Learn first-hand the fundamental principles of this essential science as you perform real chemistry experiments.

For example, you will experiment with fuels and combustion, make your own hydrochloric acid, separate mixtures, produce oxygen gas, and more.

In doing these experiments, you will build a strong foundation in chemistry as you are exposed to a broad range of chemical phenomena and hands-on lab experience. As you gain experience with the tools and chemicals of the modern chemistry lab, you with also learn advanced topics such as chemical equations, atomic structures and the periodic table — concepts that are critical to continued study of chemistry.

This lab is an excellent way to prepare for high-school level, and even college level, chemistry.

In this unit, you will learn how to build your own home chemistry lab safely under the direction of professionals. We'll show you how to do real chemistry experiments, provide chemical storage information, give guidelines on proper chemical disposal when you're finished, highlight lab tips and tricks, and warn you about things to watch out for. This is real chemistry for real kids.

This video picks up where the intermediate chemistry video leaves off so you'll want to be sure you have completed that one first. The C3000 contains three trays, the first of which is the C1000 (which is covered in the intermediate chemistry lesson). So if you've completed the first part and are ready for more, here we go!
NOTE:For the Alcohol Burner Wick: Tape tightly around one end, making the end small and tapered. You can also put glue (white glue or rubber cement work great) into the fibers at one end. As the glue hardens, form the end into a smaller and tapered end. It will slide through easily, and cut the end off and your ready to go.

How do I use this information? You have two options, depending on your comfort level and ultimate educational goals. You can just watch the videos and talk about what's going on with your child, or you can watch the videos and then perform the experiment with your child.

This unit includes the instructional videos for Chemistry, and is meant to be used in conjunction with the experiments in the Thames and Cosmos C1000 and/orC3000 chemistry lab kits.  The manual included in the C1000 and 3000 has complete safety information and many more experiments for you to complete after you finish this unit.

All experiments presented here at AT YOUR OWN RISK. You are fully responsible for your own safety and those around you. (No building nuclear reactors in your garage.)

To put it simply, don’t eat anything in your chemistry lab, keep children and pets away from your lab, lock up your chemicals safely, learn how to store your chemicals safely, and don’t create large quantities of anything explosive, corrosive, or toxic. Always wear safety equipment and do your experiments in a spot what has plenty of air for ventilation, water and a drain, and a phone.

In all seriousness, be safe, have fun, play with the kids, and if you run across anything that boggles the mind, let us know and we'll try to help you out.

Scientific Concepts:

  • Atoms are made of a core group of neutrons and protons, with an electron cloud circling the nucleus.
  • Elements A substance made up of only one particular kind of atom is called a chemical element, and you can find a whole slew of these on the periodic table.
  • A molecule is the smallest unit of a compound that still has the compound’s properties attached to it. Molecules are made up of two or more atoms held together by covalent bonds.
  • Avogadro’s constant (6.022 x 1023 ) Chemists like to use it to help keep track of the particles in a chemical reaction.
  • Moles A mole is a unit of measurement, just like inches or meters. One mole is the amount of a substance that has the same number of particles as found in 12 grams of carbon C-12, which is 6.022 x 1023 particles.
  • Balancing Chemical Reactions Learning how to figure out whether a chemical reaction will occur and what comes out the other end is found by writing a balanced chemical equation to describe a chemical reaction.
  • Acids are sour (like a lemon), react with metals, and can burn your skin. They register between 1 and 7 on the pH scale.
  • Bases are bitter (like baking soda), slippery, and can also burn your skin.  They measure between 7 and 14 on the pH scale.
  • An acid-base reaction deals with reactions that involve hydrogen (protons).
  • pH stands for “power of hydrogen” and is a measure of how acidic a substance is.
  • The electrons in the outermost shell are the ones that form the bonds with other atoms.
  • When one atom accepts or donates an electron to another atom, an ionic bond is formed.
  • When the atoms share the electron(s), a covalent bond is formed.
  • Usually an electron is more attracted to one atom than another, which forms polar covalent bond between atoms.
  • By knowing the value of the bond energy, we can predict if a chemical reaction will be exothermic or endothermic.
  • Ionization energy (measured in electronvolts, eV) is the amount of energy needed to completely remove an electron from gaseous atom or ion.
  • A combustion reaction gives off energy, usually in the form of heat and light.
  • A decomposition reaction breaks a complicated molecule into simpler ones
  • A double displacement (metathesis) reaction has two compounds exchanging bonds to form new compounds
  • Redox reactions involve an exchange of electrons between compounds. Redox stands for oxidation-reduction.
  • Oxidation happens when a compound loses electrons (increases oxidation state)
  • Reduction occurs when a compound gains electrons (decrease in oxidation state).
  • Le Chatelier’s Principle predicts how changes in pressure, temperature, volume, or concentration will cause a reaction to shift and compensate for these changes.
  • Nuclear reactions deal with changes inside the nucleus of an atom.
  • Neutralization Reaction (Hydrolysis) When acids and bases react with each other, they sometimes form a salt and water.
  • Synthesis Reaction happens when simple compounds come together to form a more complicated compound
  • The chemical reaction inside electrochemical cells is also a redox reaction. Splitting the water molecule into parts (hydrogen and oxygen) requires power (electrolysis) to break the bonds.
  • Electronegativity is how attracted an electron is to an atom.
  • Ideal Gas Law relates temperature, pressure, and volume of these gases in one simple statement: PV = nRT
  • Different factors affect the rate of reaction, or speed of the chemical reaction, including temperature, pressure, surface area, catalysts, and more. The main idea is that the more collisions between particles, the faster the reaction will take place.


