This is the absolute best, most complete Chemistry course designed for kids who not only want to learn what chemistry is by doing it themselves, but also have greater ambitions and need to know this chemistry stuff so they can get paid in the real world to mix up rocket engine chemicals, design chemical factories, develop new kinds of substances in a lab and so much more.

This course will not only prepare you for the real world in chemistry, it will also give you more than a solid foundation when you hit the college level. You can save time and money by finishing part of your college degree right alongside your high school work by testing out of classes using this chemistry course. You don’t have to be a genius in order to do this – anyone can do it that works through this course, and I am here to help you every step of the way.

Beware! Chemistry does contain some math. Now before you panic or roll your eyes, note that you don’t need a high level of math in order to complete this course. I am going to walk you through every step of the way, and it’s best if you learn the math right alongside the science so that you can really understand why you’re learning that math stuff in the first place.

We’re going to be mixing up dinosaur toothpaste, doing experiments with catalysts, discovering five different states of matter, and building your own chemistry lab station as we cover chemical kinetics, phase shifts, the states of matter, atoms, molecules, elements, chemical reactions, and much more. We’re also going to turn liquid polymers into glowing putty so you can amaze your friends when it totally glows in the dark. AND make liquids freeze by heating them up (no kidding) using a scientific principle called supercooling.

Technically, Chemistry is the “scientific study of matter, its properties, and interactions with other matter and with energy”. What is THAT? Basically chemistry is studying matter, like baking soda, and watching what happens when you add vinegar to it. Did it change color? Did it heat up? Did it make bubbles or form crystals? What happened? Watching and explaining are all a part of chemistry. Let’s get started!

Step 1: Download the overview worksheet for the course.

Please note that this materials list is for the entire course, including the Chemistry 4, 5, & 6 which has not yet been released! You’ll want to go through the experiment videos and highlight the materials you’ll need to get from the master list at the link above.

I’ve prepared a special worksheet download that goes with video #3 below. This video covers the fundamentals of chemistry, and you can fill in the worksheet as we go along.

Step 2: Download the shopping list for the course.

The first page contain items ordered online, and the rest are items you have around your house or you can pick up from stores in town. If you prefer, here’s the same list in the original Excel file format here.

This unit on Chemistry is chocked full of demonstrations and experiments for two big reasons. First, they’re fun. But more importantly, the reason we do experiments in chemistry is to hone your observational skills. Chemistry experiments really speak for themselves, much better than I can ever put into words or show you on a video. And I’m going to hit you with a lot of these chemistry demonstrations to help you develop your observing techniques. If you don’t have access to a chemical or can’t do a particular experiment, just watch me do it on video so you’re clear about what’s really going on.

We’re going to be using real chemicals, some of which are corrosive, hazardous, and most are toxic. This course is NOT for small children or households with loose pets. As you gather your equipment for this section, please keep ALL chemicals out of reach and sealed until you need them. We’ll show you how to safely store, mix, and clean up your chemicals. You can order all your chemicals from the same supplier (links provided in the material list). We’ll be using this set of chemistry equipment and chemicals for the entire course. Make sure you have goggles and gloves for all experiments, and protect your table (put it near a window for good ventilation) with a thick plastic tablecloth.

Step 3: Watch videos #1-4 below in order before you start course.

You can jump around within this course, however it’s important to watch the first four videos below in order before you launch into the course. There’s about 130 videos, 53 of which are instructional content videos, and the rest are chemistry experiment videos, and they are both interspersed together so you get to do experiments as you learn about the concepts and academics at the same time.

Lessons:

Quick Links: Volume 1-1 Volume 1-2 Volume 2-1 Volume 2-2 Volume 3-1 Volume 3-2

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Lesson #1: Introduction to the Course

In most standard chemistry lessons, a teacher walks in and says, “Now I will demonstrate the insolubility of barium sulfate by mixing equal volumes of zero point one molar barium chloride and zero point one molar sodium sulfate and observe what happens.” Anyone still awake?

In this unit, you’ll be mixing up things that bubble, ooze, slither, spit, change color, crystallize, and fizz. (I think there’s even one that belches.) And rather than announcing things in a dull and boring fashion, I’m just going to outline the steps and ask YOU to notice any and all changes, no matter how strange or weird. Or small. Even a tiny temperature difference can indicate something big is about to happen.

One of the best things you can do with this unit is to take notes in a journal as you go. Snap photos of yourself doing the actual experiment and paste them in alongside your drawing of your experimental setup. This is the same way scientists document their own findings, and it’s a lot of fun to look back at the splattered pages later on and see how far you’ve come. I always jot down my questions that didn’t get answered with the experiment across the top of the page so I can research it more later. Are you ready to get started?

Lesson #2: Basic Safety Information

What do I really need to know first? First of all, the chemicals in this set should be stored out of reach of pets and children. Grab the chemicals right now and stuff them in a safe place where accidents can’t happen. Do this NOW!

