Confirmation that four new elements – those with atomic numbers 113, 115, 117 and 118 – have indeed been synthesised has come from the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (Iupac), completing the seventh row of the periodic table.
The groups credited for creating them – in Japan, Russia and the US – have spent several years gathering enough evidence to convince experts from Iupac and its physics equivalent, the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, of the elements’ existence. All four are highly unstable superheavy metals that exist for only a fraction of a second. They are made by bombarding heavy metal targets with beams of ions, and can usually only be detected by measuring the radiation and other nuclides produced as they decay.
Click to download my Annotated VCAA Chemistry Data Booklet
The VCAA Chemistry Data Booklet contains answers to many questions you’ll be asked in the end-of-year examination. Unfortunately for students, however, the information it contains is neither explicit nor complete. Students need to know how to use the data booklet if they are to make the most of it.
Many formulae and definitions still need to be learned. For example, the data booklet doesn’t give you calorimetry formulae, and hydrogen bonds aren’t shown on DNA nucleotides. Trends are missing from the periodic table, and the electrochemical series comes with no annotations whatsoever! All this extra information needs to be memorised for VCE Chemistry.
I’ve annotated a real VCAA Chemistry Data Booklet to help you understand it. You can download it here.
Features include:
Trends are now shown on the periodic table (page 3);
Electrochemical series is fully labelled and explained (page 4);
17 equations and 4 gas laws are given on page 5;
NMR data is now labelled to help you identify functional groups (pages 6 & 7);
Infrared absorption data is now pictured with 3 peaks described (page 7);
Amino acids are now labelled “polar/non-polar” and “acidic/basic” (pages 8 & 9);
Number of C=C bonds is now included for fatty acids (page 10);
DNA structure is explained in much more detail (page 10);
Colours of two indicators are corrected (page 11);
Ka is explained (page 11);
Solubility rules are added on the back.
Every page is colour-coded and annotated with explanations
Chemistry data booklets make great revision tools. Check out the following data booklets from around the world:
James Kennedy 