A complete revision and exam practice pack for SC8c Bases and Salts, covering C3.9, C3.11b, C3.13, C3.15 and C3.17 (core practical).

Topic Mastery Sheet (PDF) - a comprehensive student reference that defines a base as any substance that reacts with an acid to produce a salt and water only, and introduces neutralisation as the reaction between an acid and a base. A naming table shows how the salt name is derived from the metal in the base and the acid used - chlorides from hydrochloric acid, sulfates from sulfuric acid, nitrates from nitric acid. The core practical section for making copper sulfate from copper oxide and sulfuric acid is explained as a three-stage process with the reasoning behind each step. First, excess copper oxide is added to warm dilute sulfuric acid - excess guarantees all the acid is neutralised; excess soluble acid cannot be filtered off, but excess insoluble base can. Second, filtration removes the unreacted black copper oxide; the blue copper sulfate solution passes through as the filtrate. Third, the solution is gently heated to evaporate most of the water, then allowed to cool slowly to form blue copper sulfate crystals - the sheet explains why boiling to dryness is incorrect (crystal decomposition and dangerous spitting). The colour changes throughout (black solid turning the solution blue) are highlighted as key observations. The stretch section covers water of crystallisation and the link to mole calculations.

Student Exam Practice Sheet (PDF + DOCX) - seven questions (11 marks) covering base definition, completing the copper oxide + sulfuric acid word equation, naming a suitable insoluble base, explaining why excess base is used, step 4 crystallisation method, balancing MgO + HNO₃ (the two-coefficient equation), and identifying an anomalous result from a data set with a reason.

Teacher Answer Key (PDF + DOCX) - full tick-point mark scheme with examiner notes.

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