Bonding MCQs (ii)

1. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

Fairly well answered with the most widely held misconception being that ionic compounds conduct
electricity in the solid state.

2. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

The concept of charge and ionic radii size on the strength of the bond was answered well, but had the
lowest discriminatory index on the paper.

3. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

Ranking compounds in order of increasing boiling point proved challenging. There existed a number of
misconceptions based on the incorrect answers chosen being close to evenly distributed.

4. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

1
 A question about factors affecting the strength of metallic bonding answered correctly by 68 % of
candidates. The distractors were almost equally chosen by the rest of the candidates.

5. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

72 % of the candidates identified CH4O as having hydrogen bonds between its molecules. The most
commonly chosen distractor was CH2O, the only other option containing oxygen.

6. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

One of the most straight-forward questions on the paper about how lithium forms its most stable ion. It
was answered correctly by 87 % of the candidates.

7. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

8. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

9. [1 mark]
2
 Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

10. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

11. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

12. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

13. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]
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14. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

15. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

16. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

17. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

18. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report
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 [N/A]

19. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

20. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

21. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

22. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

23. [1 mark]

Markscheme

B
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 Examiners report

[N/A]

24. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

25. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

26. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

27. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

28. [1 mark]

Markscheme
6
 C

Examiners report

[N/A]

29. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

30. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

31. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

32. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

33. [1 mark]
7
 Markscheme

Examiners report

This caused some difficulties for candidates with opinion evenly divided between B ( , correct) and D
( ). Candidates were presumably thinking about electronegativity rather than the number of bonds
between the atoms.

34. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

The most common misconception was that CO is non-polar.

35. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

Many considered B, the breaking of C–H bonds, to be correct.

36. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

37. [1 mark]

Markscheme

8
 Examiners report

[N/A]

38. [1 mark]

Markscheme

[N/A]

Examiners report

39. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

40. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

This was thought to be a fair question despite one respondent’s worry that there would be ambiguity
for candidates who believe NaCl has a small degree of covalency. 78% gave the expected answer.

41. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

42. [1 mark]

9
 Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

43. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

44. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

45. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

46. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]
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47. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

48. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

49. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

50. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

51. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report
11
 [N/A]

52. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

53. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

54. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

55. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

56. [1 mark]

Markscheme

B
12
 Examiners report

[N/A]

57. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

58. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

59. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

One G2 comment stated that none of the answers were correct for this question and stated that the
question was not clear as there was no mention of intermolecular force considerations. The question
itself simply involved looking at two features for both substances, carbon and carbon dioxide – firstly
whether the bonding is ionic or covalent and secondly whether the melting point is high or low. It was
not necessary to include intermolecular force considerations to answer this question, as clearly from
the choices given A is the most appropriate answer. Clearly both carbon and carbon dioxide involve
covalent bonding and carbon will involve a high melting point (particularly in the case of the allotropes,
graphite and diamond, though of course the melting points of graphite and diamond are higher than
that of fullerene) whereas the melting point for carbon dioxide will be low. 69% of candidates gave A as
the correct answer.

60. [1 mark]
13
 Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

61. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

62. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

63. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

One respondent stated that there are two correct answers to this question, namely A. and C. This is
incorrect as C. is which is an aldehyde, and this does not form hydrogen bonding between
its molecules. Hence the only correct answer is A. .

64. [1 mark]

Markscheme

14
 Examiners report

[N/A]

65. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

One G2 comment stated that the terms cation and anion are not stated on the syllabus. Although strictly
correct, it would be assumed that these terms would be introduced to students in the classroom as they
are universally used in chemistry (e.g. even the term carbocation is widely used in explaining certain
nucleophilic substitution reaction mechanisms).

66. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

67. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

68. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

15
 There were a number of comments on this question and many teachers stated that although they
assumed that the required answer was C. i.e. electrons, many felt that as molten aluminium was
involved, the cations are mobile and thus could conduct electricity, so A. could be another answer.
Although the correct answer C. (electrons) was given by the majority of candidates (71.18%), it was
decided at Grade Award to also accept A. as clearly some candidates may have approached the question
in the sense articulated by several teachers.

69. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

70. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

71. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

One respondent stated that it would be best to write from least reactive to most reactive in both of
these questions. However, “increasing” is written in bold in both questions and, also, this type of
question has been asked extensively on previous papers and hence candidates would have understood
what was asked for explicitly if they had looked at some of the previous examination papers. In the case
of Q.13 60% of candidates gave the correct answer and in Q.27, 68% had the question correct.

72. [1 mark]

Markscheme
16
 D

Examiners report

[N/A]

73. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

74. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

75. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

76. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

77. [1 mark]
17
 Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

78. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

79. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

This was by far the most challenging question on the paper, with a difficulty index of 24%, and many
teachers commented about it on the G2 form. It appears that at SL many candidates were not familiar
with the term “intramolecular” and in addition failed to assume that the pure liquid compound was
being referred to, both of which seemed to create a degree of confusion. It did however appear more
accessible to the better candidates, with a discrimination index of 0.18.

80. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

81. [1 mark]

Markscheme
18
 C

Examiners report

The question proved surprisingly challenging, as indicated by a high number of blank responses and a
difficulty index of 55%. This would seem to indicate that a disturbing number of candidates are not
aware of the charges on the common ions. It was however a good discriminator with a discrimination
index of 0.55.

82. [1 mark]

Markscheme

Examiners report

[N/A]

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