine

are sometimes found to be present.
The gas chromatogram below is from an illegal drug.

The structures of benzocaine and tetracaine are shown below.

(a)

(a)

(a)

(a) Suggest why benzocaine has a shorter retention time than tetracaine. (1)

(b) Why is it difficult to obtain accurate values for the amount of lidocaine
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Unit 3 Higher Past Paper Questions 2018

present in a sample containing large amounts of caffeine? (1)

(c) Sketch the chromatogram result below and add a peak to complete the
chromatogram for a second sample that only contains half the amount of
tetracaine compared to the first.

(1)
[Question 6(d) from 2013 – Revised Higher]

4. Caffeine is added to some soft drinks. The concentration of caffeine can be found
using chromatography.
A chromatogram for a standard solution containing 50 mg l−1 of caffeine is
shown below.

Results from four caffeine standard solutions were used to produce the
calibration graph below.

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Unit 3 Higher Past Paper Questions 2018

Chromatograms for two soft drinks are shown on the next page.

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Unit 3 Higher Past Paper Questions 2018

(i) What is the caffeine content, in mg l−1 of soft drink X?

(1)
(ii) The caffeine content of the soft drink Y cannot be determined from its
chromatogram.
What should be done to the sample of soft drink Y so that the caffeine
content could be reliably calculated?
(1)

[Question 9(b) from 2012 – Revised Higher]

5. The concentration of sodium hypochlorite in swimming pool water can be

determined by redox titration.
Step 1
A 100·0 cm3 sample from the swimming pool is first reacted with an excess of
acidified potassium iodide solution forming iodine.

Step 2
The iodine formed in step 1 is titrated using a standard solution of sodium
thiosulfate, concentration 0·00100 mol l−1. A small volume of starch solution is
added towards the endpoint.

(i) Describe in detail how the burette should be prepared and set up, ready
to begin the titration. (3)
(ii) Calculate the concentration, in mol l−1, of sodium hypochlorite in
the swimming pool water if an average volume of 12·4 cm3 of sodium
thiosulfate was required. (3)
[Question 10(b)(i) & (iii) from 2015 – Revised Higher]

6. Solutions containing iodine are used to treat foot rot in sheep.

The concentration of iodine in a solution can be determined by titrating with a
solution of thiosulfate ions.

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Unit 3 Higher Past Paper Questions 2018

Three 20·0 cm3 samples of a sheep treatment solution were titrated with 0·10 mol l–1
thiosulfate solution. The results are shown below.

(a) Why is the volume of sodium thiosulfate used in the calculation taken to be
18·15 cm3, although this is not the average of the three titres in the table? (1)
(b) Calculate the concentration of iodine, in mol l , in the foot rot treatment
–1

solution.
Show your working clearly. (3)
(c) Describe how to prepare 250 cm of a 0·10 mol l standard solution of
3 −1

sodium thiosulfate, Na2S2O3.

Your answer should include the mass, in g, of sodium thiosulfate required. (3)
[Question 10(b) from 2013 – Revised Higher]