CANDIDATE’S NAME……………………………………………………………………………...

DATE……………………………... STREAM …………… SIGNATURE…………….................

STUDENT’S INFORMATION

RANDOM NUMBER

PERSONAL NUMBER

P252/1
Chemistry (Theory)
Paper 1
July/August 2025

2𝟑⁄𝟒 hours

SPIRE HIGH SCHOOL- GAYAZA

END OF TERM II EXAMINATIONS 2025
UGANDA ADVANCED LEVEL CERTIFICATE OF EDUCATION
CHEMISTRY
Paper 1
Time: 2 HOURS 45 MINUTES

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES
➢ Answer ALL questions in section A and THREE questions in section B.
➢ All answers must be written in the spaces provided.
➢ The periodic table has been provided.
➢ Illustrate your answers with equations where applicable.
➢ Molar gas constant R = 8.314 KJ𝒎𝒐𝒍−𝟏 𝑲−𝟏 .
➢ Molar gas volume at s.t.p is 22.4𝒅𝒎−𝟑 .
➢ Half-life of carbon-14 isotope is 5730 years.
➢ Illustrate your answers with equations where necessary.

FOR EXAMINER’S USE ONLY

ITEM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 TOTAL
SCORES

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CHEMISTRY DEPT. SCIENCE DPT. SHS-G
 SECTION A (40 MARKS)
Item 1

The global Heritage Institute, a research center collaborating with UNESCO, uncovers an
ancient wooden artifact during an archeological dig in Bigo bya Mugenyi. The artifact is sent to
their radiocarbon lab, which is working with the Atomical Energy Agency (IAEA) to ensure
accurate analysis. As one of the intern members, you are to lead a group of other interns of the
IAIEA to determine accurately the age of the ancient wooden artifact using carbon-dating.
Your results show that 1 kg of the artifact emits 7.5 counts per minute of radiation and 2 kg of
a similar modern wooden replica emit 30 counts per minute.
Task; as a chemistry expert in nuclear reactions,
a)
i. Identify the any two types of radiations under study that were emitted by the
wooden samples and the radioactive isotope in the wood. (01 mark)

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ii. Define the term radioactivity. (01 mark)
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b) Describe to the fellow interns the procedures you followed to come up with the
disintegrations of the radioactive samples. (03 marks)
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c) Help the Global Heritage Institute to establish the age of the ancient wooden artifact
(03 marks)
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CHEMISTRY DEPT. SCIENCE DPT. SHS-G
 Item 2
An environmental agency is investigating air pollution near Namanve industrial zone. They
suspect illegal flaring of hydrocarbons at night as a form of entertainment and light source. A
portable eudiometer is used collect sample gases released during a suspected flare event and a
20𝒄𝒎𝟑 gas sample is collected and analyzed. The gases are assumed to be primarily from the
combustion of gaseous hydrocarbon fuel.
The sample is exploded with 150𝒄𝒎𝟑 of excess oxygen in the eudiometer and sparked. After
the reaction, the total residual gas volume is 110𝒄𝒎𝟑 , the residual gases are then passed through
concentrated aqueous solution of KOH and the volume drops to 30𝒄𝒎𝟑 .
The agency believes that incomplete combustion may be occurring, releasing carbon monoxide
(CO), a toxic gas, into the atmosphere.
Task.
a) Using the data provided, determine the molecular formula of the hydrocarbon assuming
that it completely combusted in this reaction. (03 marks)

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b) Determine how much carbon dioxide gas was produced and write the equation that took
place when the residual gases were passed through aqueous KOH (02 marks)
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c) Propose a practical societal solution to prevent the release of toxic gases from industrial
flares, based on the chemical behavior observed. (01 mark)
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CHEMISTRY DEPT. SCIENCE DPT. SHS-G
 Item 3
In a class room-based project to investigate the properties of elements of the periodic table and
how they can be used to determine the position of the elements in the periodic table, five students
carried out photoelectron electroscopy to determine the first four successive ionization energies
of unidentified elements A, B, C, D and E. The data obtained from the different elements was
tabulated. They were able to record the ionization energies in the table below but they would not
tell the different groups to which these elements belonged.

