Chemistry practicals apparatus set-up guides

We’ve worked with experienced teachers and technicians, as well as higher education institutions and learned societies to produce these apparatus set-up guides for 11 of the required practical activities for AS and A-level Chemistry.

Practicals are at the heart of our new AS and A-level Chemistry specifications – so it’s important to get them right first time in the lab.

Required activities

You need to cover activities 1 to 6 for AS and 1 to 12 for A-level. We've only produced set-up guides for activities 1 to 11 for AS and A-level Chemistry.

Practical 1

Make up a volumetric solution and carry out a simple acid-base titration.

Practical 1 set-up guide

Practical 2

Measurement of an enthalpy change.

Practical 2 set-up guide

Practical 3

Investigation of how the rate of a reaction changes with temperature.

Practical 3 set-up guide

Practical 4

Carry out simple test-tube reactions to identify:

• cations – Group 2, NH₄⁺
• anions – Group 7 (halide ions), OH^–, CO₃^2–, SO₄^2–.

Practical 4 set-up guide

Practical 5

Distillation of a product from a reaction.

Practical 5 set-up guide

Practical 6

Tests for alcohol, aldehyde, alkene and carboxylic acid.

Practical 6 set-up guide

Practical 7

Measuring the rate of reaction:

• by an initial rate method
• by a continuous monitoring method.

Practical 7 set-up guide

Practical 8

Measuring the EMF of an electrochemical cell.

Practical 8 set-up guide

Practical 9

Investigate how pH changes when a weak acid reacts with a strong base and when a strong acid reacts with a weak base.

Practical 9 set-up guide

Practical 10

Preparation of:

• a pure organic solid and test of its purity
• a pure organic liquid.

Practical 10 set-up guide

Practical 11

Carry out simple test-tube reactions to identify transitionmetal ions in aqueous solution.

Practical 11 set-up guide