Select a Lesson

Special Science Teleclass: Chemistry & Chemical Engineering
This is a recording of a recent live teleclass I did with thousands of kids from all over the world. I've included it here so you can participate and learn, too! We’re going to be mixing up dinosaur toothpaste, doing experiments with catalysts, discovering the 5 states of matter, and building your own chemistry lab …
Bicarbonate Buffer
This experiment is for advanced students. All chemical reactions are equilibrium reactions. This experiment is really cool because you’re going to watch how a chemical reaction resists a pH change.
Hydrolysis
This experiment is for advanced students. Hydrolysis is a chemical reaction that involves breaking a molecular bond using water. In chemistry, there are three different types of hydrolysis: sat hydrolysis, acid hydrolysis, and base hydrolysis. In nature, living organisms survive by making their energy from processing food. The energy converted from food is stored in ATP …
Redox Reaction
This experiment is for advanced students. We’re going to look at the strength of redox reactions using copper, zinc, and acids.
Balancing Chemical Equations
Chemistry is all about studying chemical reactions and the combinations of elements and molecules that combine to give new stuff.  Chemical reactions can be written down as a balanced equation that shows how much of each molecule and compound are needed for that particular reaction. Here’s how you do it:
Temperature and Le Chatelier’s Principle
If you’re into magic shows, this is a good one to perform for an audience, because the solution goes from purple to pink to green to blue and back again! Le Chatelier’s principle states that when the temperature is raised, an equilibrium will shift away from the side that contains energy. When temperature is lowered, …
Effect of Temperature on Solubility
We’re going to do an experiment where it will look like we can boil soda on command… but the truth is, it’s not really boiling in the first place! If you drink soda, save one for doing this experiment. Otherwise, get one that’s “diet” (without the sugar, it’s a lot easier to clean up).
Measuring the Size of a Molecule
Molecules are the building blocks of matter. You’ve probably heard that before, right? But that does it mean? What does a molecule look like? How big are they? While you technically can measure the size of a molecule, despite the fact it’s usually too small to do even with a regular microscope, what you can’t …
Basic Chemistry Safety Information
Chemical Data & Safe Handling Information Sheet 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! If you haven’t …
Making Litmus Solution and Paper
You can go your whole life without paying any attention to the chemistry behind acids and bases. But you use acids and bases all the time! They are all around you. We identify acids and bases by measuring their pH. Every liquid has a pH. If you pay particular attention to this lab, you will …
Energy from Sugar
This experiment is for advanced students. Purple and white colors, making the whitewash that Tom Sawyer used, and produce an exothermic chemical reaction…..does it get any better? Limewater is one of the compounds we work with in this experiment. Limewater was used in the old days of America. We’re talking about the 80’s…..the 1880’s. Traveling …
Getting Air from Water
This experiment is for advanced students. This is a repeat of the experiment: Can Fish Drown? but now we’re going to do this experiment again with your new chemistry glassware. The aquarium looked normal in every way, except for the fish. They were breathing very fast and sinking head first to the bottom of the …
Working with Cataylsts
This experiment is for advanced students. Don’t put this in your car….yet. Hydrogen generation, capture, and combustion are big deals right now. The next phase of transportation, and a move away from fossil fuels in not found in electric cars. Electric cars are waiting until hydrogen fuel cell vehicles become practical. It can be done …
Hydrogen Peroxide
This experiment is for advanced students. In industry, hydrogen peroxide is used in paper making to bleach the pulp before they form it into paper. Biologists, when preparing bones for display, use peroxide to whiten the bones. At home, 3% peroxide combined with ammonium hydroxide is used to give dark-haired people their desired blonde moment. …
