ASSIGNMENT BOOKLET

Bachelors Degree Programme (B.Sc.)

INORGANIC CHEMISTRY















School of Sciences
Indira Gandhi National Open University
Maidan Garhi, New Delhi-110068
(2014)









School of Sciences
Indira Gandhi National Open University
Maidan Garhi, New Delhi-110068

(2014)







CHE-02
Please Note
You can take electives (56 or 64 credits) from a minimum of TWO and a
maximum of FOUR science disciplines, viz. Physics, Chemistry, Life
Sciences and Mathematics.
You can opt for elective courses worth a MINIMUM OF 8 CREDITS and a
MAXIMUM OF 48 CREDITS from any of these four disciplines.
At least 25% of the total credits that you register for in the elective
courses from Life Sciences, Chemistry and Physics disciplines must be
from the laboratory courses. For example, if you opt for a total of 64
credits of electives in these 3 disciplines, at least 16 credits out of those
64 credits should be from lab courses.
You cannot appear in the Term-End Examination of any course without
registering for the course. Otherwise, your result will not be declared
and the responsibility will be yours.
Valid from 1
st
January to 31
st
December 2014
It is compulsory to submit the Assignment before filling in the
Term-End Examination Form.
Dear Student,

We hope, you are familiar with the system of evaluation to be followed for the Bachelors Degree
Programme. At this stage you may probably like to re-read the section on assignments in the Programme
Guide that we sent you after your enrolment. A weightage of 30 per cent, as you are aware, has been
earmarked for continuous evaluation, which would consist of one tutor-marked assignment. The
assignment is based on Blocks 1, 2, 3 and 4.
Instructions for Formatting Your Assignment
Before attempting the assignment, please read the following instructions carefully.

1. On top of the first page of your answer sheet, please write the details exactly in the following
format:

ENROLMENT No.: ..
NAME :..
ADDRESS :...............


COURSE CODE : ..........................
COURSE TITLE : ..........................
ASSIGNMENT NO.: ..........................
STUDY CENTRE : .......................... DATE:...
(NAME AND CODE)


PLEASE FOLLOW THE ABOVE FORMAT STRICTLY TO FACILITATE EVALUATION AND
TO AVOID DELAY.

2. Use only foolscap size writing paper (but not of very thin variety) for writing your answers.
3. Leave 4 cm margin on the left, top and bottom of your answer sheet.
4. Your answers should be precise.
5. While writing answers, clearly indicate the Question No. and part of the question being solved.
6. Please note that:
i) The Assignment is valid from 1
st
January, 2014 to 31
st
December, 2014.
ii) The response to this assignment is to be submitted to the Study Centre Coordinator within 12
weeks of the receipt of this booklet in order to get the feedback and comments on the
evaluated assignment.
iii) In any case, you have to submit the assignment response before submission of examination
form for appearing in the term end examination.
7. We strongly suggest that you should retain a copy of your assignment responses.
Wishing you all good luck.


Tutor Marked Assignment
Inorganic Chemistry
An Elective Course in Chemistry

Course Code: CHE-02
Assignment Code: CHE-02/TMA/2014
Maximum Marks: 100

Note: * This assignment is based on all the four Blocks of the entire course.
* All questions are compulsory. Marks for the questions are shown against them within
brackets.
* Please answer in your own words; do not copy from the course material.
Q. 1 a) State the Mendeleevs Periodic Law. In reference to the periodic table developed by
him, discuss four achievements and four short-comings of Mendeleev. (5)
b) Explain the difference between electron affinity and electronegativity. Although
electron affinity decreases down the group in periodic table, still the electron affinity
of elements of period 3 is higher than those of the respective elements of period 2,
explain. (5)
Q. 2 a) What is meant by ionic potential? Why is the ionic potential of hydrogen very high?
What are its consequences? (3)
b) What are ortho and para forms of hydrogen? (2)
c) Why are the salts of lithium such as LiOH, Li
2
CO
3
thermally less stable than those
of the other alkali metals ? (3)
d) Why do the solutions of alkali metals in liquid ammonia conduct electricity and are of blue
colour ? (2)
Q. 3 a) Discuss briefly the anomalous nature of beryllium. (3)
b) Give the reactions of carbides of beryllium and magnesium with water and name the
hydrocarbons formed. (2)
b) Anhydrous aluminium trichloride is covalent in nature. However, in aqueous
solution, it ionizes to give Al
3+
(aq) and Cl
-
(aq), explain with the help of a Born
Haber cycle. (5)
Q.4 a) Why does solid boric acid behave as a good lubricant and as a week monobasic
acid in aqueous solution ? (4)
b) Diamond and graphite both are allotropes of carbon, still diamond is the hardest substance
known and graphite is soft and behaves as a lubricant, explain. (3)
c) Explain why PbBr
4
and PbI
4
are unstable, whereas PbCl
4
is stable. (3)
Q.5 a) Explain why the ionic azides are more stable than the covalent azides and hydrazoic
acid. (3)
b) What type of compounds behave as acids and bases in liquid ammonia ? (3)
c) Describe the manufacture of nitric acid. (4)
Q.6 a) Why are Group 16 elements called chalcogens? Giving reasons explain the trend
in electronegativity of these elements moving down the group. How does this trend
affect their physical properties? (4)

b) Explain the following:
i) Hexahalides other than fluorides of the Group 16 elements are not formed. (3)
ii) The lead chamber process is not the method of choice for the manufacture of
sulphuric acid in spite of its simpler steps as compared to the contact process. (3)



Q.7 a) Using the Born Haber cycle and the Hesss law of enthalpy change explain the fact
that despite the electron affinity of chlorine being highest, among the halogens
fluorine is the strongest oxidizing agent. (5) (3)
b) Write the reactions of halogens with aqueous alkali and hydrocarbons indicating the
difference in their reactivity. (5)
Q.8 a) Explain the structure of xenon difluoride with the help of molecular orbital
approach. (4)
b) When an electron is removed from an atom of any transition metal of the 3d series,
then only the removal of s electrons is preferred to the d electrons. Explain. (3)
c) Why the boiling points of the metals are much higher than their melting points? (3)
Q.9 a) Why does the experimental value of magnetic moment of transition metals differ
from the spin only values in most cases? (3)
b) Why the contribution of f orbital motion to paramagnetism is not quenched in the
lanthanides? (3)
c) Name the elements with atomic umbers 66 and 92 and write their electronic
configurations. (4)
Q.10 a) Determine the coordination number and the oxidation state of the transition metal ion
in each of the following complexes: (2)
(i) [Cu(NH
3
)
4
]Cl
2
(ii) [Co(NH
3
)
6
]Cl
3

b) Find out whether the complex ion [FeF
6
]
3-
(
s
= 5.9 B.M.) is high or low spin and
explain your answer. (3)
c) Give the balanced chemical equation for the roasting of the sulphide ore of copper. (2)
d) Write a short note on Van Arkel de Boer Process. (3)