IGCSE Chemistry (0620)

Naming apparatus and its use

What this topic tests, the mistakes that cost marks, and one exam-style question worked through step by step.

Key ideas and common mistakes

When heating a highly flammable liquid, indirect heating (e.g. hot water bath) is used to avoid ignition by a naked flame.
Common mistake: Students who miss this may suggest direct heating, ignoring the fire risk from flammable vapours.
Distinguishing a burette from other glassware by its features: a downward scale from zero, a tap for controlled delivery, and the ability to measure variable volumes accurately.
Common mistake: Students often confuse it with a pipette, which lacks a tap and delivers only fixed volumes.
Distillation separates a solvent from a non-volatile solute: only the solvent vaporizes, so the distillate collected is pure solvent (e.g., water), not the dissolved substance or the original solution.
Distinguishing between equipment that provides heat (like a Bunsen burner or heating mantle) and apparatus that only supports or holds the flask (such as a tripod or clamp), since only the former actually heats the liquid.
Recognising a volumetric flask by its single graduation mark on a narrow neck, which allows precise measurement of a fixed volume.
Common mistake: Students often confuse it with measuring cylinders or conical flasks that have multiple marks or are less accurate.
Condensation of a vapour requires cooling it below its boiling point, so the collection vessel must be kept cold enough for the vapour to turn back into liquid.

Suggest why the propanone is warmed in a beaker of hot water rather than directly in a Bunsen flame.

Try it first, then show the working

Answer: Propanone is highly flammable, so a naked flame could set it alight; the hot water heats it gently and safely.

17 exam-style questions on Naming apparatus and its use, each marked to the scheme.