Generating Oxygen
This experiment is for advanced students. This time we’re going to use a lot of equipment… really break out all the chemistry stuff. We’ll need all this stuff to generate oxygen with potassium permanganate (KMNO4). We will work with this toxic chemical and we will be careful…won’t we?
Detonating Bubbles
This experiment is for advanced students. Zinc (Zn), is a metal and it is found as element #30 on the periodic table. We need a little zinc to keep our bodies balanced, but too much is very dangerous. Zinc is just like the common, everyday substance that we all know as di-hydrogen monoxide (which is …
Desalination
This experiment is for advanced students. Lewis and Clark did this same experiment when they reached the Oregon coast in 1805. Men from the expedition traveled fifteen miles south of the fort they had built at the mouth of the Columbia River to where Seaside, Oregon now thrives. In 1805, however, it was just men …
Cold Light
This experiment is for advanced students. Glo-sticks! Parents hang them from their trick or treaters, backpackers read with them light late at night in a tent. Glo-sticks work on the principle of chemiluminescence.  Chemiluminescence is defined as emitting light without heat as the result of a chemical reaction.
Carbon Dioxide
This experiment is for advanced students. This lab builds on concepts from the previous carbon dioxide lab. Limewater….carbon dioxide…indicators. We don’t know too much about these things. Sure, we know a little. Carbon dioxide is exhaled by us and plants need it to grow. Burning fossil fuels produces carbon dioxide. Indicators…something we observe that confirms …
Zinc Dust
This experiment is for advanced students. Who gets to burn something today? YOU get to burn something today! You will be working with Zinc (Zn). Other labs in this kit allow us to burn metal, but there is a bit of a twist this time. We will be burning a powder. Why a powder instead …
Magnesium Battery
Magnesium is one of the most common elements in the Earth’s crust. This alkaline earth metal is silvery white, and soft. As you perform this lab, think about why magnesium is used in emergency flares and fireworks. Farmers use it in fertilizers, pharmacists use it in laxatives and antacids, and engineers mix it with aluminum …
Burning Sulfur
This experiment is for advanced students. Brimstone is another name for sulfur, and if you’ve ever smelled it burn…..whoa….I’m telling you ….you will see for yourself in this lab. It is quite a smell, for sure. Sulfur is element #6 on the periodic table. Sulfur is used in fertilizer, black powder, matches, and insecticides. In …
Making Copper
In this lab, we’re going to investigate the wonders of electrochemistry. Electrochemistry became a new branch of chemistry in 1832, founded by Michael Faraday. Michael Faraday is considered the “father of electrochemistry”. The knowledge gained from his work has filtered down to this lab. YOU will be like Michael Faraday. I imagined he would have …
Making Chlorine
If we don’t have salt, we die. It’s that simple. The chemical formula for salt is NaCl. Broken down, we have Na (sodium) and Cl (chlorine). Either one of these can be fatal in sufficient quantities. When chemically combined, these two deadly elements become table salt. What once could kill now keeps us alive. Isn’t …
Electrochemistry
Electricity. Chemistry. Nothing in common, have nothing to do with each other. Wrong! Electrochemistry has been a fact since 1774. Once electricity was applied to particular solutions, changes occurred that scientists of the time did not expect. In this lab, we will discover some of the same things that Farraday found over 300 years ago. …
Ammonia Experiments
Ammonia has been used by doctors, farmers, chemists, alchemists, weightlifters, and our families since Roman times. Doctors revive unconscious patients, farmers use it in fertilizer, alchemists tried to use it to make gold, weightlifters sniff it into their lungs to invigorate their respiratory system and clear their heads prior to lifting tremendous loads. At home, …
Acids and Bases
