Learning Paths
Each learning path is one chapter: a guided route through a topic, one small course at a time. Pick a class to see its chapters in order.
Choose a topic to see its subtopics.
Chapter 1Contains Standard content
Stoichiometry and Concentration, Measurement, Units and Significant Figures, Laws of Chemical Combination, The Mole Concept, Molecules, Ions and Formulae, Elements, Compounds and Changes
How many molecules are in a sip of water? How much oxygen does a gas burner need? Chemistry answers such questions by counting particles in a clever way, with the mole. In this chapter you learn to measure carefully and to report a measurement honestly, meet the laws that led to the idea of atoms, and then use moles to find formulas, to work out the amounts in a reaction and to make solutions of a given strength. Python does the long arithmetic, so you can think about the chemistry.
4 courses
Chapter 2Contains Standard content
Quantum Mechanical Model of the Atom, Subatomic Particles and Atomic Models, Light, Atomic Spectra and the Bohr Model, Electronic Configuration and Valency, Isotopes and Isobars
A sodium street lamp glows yellow, and a neon sign glows red. The light comes from the atoms themselves, and each kind of atom gives its own colours. How can an atom tell us what it is like inside? In this chapter we follow the experiments that gave us the nucleus. Then we read the light of hydrogen, and we meet Bohr's model, the waves of matter and the orbitals. At the end we can write the electron configuration of any atom. Python helps us with the calculations.
4 courses
Chapter 3
Development of the Periodic Table, Periodic Trends, Groups and Families
Why does sodium burn in water while neon does nothing at all? The periodic table answers it. In this chapter you follow how chemists arranged the elements, from triads and octaves to Mendeleev and the modern periodic law, link the table to electronic configurations, and explain the trends in size, ionisation enthalpy, electron gain enthalpy and electronegativity. Python turns the table into data you can plot.
2 courses
Chapter 4
Lewis Structures and Ionic Bonds, Shapes of Molecules and Hybridisation, Molecular Orbitals and Hydrogen Bonds
Why is water bent while carbon dioxide is straight? Why is oxygen pulled towards a magnet? The answers lie in how atoms bond. In this chapter you draw Lewis structures, compare ionic and covalent bonds, predict the shapes of molecules with VSEPR theory and hybridisation, and use molecular orbital theory to find bond orders and magnetism. Python counts electrons, predicts shapes and fills molecular orbitals for you to check.
4 courses
Chapter 1
Particles of Matter, Change of State, Evaporation and Cooling
Look around you. A stone, a glass of water and the air that you breathe are all matter, and they are very different. Why is a stone hard, water runny and air invisible? In this chapter we study the tiny particles that matter is made of. We find how they explain the solid, liquid and gas states, how ice melts and water boils, and why wet clothes dry and sweat cools us. Python helps us with the calculations.
3 courses
Chapter 2
Mixtures, Solutions and Colloids, Separation of Mixtures, Elements, Compounds and Changes
A shop sells pure milk, pure butter and pure honey. Is the milk that you drink really pure in the way a chemist uses the word? In this chapter we learn what scientists mean by a pure substance, and how it differs from a mixture. We study solutions, suspensions and colloids, and the ways to separate the parts of a mixture. Then we meet the elements and the compounds that everything is made of. Python helps us with the calculations.
3 courses
Chapter 3Contains Standard content
The Mole Concept, Molecules, Ions and Formulae, Laws of Chemical Combination
Burn a candle, and the wax seems to disappear. Does matter really vanish in a chemical change? In this chapter we meet the two laws that scientists found by weighing before and after a reaction. They lead us to the atom, the tiny particle that every element is made of. We learn how atoms join to form molecules and ions, how to write a chemical formula, and how chemists count atoms with a unit called the mole. Python helps us with the calculations.
4 courses
Chapter 4
Isotopes and Isobars, Subatomic Particles and Atomic Models, Electronic Configuration and Valency
In the last chapter the atom was the smallest piece of an element that we counted. But is the atom really the end of the road? In this chapter we open it up. We meet the three particles inside it, and we follow the experiments that gave us the nucleus. We learn how the electrons are arranged in shells, why this decides how an atom combines with others, and why two atoms of the same element can have different masses. Python helps us with the counting.
3 courses
Chapter 5Contains Standard content
Chemical Equations, Types of Chemical Reactions, Energy Changes and Corrosion
An iron gate turns brown, milk turns sour, and a match bursts into flame. In each case, new substances are made. In this chapter we learn how to see a chemical reaction, how to write it as an equation, and how to balance the equation. Then we meet the main types of reactions, we see which ones give out heat, we find out why iron rusts, and we calculate how much of a substance a reaction makes. Python helps us to balance and to count.
4 courses
Chapter 6Contains Standard content
pH and Neutralisation, Acids and Bases, Salts and Their Uses
Lemon juice is sour. Soap feels slippery. Both are in your kitchen, and they are very different. In this chapter we learn how to tell an acid from a base, what they do to metals and to each other, and what they have in common when they are in water. Then we meet the salts that they make, from the salt on your plate to baking soda and plaster of Paris. We measure acidity with the pH scale, and we use it to understand the stomach, the teeth and the soil. Python helps us with the numbers.
4 courses
Chapter 7Contains Standard content
Reactions and the Reactivity Series, Properties of Metals and Non-metals, Ionic Compounds and Extraction of Metals
A copper wire, an iron nail, a gold ring and a lump of coal are all made of elements, and they are very different. In this chapter we sort the elements into metals and non-metals, and we see how their properties differ and where the exceptions are. We learn how metals react with oxygen, water and acids, and how the reactivity series puts them in order. Then we find out how a metal and a non-metal join to make an ionic compound, and how metals are got from their ores. Python helps us with the numbers.
4 courses
Chapter 8Contains Standard content
Hydrocarbons and Nomenclature, Covalent Bonding and Allotropes, Reactions and Uses of Carbon Compounds
Food, clothes, medicines, plastics, fuels and your own body are all made of carbon compounds. There are more than ten million of them, and only a few of the other elements can make even a thousand. In this chapter we learn why carbon is so special: how it shares electrons, how its atoms join in chains and rings, and why diamond and graphite are so different. Then we learn the families of carbon compounds, how to name them, how they burn and react, and how ethanol, ethanoic acid and soap are made and used. Python helps us with the counting.
4 courses