Essential Chemistry Practicals You Need to Know

Ever wondered how chemists make pure substances in the lab? These three required practicals will give you hands-on experience with real chemical reactions. Each one teaches you different skills whilst reinforcing key concepts about acids, bases, and energy changes.

Making soluble salts is all about creating pure crystals from scratch. You'll start with an insoluble solid (like a metal oxide or carbonate) and react it with acid. The trick is adding your solid bit by bit until you've got excess - this ensures all the acid gets used up. After filtering out the leftover solid, you're left with a solution containing your salt.

The electrolysis practical lets you see chemistry in action as electricity splits compounds apart. You'll test your hypothesis that non-metals appear at the positive electrode (because they form negative ions). Different solutions like copper sulfate and sodium chloride will give you different results depending on where the metals sit in the reactivity series.

Titrations might seem fiddly at first, but they're incredibly useful for finding exact concentrations. You'll use a burette to add acid drop by drop to an alkali until the indicator changes colour permanently. The key is getting that colour change spot on - practice makes perfect here.

Top Tip: Always do multiple trials and calculate a mean volume - this gives you much more reliable results for your calculations.