This experiment is for advanced students. ACID!!! The word causes fear to creep in and get our attention. BASIC!!! The word causes nothing to stir in most of us. The truth is, a strong acid (pH 0-1) is dangerous, but a strong basic (pH 13-14) is just as dangerous. In this lab, we will get …
Making Sodium Hydroxide
This experiment is for advanced students. Ever use soap? Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) is the main component in lye soap. NaOH is mixed with some type of fat (vegetable, pig, cow, etc).  Scent can be added for the ‘pretty’ factor and pumice or sand can be added for the manly “You’re coming off my hands and …
Potassium Permanganate
This experiment is for advanced students. Potassium permanganate (KMnO4) in water turns an intense, deep, purple. It is important in the film industry for aging props and clothing to make them look much older than they are. Also, artists use it in bone carving. People who carve antlers and bone use KMnO4 to darken the …
Potassium Hexacynoferrate (Reagant)
This experiment is for advanced students. How do you know if your brother is stealing your candy? Unwrap a wrapped hard candy that he likes a lot. Roll the candy around in the powdered food dye that matches the candy. (Push the powder into the candy so it “disappears”.) Re-wrap the candy. Set the candy …
Iron Sparklers
This experiment is for advanced students. Sparks flying off in all directions…that’s fun. In this lab, we will show how easy it is to produce those shooting sparks. In a sparkler you buy at the store, the filings used are either iron or aluminum. The filings are placed in a mixture that, when dry, adheres …
Iodine
This experiment is for advanced students. In gas form, element #59 is deadly. However, when iodine is in  liquid form, it helps heal cuts and scrapes. The iodine molecule occurs in pairs, not as a single atom (many halogens do this, and it’s called a diatomic molecule). It’s hard to find iodine in nature, though …
How to Get Hydrogen from Zinc
This experiment is for advanced students. Zinc and Hydrogen are important elements for all of us. Zinc (Zn) metal is element #30 on the periodic table. Lack of zinc in our diets will delay growth of our bodies and can kill. Hydrogen gas (H) is element #1 on the periodic table. Hydrogen was discovered in …
Hydrogen Bromide
WARNING!! THIS EXPERIMENT IS PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS!! (No kidding.) This experiment is for advanced students. We’ve created a video that shows you how to safely do this experiment, although if you’re nervous about doing this one, just watch the video and skip the actual experiment. Bromine is a particularly nasty chemical, so be sure to very …
Hydrogen Chlorine Gas
WARNING!! THIS EXPERIMENT IS PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS!! (No kidding.) This experiment is for advanced students. We’ve created a video that shows you how to safely do this experiment, although if you’re nervous about doing this one, just watch the video and skip the actual experiment. The gas you generate with this experiment is lethal in large …
Colored Campfires and Rainbows
Always have a FIRE EXTINGUISHER and ADULT HELP handy when performing fire experiments. NO EXCEPTIONS. This video will show you how to transform the color of your flames. For a campfire, simply sprinkle the solids into your flames (make sure they are ground into a fine powder first) and you’ll see a color change. DO …
Calibrated Spectrometer
Ever play with a prism? When sunlight strikes the prism, it gets split into a rainbow of colors. Prisms un-mix the light into its different wavelengths (which you see as different colors). Diffraction gratings are tiny prisms stacked together.When light passes through a diffraction grating, it splits (diffracts) the light into several beams traveling at …
Going Further with Advanced Chemistry
This experiment is for advanced students. One of my best teaching tools for science developed from a brain freeze one afternoon in class. I went to the board to draw the chlorophyll wheel and drew a complete blank. “Let’s say I forgot how to draw the wheel.” I turned to the class, marker in hand, …
Electrolysis
If you guessed that this has to do with electricity and chemistry, you’re right! But you might wonder how they work together. Back in 1800, William Nicholson and Johann Ritter were the first ones to split water into hydrogen and oxygen using electrolysis.