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1. Science 7–10 · Year 8

   Metal or non-metal: testing lustre, conductivity and malleability

   Elements can be sorted as metals or non-metals by testing physical properties, and a few elements such as graphite and silicon break the pattern, which is why the classification rests on several properties rather than one.

   PracticalLow risk

2. Science 7–10 · Year 8

   Splitting water: two volumes of hydrogen to one of oxygen

   Water is a compound of two elements in a fixed ratio; an electric current decomposes it and the 2 : 1 gas volumes match the formula H2O.

   PracticalLow risk

3. Science 7–10 · Year 9

   Rutherford's gold-foil experiment as a rolling-ball model of the nucleus

   Most of an atom is empty space with a tiny, dense, positively charged nucleus, because most alpha particles pass straight through a foil and a very few bounce back.

   Practical, model not builtLow risk

4. Science 7–10 · Year 10

   Flame tests: identifying metals by the colour of their light

   Each element gives out light of its own colours when its electrons drop back to lower energy levels, so a flame colour identifies the metal in a compound.

   PracticalMedium risk

5. Science 7–10 · Year 10

   Lithium and sodium in water: reactivity down group 1

   Elements in the same group react in the same way and their reactivity changes in a regular order down the group, which the periodic table was built to show.

   Teacher-led practicalPracticalHigh risk

6. Science 7–10 · Year 10

   Salt, sugar and wax: properties that reveal ionic and covalent substances

   Ionic substances such as sodium chloride have high melting points and conduct only when their ions are free to move, while covalent molecular substances such as sugar and wax melt easily and never conduct.

   PracticalMedium risk

7. Chemistry 11–12 · Year 11

   Classifying substances as ionic, covalent molecular, covalent network or metallic by conductivity and melting behaviour

   Whether a substance conducts as a solid, as a melt and in water, and how readily it melts, follows from the kind of particles and bonds it contains.

   PracticalMedium risk

8. Chemistry 11–12 · Year 11

   Flame tests of metal ions and the line-spectrum model of energy levels

   Each metal ion emits its own colour because electrons drop between discrete energy levels; the emitted wavelengths are fixed for that element.

   Practical, model not builtMedium risk

9. Chemistry 11–12 · Year 11

   Predicting and building molecular shapes with Lewis diagrams, VSEPR and model kits

   Electron domains around a central atom spread as far apart as possible, so counting bonding pairs and lone pairs predicts a molecule's shape, and the shape with the bond polarities decides whether the molecule is polar.

   Practical, model not builtLow risk

10. Chemistry 11–12 · Year 11

    Reactivity of Group 1 and Group 2 metals with water down and across the periodic table

    Reactivity with water rises down Group 1 (lithium to sodium) and is lower for the Group 2 metals, following the trend in first ionisation energy.

    Teacher-led practicalPracticalHigh risk

11. Chemistry 11–12 · Year 11

    Separating a sand, salt and water mixture and finding its percentage composition

    A heterogeneous mixture is separated by physical properties (particle size, solubility, boiling point) and the recovered masses give the percentage composition by mass.

    PracticalLow risk

12. Chemistry 11–12 · Year 11

    Simple distillation of salt water: boiling-point plateau and purity of the distillate

    A homogeneous mixture is separated by boiling point: the thermometer reads a plateau at the boiling point of the volatile component while the dissolved solid stays behind.

    PracticalMedium risk

13. Chemistry 11–12 · Year 12

    Building and naming structural isomers with model kits: alkanes, alkenes, alcohols, esters

    The same molecular formula can be assembled into different carbon skeletons or functional groups, and each arrangement is a distinct compound with its own IUPAC name and properties.

    Practical, model not builtLow risk