A Note about Safety

A lot of folks get nervous around chemistry. You can’t always ‘see’ what’s going on (are there toxic gases generated from that reaction?), and many people have a certain level of fear around chemicals in general. Dr. Walker, a professor of physics at Cleveland State University (and the editor of Scientific American), states that “The way to capture a student’s attention is with a demonstration where there is a possibility that the teacher may die.”

I don’t want you dipping your hands in molten lead or lying on a bed of nails while someone with a sledgehammer breaks a cinder block on your stomach. (It turns out that Dr. Walker has been injured multiple times, mostly through accidents.)

I strongly disagree with his approach – demonstrations of this kind that result in injury are the ones forever burned in the memory of the audience, who are now fearful and have made the generalization that chemicals are dangerous and their effects are bad. In fact, every chemical is potentially harmful if not handled properly. That is why I’ve prepared a special set of chemistry experiments that include step-by-step demonstrations on how to properly handle the chemicals, use them in the experiment, and dispose of them when you’re finished.

Chemistry is predictable, just as dropping a ball from a height always hits the floor. Every time you add 1 teaspoon of baking soda to 1 cup of vinegar, you get the same reaction. It doesn’t simply stop working one time and explode the next. I’m going to walk you through every step of the way, and leave you to observe the reactions and write down what you notice. At first, it’s going to seem like a lot of disjointed ideas floating around, but after awhile, you’ll start to see patterns in the way chemicals interact with each other. It’s just like anything else that you try for the first time – you’re not very good when you’re new at it. Keep working at Chemistry and eventually it will click into place. And if there’s an experiment you don’t want to do, just skip it (or just watch the video).

Lesson #3: Chemistry Teleclass Lesson

This is a replay of the chemistry teleclass we did together. If you missed any parts of it, here it is in full format, including the experiments we did during the class.

Lesson #4: Chemistry Review

Before launching into our experiments, I want to be sure you understand a couple of the basics, so when I say add the solute to the solvent, you know what to do. Here’s the basic information as a review for chemistry.

Lesson #5: Measuring Chemicals and Converting Units

Lesson #6: Converting units

How many seconds in an hour?
How tall are you in centimeters?
How big is your house?

If it sounds confusing to convert miles to inches or years to seconds, then this video will show you how to convert them easily:

Lesson #7: Density Column

Density is basically how tightly packed atoms are. (Mathematically, density is mass divided by volume.) For example, take a golf ball and a ping pong ball. Both are about the same size or, in other words, take up the same volume.

However, one is much heavier, has more mass, than the other. The golf ball has its atoms much more closely packed together than the ping pong ball and as such the golf ball is denser.

These are quick and easy demonstrations for density that use simple household materials:

Density Jar

You will need to find:

glass jar
water
vegetable oil
liquid dish soap
honey
corn syrup
molasses
rubbing alcohol
lamp oil (optional)

Fill a clear glass partway with water. Drizzle in cooking oil. What do you see happening? Try adding in liquid dish soap (make sure it’s a different color form the water and the oil for better visibility.)

What else can you add in? What about honey, corn syrup, molasses, rubbing alcohol, or lamp oil? Use a turkey baster to help you pour the liquids in very slowly so they don’t mix. You’ll get the best results if you start with the heaviest liquids.

Download Student Worksheet & Exercises

Hot & Cold Swirl

To clearly illustrate how hot and cold air don’t mix, find two identical glasses. Fill one glass to the brim with hot water. Add a drop or two of red food coloring and watch the patterns. Now fill the other glass to the top with very cold water and add drops of blue dye. Do you notice a difference in how the food coloring flows?

Get a thick sheet of heavy paper (index cards work well) and use it to cap the blue glass. Working quickly, invert the glass and stack it mouth-to-mouth with the red glass. This is the tricky part: When the glasses are carefully lined up, remove the card. Is it different if you invert the red glass over the blue?

Lesson #8: Salty Eggs

Did you know that most people can’t crack an egg with only one hand without whacking it on something? The shell of an egg is quite strong! Try this over a sink and see if you can figure out the secret to cracking an egg in the palm of your hand…(Hint: the answer is below the video – check it out after you’ve tried it first!)

How can you tell if an egg is cooked or raw? Simply spin it on the counter and you’ll get a quick physics lesson in inertia…although you might not know it. A raw egg is all sloshy inside, and will spin slow and wobbly. A cooked egg is all one solid chunk, so it spins quickly. Remember the Chicken and the Clam experiment?

Materials:

hard-boiled egg
glass
water
salt

Download Student Worksheet & Exercises

This experiment is all about density. Density is basically how tightly packed atoms are. Mathematically, density is mass divided by volume. In other words, it is how heavy something is, divided by how much space it takes up. If you think about atoms as marbles (which we know they’re not from the last lessons but it’s a useful model), then something is more dense if its marbles are jammed close together.

