To ask for your help with DS’s Science homework?

[KhalliWhalli]

So this is how the conversation went:

Me: Your science teacher said you haven’t done your homework.
DS: I tried, but it was just too hard.
Me: Rubbish. You’re just not trying hard enough. Give it here...
DS: OK Mum. You have a science degree. Please help me.
Me: Blimey, this is really hard, let me ask on Mumsnet...

So here we are asking for help. I don’t even understand the questions! Can someone help us? Thanks.

en.intl.chemicalaid.com/tools/equationbalancer.php?equation=Ca+%2B+HCl+%3D+CaCl2+%2B+H2

A quick Google came up with this. Possibly cheating but I wouldn't have a clue how to answer any of those questions!

Has he done this in class? Is there a textbook? I think he should check his notes.
How old is he? That will tell us if he’s meant to know or google.

I think it would be quicker to Google them if you're going to cheat!

Metal + Acid = Salt + Hydrogen

He’s 16 and in Year 10.

www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zcjjfcw/revision/3

Is the top one not calcium chloride plus hydrogen?

And then they continue in the same vein. But I've not done Chemistry since I was 13 (30 years ago!) so I may well be wrong.

And the chemical equations are literally the same as the word equations so you just need to look at both together and translate

You have the same reaction going on in each question. One described in words, one in chemical symbols

So for question one the right side is blank but if you look at the chemical symbol question you can see that hydrogen (H2) is one of the answers. You are only left with a calcium (Ca) and chlorine (Cl2) so I think that makes calcium chloride (CaCl2).

Is it not that the equations on both sides show the same reaction.

So, for number 2, the word equation tells you it's magnesium and sulphuric acid. The chemical equation shows what they become (I'm not a scientist, but could that possibly be magnesium sulphate and hydrogen perhaps?)

Looking across between both equations you should be able to fill in the blank spaces.

This page has both word and chemical equations and the answers - on the last page. Have a look, it’s quite self explanatory.
files.schudio.com/westleigh-high/files/School_Closure_Work/Year_09/Science/Week1/Physics/Turning_words_into_equations_easy.pdf

It's no different to an algebraic equation, ie the two sides must balance.
So Ca (calcium) plus 2HCl (2x hydrochloric acid) equals H² (hydrogen) plus....
Now look at what you have left. 1x Ca, 2x Cl put them together and you get CaCl² (calcium chloride). Look at both the word equation and chemical equation together as they provide hints for each other.
Disclaimer, I do not have a scientific degree, but I did used to work as a school science technician. F
Further disclaimer, sleep deprivation has killed my brain, but I think that's right.

The first bit he needs to write what happens in words. So calcium + hydrochloric acid becomes calcium chlorate and hydrogen. Then he writes it as a chemical equation. He has to balance what's in the equation too so

Ca + 2HCl = CaCl2 + H2

Metal + acid becomes salt + hydrogen in all of them.

It is fairly basic chemistry and probably needs to be learnt almost by rote, but if he can wrao his head round the theory he will he able to work out the more complex ones.

Metal + acid --> metal salt + hydrogen.
Hydrochloric acid givss chloride salts, sulphuric acid gives sulphates and nitric acid gives nitrates.

For the 2nd part, you need to have the same number of atoms of each element on both sides of the arrow. He will have done this in year 10 so get him to watch a vid on YouTube to review - balancing chemical equations.

A reaction is like baking a cake, so what goes in one side must come out the other.

Calcium + hydrochloric acid -> calcium chloride + hydrogen

Lets look at the balanced equation

Ca + 2HCl -> 2Cl + H2 (imagine this is a small 2).

There are two HCls on the ingredient list, so on the product there must be two Cl and two H. When balancing an equation you always use a large number to the left of the compound/element. I didn’t need to add a 2 to my H as it is already H2.

Just remember cake, what I put in is always in the end product, just arranged differently.

2eggs + 1 butter + 1 flour -> 4Cake

www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zqwmxnb/revision/2 looks quite good.

Obviously unlike me he shouldn’t forget the calcium

Sulphuric acid makes sulphates
Hydrochloric acid makes chlorides
Nitric acid makes nitrates
So to name the salt (product) you just need to have the metal from the reactants and add it to the correct ending. All reactions produce hydrogen.
You need to know the symbols for the different acids then the symbols for the metal sulphate etc. This second part seems complicated but it’s straightforward.
Watch this clip to help you

Yeah they are metal plus acid = salt and hydrogen type equations. My yr7 did a basic level of these in lockdown (bringing back memories for me!)

So he needs to look at what salt the acid makes in the first block and add that to the metal so in the first one hydrochloric acid added to a metal will give a chloride salt - in this case Calcium Chloride and Hydrogen.

In the second block it is about the chemical equation. The first one is the same as the example above, so using his knowledge of the periodic table he needs to balance the equation so there is the same number of each atoms on both sides. So the missing bit is CaCl2 as 2 Cl- atoms are needed to balance the Ca which is 2+.

But yes some of the bitesized stuff might help.him as he probably needs to make sure he gets this!

It’s fairly basic to be honest it’s work for year 9.

Metal + acid =metal salt + hydrogen

There are a variety of different acids but the ones at gcse are hydrochloric acid which forms a metal chloride, sulphuric which forms a metal sulphate and nitric which forms a metal nitrate.

So metal + hydrochloric = metal chloride + hydrogen
Metal + sulphuric acid = metal sulphate + hydrogen
Metal + nitric acid = metal nitrate + hydrogen

The teacher would have explained this in the lesson and probably done demos of these reactions if not the students. Good links in any chemistry site such as bitesize.
It’s not even chemistry to be honest it’s word filling in - my eldest did part 1 in year 7 as above.

Part 2 is just using shorthand. An again fill in the blanks.

So Zn is zinc for example and H2S04 is sulphuric acid so on the rights hand side you would need the chemical formula for zinc sulphate (google it if you don’t know) and hydrogen.

So part 1 and part 2 are the same one is just short hand for the other.
It might be the teacher hasn’t explained it well but really it is straightforward and as I say my eldest did the part 1 in year 7 and then did part 1 and 2 in year 9 complete with an introduction to bss as balancing equations.

You have conservation of mass in chemical reactions and also conservation of atoms

Pm me if you want more info

@2021V2 He missed the lesson as he was at a paediatrician appointment. I emailed the teacher and said I would ensure he caught up then she sent us this 😬.

I wouldn't say it is "really hard" for a year 10 student. Does he have a textbook or revision guide or access to BBC bitesize?

If he is studying AQA then this is C5 "chemical changes" so look there for a start. For part 2 you might need to Google the formulae for some of the compounds, and then look up "balancing equations"

You said you have a science degree, presumably its not in chemistry?

The first 2 are paired, which should get you going.
Calcium +hydrochloric acid -> calcium chloride +Hydrogen
Ca +2HCl -> CaCl2 -H2

You need to nake sure there are the same number of items on each side - so in that example, you need 2HCl to make an H2 in the products.

Magnesium +Sulphuric acid -> magnesium sulphate + hydrogen
Mg +H2SO4 -> MgSO4 +H2

The rest are NOT pairs, and need lookingat independently but they are all of the format Metal+Acid -> salt + hydrogen

Be careful, the formatting has gone wrong in the last question.

Not particularly hard for Y10 because it's essentially just filling in the blanks.
There are 2 errors in the symbol equations.

Q5 there should be two products
Q6 should be Mg on both sides of the equation.

Watch out for correct subscripts (hard to do on here) in the symbol equations.

I think some of the gaps are quite small for writing the answers which might be throwing him a little!