CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL AS & A LEVEL CHEMISTRY: COURSEBOOK
Exam-style questions and sample answers have been written by the authors. In examinations, the way marks are awarded
may be different.
Coursebook answers
Chapter 13
Self-assessment questions
1 a Nitrogen, N2, is such an unreactive
gas because of the high bond energy
needed to break its triple bond and
start a reaction.
b D
c C
Discussion of changing oxidation
numbers of nitrogen in the 3-step
complete oxidation, in which N
is oxidised in each successive step
by sharing increasing numbers of
electrons with a more electronegative
element (oxygen), changing its
oxidation number (state) from zero to
+5 in the whole process.
2 a NH4 + iii sunlight / ultraviolet light
b Both ammonia and the ammonium
ion have four pairs of electrons around
the N atom, with ammonia adopting
a triangular pyramidal shape, with
its three H atoms, compared with the
ammonium ion’s tetrahedral shape,
with its four H atoms.
The H—N—H bond angles are less
in ammonia, about 107 o, compared
with the perfect tetrahedral angles of
109.5 o in the ammonium ion. This is
because of higher charge density of
ammonia’s lone pair of electrons on
the central nitrogen atom. The lone
pair has a greater repulsive force than
bonding pairs of electrons, effectively
squeezing the hydrogen atoms in
ammonia closer together.
c NH3(aq) + HNO3(aq) → NH4NO3(aq)
1 Cambridge International AS & A Level Chemistry © Cambridge University Press 2020
d i (NH4)2SO4(s) + 2NaOH(s) →
 Na2SO4(s) + 2H2O(l) + 2NH3(g)
ii Because ammonium ions / NH4+
act as an acid (proton, H+, donor)
and hydroxide ions / OH− ions act
as a base (proton, H+, acceptor).
3 a i e .g. lightning (during a
thunderstorm)
ii Car exhausts / power stations
b i because PAN is not given off
directly when a fuel is burned, but
is produced in reactions of the
primary pollutants in the atmosphere.
ii photochemical smog
c SO2(g) + NO2(g) → SO3(g) + NO(g)
Then NO2 is regenerated because NO
reacts with oxygen in the air:
NO(g) + 21  O2(g) → NO2(g)
NO2 can then go on to oxidise more
sulfur dioxide, and so on, acting as a
catalyst for the oxidation of SO2 to SO3.
d 2CO(g) + 2NO(g) → 2CO2(g) + N2(g)
+2 +2 +4 0
The oxidation number of oxygen is
−2 throughout.
Carbon is oxidised as it changes from
carbon monoxide (ox. no. +2) to
carbon dioxide (in which its ox. no.
has increased to +4).
Nitrogen in NO (ox. no. +2) is reduced
to nitrogen gas (in which its ox. no has
been reduced to 0).