The Student Room Group

Moles, concentration chemistry

Hey there I am doing AS chemistry theres one topic which I am struggling real hard which is moles and concentration calculations. I just don't get the questions, any help please?
Hi, I struggled with moles too last year.. The thing that helped was just doing all the questions on moles I could find and spotting patterns. And obviously at first you'll probably get them wrong (or some at least) but as you go through them and make corrections using mark schemes you should find you improve. A few days after doing a question completely wrong redo it (even if you think you've 'memorised' the answers).

Also, a few things to remember:
-memorise the 3 formulae triangles
-remember that mass is in grams - you might get a question asking you to work out the number of molecules of 1.2 kg of Tin for example - you'd do 1200/Mr to get the number of moles and x Avogadro's number to get the number of molecules.
-Convert volumes to dm^3!!! They love to trick you (or at least they try to) especially in questions where you have to find the concentration. So if a volume is given in cm^3 divide by a thousand to get it in dm^3 (unless you're asked to find volume which is why there are two versions of the n/V/24 or 24000 triangle- use 24000 if you're given a volume in cm^3 or have to work out a volume in cm^3).
-Make use of the stoichiometric ratio!! If you know the moles of one substance, and you know what the BALANCED equation is then you know the moles of every substance. Remember that if you have something like 2 moles of X in a 2:1 ratio with Y you'll have 1 mol of Y (if it was a 1:2 ratio you'd have 4 moles of Y - very easy to make a silly mistake with this!).

You'll hopefully find that soon you'll be able to do these questions in your sleep. If you have any specific questions you need help with, do tell me! Good luck :smile:
Reply 2
Original post by victoria98
Hi, I struggled with moles too last year.. The thing that helped was just doing all the questions on moles I could find and spotting patterns. And obviously at first you'll probably get them wrong (or some at least) but as you go through them and make corrections using mark schemes you should find you improve. A few days after doing a question completely wrong redo it (even if you think you've 'memorised' the answers).

Also, a few things to remember:
-memorise the 3 formulae triangles
-remember that mass is in grams - you might get a question asking you to work out the number of molecules of 1.2 kg of Tin for example - you'd do 1200/Mr to get the number of moles and x Avogadro's number to get the number of molecules.
-Convert volumes to dm^3!!! They love to trick you (or at least they try to) especially in questions where you have to find the concentration. So if a volume is given in cm^3 divide by a thousand to get it in dm^3 (unless you're asked to find volume which is why there are two versions of the n/V/24 or 24000 triangle- use 24000 if you're given a volume in cm^3 or have to work out a volume in cm^3).
-Make use of the stoichiometric ratio!! If you know the moles of one substance, and you know what the BALANCED equation is then you know the moles of every substance. Remember that if you have something like 2 moles of X in a 2:1 ratio with Y you'll have 1 mol of Y (if it was a 1:2 ratio you'd have 4 moles of Y - very easy to make a silly mistake with this!).

You'll hopefully find that soon you'll be able to do these questions in your sleep. If you have any specific questions you need help with, do tell me! Good luck :smile:


Thanks a lot this did help me.

Quick Reply

Latest