ELEMENT Ionization energy (KJ𝒎𝒐𝒍−𝟏)

𝟏𝒔𝒕 𝟐𝒏𝒅 𝟑𝒓𝒅 𝟒𝒕𝒉

A 800 2400 3700 25000

B 900 1800 14800 21000
C 500 4600 6900 9500
D 1090 2400 2400 6200
E 1310 3400 3400 7500

Task; as a chemistry student,

a) Explain to the students the trend in the successive ionization energies for the elements
(03 marks)
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b) With reasons, state the group to which the elements A, B, C and D belong. (04 marks)

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 Item 4
A local pharmaceutical company is developing a new cough syrup. During quality control,
several organic compounds are detected as possible impurities. As part of your internship with
the quality assurance team, you are asked to identify and name these compounds using IUPAC
nomenclature.
You have been provided with the following molecular structures (condensed formulae), and
your task is to ensure they are correctly identified and named according to the IUPAC rules to
avoid any dangerous mix-ups during the drug formation.
1. CH3 CH2 CH(CH3 )CH2 CH3
2. CH3 CH2 CH2 COOH
3. CH3 CH2 CH2 OH
4. CH3 COCH2 CH3
5. ClCH2 CH2 CH2 CH3
Task:
a) Identify and name each compound using IUPAC rules. (02 marks)

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b) Which functional groups are present, and how do they affect naming and numbering of
organic compounds. (02 marks)
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c) Identify which one of the compounds is likely to cause bioaccumulation or reactivity as

seen in compounds like DDT (1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl) ethane)
(01 mark)
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CHEMISTRY DEPT. SCIENCE DPT. SHS-G
 Item 5
A local government is launching a campaign to reduce the overuse of fertilizers in farming. As
part of the pilot study, a team of chemists analyzes the amount of ammonium nitrate
(N𝐇𝟒 N𝐎𝟑 ) being used by farmers in a rural area.
One farmer reports using 500 kg of ammonium nitrate per season. The chemists want to
understand the potential on the local water supply, since excess nitrates can cause eutrophication
in the nearby lakes.
Task:
a) Calculate the number of moles of ammonium nitrate in 500 kg (03 marks)
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b) Determine the number of nitrogen atoms delivered to the soil. (02 marks)

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c) Assuming 10% of the nitrates leaches into the nearby lake, calculate how the number
of moles of nitrate ions that enter the environment. (02 marks)
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d) Basing on your results, describe how chemistry can help address environmental
concerns related to fertilizer overuse. (01 mark)
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CHEMISTRY DEPT. SCIENCE DPT. SHS-G
Item 6
“O’Brein” is a chemistry student at Villa Hill. He carried out an experiment to authenticate
Graham’s Law of diffusion in the Laboratory. He obtained two pieces of cotton wool and
soaked them separately in concentrated ammonia solution and concentrated hydrochloric acid
respectively. He then simultaneously placed the soaked cotton wools into opposite ends of a
horizontal wide glass tube of total length 50.0 cm as shown in the figure below. After a short
time, a white ring was formed across the tube. He immediately gave you a call.
White ring

50.0 cm
(50.0 – x) cm x cm
Cotton wool soaked in
concentrated ammonia solution
Cotton wool soaked
Concentrated hydrochloric acid
Task.
“O’Brein” is now confused and he is asking himself why the white ring was formed near
the cotton wool soaked in concentrated hydrochloric acid. As a chemistry expert, help him to;
a) State and understand Graham’s law of diffusion. (01 marks)
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b) Explain and understand the reason behind the position of the white ring (02 marks)
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c) Determine how far from the ammonia plug, the white ring was formed. (03 marks)
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CHEMISTRY DEPT. SCIENCE DPT. SHS-G
 SECTION B (60 MARKS)
Answer only 3 questions in this section.

Item 7.
A pharmaceutical company has received several complaints from its customers about the
ineffectiveness of its ferrous tablets, which are tablets containing ferrous ethanedioate
(Fe𝐂𝟐 𝐎𝟒 ) and suspected impurities that do not react with potassium permanganate solution
(𝑲𝑴𝒏𝑶𝟒 ). The company has hired a chemical quantitative analyst to determine the percentage
composition of 𝐅𝐞𝟐+ in ferrous tablets which he labelled solid F.
To effectively determine this, the analyst dissolved 1.26 g of Anhydrous sodium sulphite in
200 𝒄𝒎𝟑 of distilled water, and he labelled the solution FA1. He went ahead and prepared a
solution of 2.0 M sulphuric acid, and a non-standard solution of potassium permanganate
and labelled it FA2.
He accurately measured 1.5 g of the impure ferrous ethanedioate into a beaker, followed by
100𝒄𝒎𝟑 of the acid and stirred to dissolve the tablet. He transferred the contents to a
volumetric flask and made up to the mark, labelling the solution FA3.
His results show that 25.0 𝒄𝒎𝟑 of FA1 required 25.01 𝒄𝒎𝟑 of FA2 for the reaction to complete
and that 25.0 𝒄𝒎𝟑 of FA3 required 26.30 𝒄𝒎𝟑 FA2 for the reaction to go to completion.
However, the analyst is having hard time dealing with the results to come up with the exact
percentage purity of the Ferrous ethanedioate in the tablets. He has finally summoned you on
board to help him deal with these figures and determine the percentage purity of iron (II)
oxalate in the tablets.
Task.
As a chemistry student of S.5, who understood the chemistry of redox reactions, help the
analyst to accomplish his job. (show your workings clearly and include all the necessary redox
equations of reactions that took place). (20 marks)

Item 8.
Senior Five students of the year 2025 have come across the data of the oxides period 3
elements on the periodic table that is pinned on their in-class notice board, and have failed to
interpret this data shown in the table below.