For example, take a golf ball and a ping pong ball. Both are about the same size or, in other words, take up the same volume. However, one is much heavier, has more mass, than the other. The golf ball has its atoms much more closely packed together than the ping pong ball and as such the golf ball is denser.

Here’s a riddle: Which is heavier, a pound of bricks or a pound of feathers? Well, they both weigh a pound so neither one is heavier! Now, take a look at it this way, which is denser, a pound of bricks or a pound of feathers? Aha! The pound of bricks is much denser since it takes up much less space. The bricks and the feathers weigh the same but the bricks take up a much smaller volume. The atoms in a brick are much more squooshed together then the atoms in the feathers.

Back to the experiment – have you ever noticed you how float a lot easier in the ocean than the lake? If so, then you already know how salt can affect the density of the water. Saltwater is more dense that regular water, and your body tissues contain water (among other things).

Did you know that thinner people are more dense than heavier people? For example, championship swimmers will sink and have to work harder to stay afloat, but the couch potato next door will float more easily in the water.

(Did you find out the secret yet to cracking an egg? You’ll need to start a crack in it first…)

Lesson #9: Water Purification

Ever wonder how the water draining down your sink gets clean again? Think about it: The water you use to clean your dishes is the same water that runs through the toilet. There is only one water pipe to the house, and that source provides water for the dishwasher, tub, sink, washing machine, toilet, fish tank, and water filter on the front of your fridge. And there’s only one drain from your house, too! How can you be sure what’s in the water you’re using?

This experiment will help you turn not only your coffee back into clear water, but the swamp muck from the back yard as well. Let’s get started.

clean play sand
alum (check the spice section of the grocery store)
distilled water
water sample (a cup of coffee with the ground put back in works great)
activated carbon (check an aquarium store)
cheese cloth
clear disposable cups
popsicles
medicine dropper or syringe (no needle)
funnel
2 cotton balls
measuring spoon (1/4 tsp and 1/2 tsp)

Download Student Worksheet & Exercises

There are several steps you need to understand as we go along:

Aeration: Aerate water to release the trapped gas. You do this in the experiment by pouring the water from one cup to another.
Coagulation: Alum collects small dirt particles, forming larger, sticky particles called floc.
Sedimentation: The larger floc particles settle to the bottom of the cup.
Filtration: The smaller floc particles are trapped in the layer of sand and cotton.
Disinfection: A small amount of disinfectant is added to kill the remaining bacteria. This is for informational purposes only — we won’t be doing it in this experiment. (Bleach and kids don’t mix!)

Preparing the Sample

Make your “swamp muck” sample by filling a small pitcher with water, coffee, and the coffee grounds. Fill up another small pitcher with clean water. In a third small pitcher, pour a small scoop of charcoal carbon and cold water.

Fill one clear plastic cup half full of swamp muck. Stir in ½ teaspoon aluminum sulfate (also known as alum) and ¼ teaspoon calcium hydroxide (also known as lime; it’s nasty stuff to breathe in so keep it away from kids). You have just made floc, the heavy stuff that settles to the bottom.

Aside: For pH balance, you can add small amounts of lime to raise the pH (level 7 is optimal), if you have pH indicators on hand (find these at the pharmacy).

Stir it up and sniff — then don’t touch for 10 minutes as you make the filter.

Making the Filter

Grab a cotton ball and fluff it out HUGE. Then stuff it into the funnel. The funnel will take two or three balls. (Don’t stuff too hard, or nothing will get through!) Strain out the carbon granules from the pitcher, and put the black carbon water back into the pitcher. Place the funnel over a clean cup and pour the black water directly over the cotton balls. Run the dripped-out water back through the funnel a few times. Those cotton balls will turn gray-black! Discard all the carbon water.

Add a layer of sand over the top of the cotton balls. It should cover the balls entirely and come right up to the top of the funnel. Fill a third empty cup half-full of clean water from the pitcher. Drip (using a dropper) clean water into the funnel. (This gets the filter saturated and ready to filter.)

Showtime!

It’s time to filter the swamp muck. Without disturbing the sample, notice where the floc is… the dark, solid layer at the bottom. You’ve already filtered out the larger particles without using a filter! Using a dropper, take a sample from the layer above the floc (closer to the top of your container) and drip it into the funnel. If you’ve set up your experiment just right, you’ll see clear water drip out of your funnel.

Continue this process until the liquid starts to turn pale – which indicates that your filter is saturated and can’t filter out any more particles.

To dissect the filter and find out where the muck got trapped, invert the funnel over four layers of paper towel. Usually the blacker the cotton, the better the filter will work. Look for coffee grounds in the sand.

Lesson #10: Thermometers and Temperature

Click Here to go to Volume 1-2!

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