Chemistry 1
Atoms, bonds and reactions you can see and change.
Unit 1 · Matter and gases
How small is an atom
Zoom from a grain of salt down to single atoms
States of matter
Heat a box of atoms: solid, liquid, gas
Gas pressure and temperature
Why a tire reads low on a cold morning
Boyle's law
Squeeze a sealed syringe, then dive with a balloon
Diffusion
Drop dye into still water and watch it spread
Phase changes
Heat ice at a steady power all the way to steam
Unit 2 · Atoms and bonds
Electron shells
Build atoms: add electrons and fill the shells
Periodic trends
Walk across and down the periodic table: size and ionisation energy
Ionic bonding
Grow a salt crystal: Na⁺ and Cl⁻ ions attract
Molecule shapes
Let electron groups push apart: CO₂, BF₃, CH₄, NH₃ and H₂O
Polarity
Shake oil and water, then look inside their molecules
Unit 3 · Reactions
Balancing equations
Burn methane: count every atom before and after
Moles and mass
Weigh out one mole of water, salt, sugar and gold
Limiting reactant
Make water from hydrogen and oxygen and see who runs out first
Reaction rates
Why food keeps longer in the fridge: collision theory
Catalysts
Decompose hydrogen peroxide with and without a catalyst
Chemical equilibrium
Warm, cool and squeeze a sealed tube of N₂O₄ ⇌ 2 NO₂
Acids, bases and pH
Dilute an acid step by step and watch the pH
Titration
Titrate vinegar with NaOH until the indicator turns pink
Exothermic and endothermic
Squeeze an instant cold pack and a hot pack
Unit 4 · Gases, energy and change
Solubility
Dissolve sugar, salt and saltpeter in cold and hot water
Ideal gas law
Heat the air in a hot-air balloon until it lifts off
Electrolysis of water
Split water with a battery in a Hofmann voltameter
Combustion
Burn a candle and a gas flame on a scale: where does the mass go?
Half-life
Watch 1000 carbon-14 nuclei decay and date a piece of charcoal
Isotopes
Separate chlorine-35 and chlorine-37 in a mass spectrometer
Crystals
Grow crystals by cooling a saturated solution, slow vs fast
Rusting and redox
Three nails in dry air, water and salt water, plus a zinc-coated nail
Chemistry review
Design a fuel: compare methane, propane, ethanol and hydrogen