Element Na Mg Al Si P S Cl

Atomic Number 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
Oxide 𝐍𝐚𝟐 𝐎 MgO 𝐀𝐥𝟐 𝐎𝟑 𝐒𝐢𝐎𝟐 𝐏𝟐 𝐎𝟓 S𝐎𝟑 𝐂𝐥𝟐 𝐎𝟕
Melting point (℃) 1275 2827 2007 1607 560 30 -91
Task,
a) Use suitable methods to help the senior Fives visualize, understand the explain the trend of
variation of melting points of the oxides of period 3 elements. (09 marks)

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CHEMISTRY DEPT. SCIENCE DPT. SHS-G
 b) Help them to understand the different reactions that take place with the aid of equations when
the oxides of period three elements are reacted with:

➢ Water (indicating the pH of the resultant solution).

➢ Acids.
➢ Sodium hydroxide. (11 marks)

Item 9.
The chemistry society in Uganda is holding a workshop at Nsambya pharmaceuticals, where
chemists will study the different methods used to identify a variety of chemical compounds and
elements. One of the methods used to identify the organic compounds is the determination of
molecular formula of organic compounds. On this occasion, one of the invitees reacted
cyclohexene with hydrogen bromide but could not tell the resultant products. However, he
knew for certain that the percentage composition of the product (𝐂𝒏 𝐇𝟐𝒏−𝟏 𝐁𝐫) is 49.08% by
mass of bromine.
Another method that was brought to light was mass spectrometry by J.J. Thompson, where
one of the students picked an unidentified sample and fed it into the mass spectrometer and the
following image was shown on the recorder section.

Height of peak 52.3

23.6
22.6
1.5

204 206 207 208 Mass number.

Task; as a chemistry expert that understands spectrometry,
a) Explain to the masses how the mass spectrometer operates. And explain to the masses
why there are four lines on the recorder section. (08 marks)
b) Provide a probable calculation that J.J. Thompson used and come up with the
relative atomic mass of the unidentified substance. And hence identify the substance
that was introduced into the spectrometer. (06 marks)
c) Determine the molecular formula of the bromo-compound and draw at least four
possible isomers of the compound. (06 marks)

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CHEMISTRY DEPT. SCIENCE DPT. SHS-G
Item 10.
Nuclear stability and binding power some of the fundamental techniques used to design nuclear
warfare using the ‘neutron to proton ratio’ (𝒏⁄𝒑) in developed countries. During nuclear reactions,
different radiations are emitted by unstable nuclei typically nuclei with mass numbers greater than 83.
As part of a research study into the stability of radioactive nuclei, your school has been invited for the
Annual Chemistry research study work workshop at Kololo grounds. You happen to be among the
discussants that will present your knowledge about this topic.
Task
Prepare a presentation that you shall use to explain to the masses the meaning of nuclear stability,
binding power, the factors affecting nuclear stability and how the 𝒏⁄𝒑 ratio can be used to predict
stability of atomic nuclei. Your presentation should include with examples, the different types of
radiations emitted during nuclear reactions and clearly state why nuclei with mass numbers greater
than 83 are radioactive. (A diagram showing regions of stability may be of great use)
(20 marks)
Item 11.
Aluminium is one of the elements that are useful in daily life. Aluminium deposits have been
discovered in the Terrains of Lusaka region. The government has contracted a foreign investor to
construct an Aluminium extraction plant. The farmers in Lusaka are ignorant of the impacts of this
activity and have come to you for an explanation about how the process occurs. during the meeting,
one of the elders who has attended argues that he was advised not to use soap while washing
Aluminium utensils.
Task.
As a chemistry student who is an expert in industrial processes, prepare a message you will deliver on
a meeting upon invitation to:
a) Explain to the farmers how the process of extraction occurs. (08 marks)
b) Explain why low voltage is used during the electrolysis of Aluminium oxide (01 mark)
c) Explain why it is not advisable to wash Aluminium utensils using soap. (04 marks)
d) Use your knowledge of cationic hydrolysis to explain why it is impossible to manufacture a
solution of Aluminium carbonate. (05 marks)
e) Explain to the elders any four uses of Aluminium metal (02 marks)

END

‘’Your aspirations, though lofty, languish in the shadow of true mastery.’’

‘’For your prowess has yet to ascend the precipitous of heights’’

‘’the heights of erudition and finesse’’

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