IB Chemistry HL — Data Booklet
Every formula printed in your official IB data booklet, organised by topic. Knowing whichformulas you're given frees up mental space to memorise what isn't here.
★ Must memorise — NOT in the booklet
- • Reaction mechanisms and curly-arrow notation (SN1/SN2, electrophilic addition, radical substitution) — the booklet gives no mechanisms
- • IUPAC naming rules for organic families and how to read/draw structural formulae
- • Oxidation-state rules and how to balance redox half-equations
- • Writing Kc, Ka, Kb, Kw and Ksp expressions yourself — only the relationships, not the expressions, are given
- • Characteristic IR absorptions, ¹H NMR shifts and mass-spectrum fragment patterns used to deduce a structure
- • Periodic trends (atomic radius, ionisation energy, electronegativity) and acid–base/redox reasoning behind the equations
Chemistry gives you a data booklet — equations, physical constants and the periodic table — in every paper, so the skill is choosing and rearranging the right relationship, not recalling it. The items above are never printed, so practise them until they are automatic, and remember spectroscopy (IR, ¹H NMR, MS) is about reading the data, not a formula.
Physical constants
Avogadro constant
const, 1.4
number of particles in one mole
Gas constant
const, 1.5
used in PV = nRT
Molar volume of an ideal gas
const, 1.5
at STP (100 kPa, 273.15 K)
Specific heat capacity of water
const, 4.1
used in Q = mcΔT
Ionic product constant of water
const, 6.1
K_{w} = [H⁺][OH⁻]
Faraday constant
const
charge of one mole of electrons
Speed of light in vacuum
const, 1.3
Planck constant
const, 1.3
used in E = hf
Elementary charge
const
Uncertainties
Adding / subtracting
tools
absolute uncertainties add
Multiplying / dividing
tools
fractional (percentage) uncertainties add
Powers
tools
fractional uncertainty × |n|
Structure 1 — particulate nature of matter
S1.3 Electron configurations
1.3
speed of light = wavelength × frequency
S1.3 Electron configurations
1.3
energy of a photon
S1.4 The mole
1.4
amount = mass ÷ molar mass
S1.4 The mole
1.4
number of particles = amount × Avogadro constant
S1.4 The mole / R2.1 Amount
1.4, 5.1
amount = concentration × volume (V in dm³)
S1.5 Ideal gases
1.5
the ideal gas equation
S1.5 Ideal gases
1.5
the combined gas law (T in kelvin)
Reactivity 1 — what drives reactions
R1.1 Measuring enthalpy change
4.1
heat change = mass × specific heat capacity × temperature change
R1.2 Energy cycles
4.2
from standard enthalpies of formation
R1.2 Energy cycles
4.2
from standard enthalpies of combustion
R1.4 Entropy and spontaneity (HL)
4.4
standard Gibbs energy change (T in kelvin)
R1.4 Entropy and spontaneity (HL)
4.4, 5.3
Gibbs energy away from standard conditions
R1.4 Entropy and spontaneity (HL)
4.4, 5.3
links Gibbs energy to the equilibrium constant
Reactivity 2 — how much, how fast, how far
R2.1 The amount of chemical change
5.1
a measure of green-chemistry efficiency
R2.2 Rate of chemical change (HL)
5.2
the Arrhenius equation
R2.2 Rate of chemical change (HL)
5.2
Arrhenius equation in linear form (gradient = −Eₐ/R)
Reactivity 3 — mechanisms
R3.1 Proton transfer
6.1
the pH of an aqueous solution
R3.1 Proton transfer
6.1
hydrogen-ion concentration from pH
R3.1 Proton transfer
6.1
the ionic product of water
R3.1 Proton transfer
6.1
pH + pOH = 14.00 at 298 K
R3.2 Electron transfer reactions (HL)
6.2
Gibbs energy change from the standard cell potential
Source: IB Diploma Programme Chemistry data booklet (first assessment 2025). Always verify against your official IB materials.