Free online courseChemistry full course

Course Description

Strengthen your chemistry skills from the ground up with a complete high school–level learning path designed to make the subject feel logical and manageable. This free online course guides you from the basic idea of matter and measurement to the big concepts that explain how substances behave and change. Along the way, you will develop the habits that successful chemistry students use: tracking units, estimating reasonableness, and connecting symbolic equations to what is happening at the particle level.

You will start by building a solid foundation in scientific thinking: significant figures, precision versus accuracy, and scientific notation. These tools are essential for doing chemistry correctly, not just for passing problems. As you progress, you will move into atomic theory, subatomic particles, and the organization of elements in the periodic table, making sense of trends and patterns that predict real chemical behavior rather than memorizing isolated facts.

The course then brings chemistry to life through reactions and quantitative problem-solving. You will learn to write and balance equations with the conservation of matter in mind, recognize major reaction types, and understand oxidation–reduction ideas that explain everything from metabolism to batteries. Stoichiometry is treated as a practical skill: working with moles, masses, empirical formulas, limiting reactants, and solution-based calculations so you can confidently tackle typical exam questions and lab-style scenarios.

Thermochemistry and energy concepts help you see why reactions release or absorb heat, how calorimetry connects to real measurements, and how enthalpy, Hess’s Law, and formation values allow you to predict energy changes. From there, you will connect light and atomic models to electron configurations, quantum numbers, and periodic trends, tying structure directly to properties. Bonding and molecular shape concepts help you visualize molecules, reason about polarity, and understand the energetic tradeoffs between breaking and making bonds.

Later sections support deeper understanding of gases, intermolecular forces, phase behavior, and solutions, including concentration, dilutions, and colligative properties. You will also work through acids and bases with pH thinking, titrations, and buffer behavior, then move into equilibrium ideas such as constants, reaction shifting, weak acid/base equilibria, and solubility equilibria. The course rounds out with electrochemistry, nuclear chemistry, and an introduction to organic chemistry topics like hydrocarbons, naming, functional groups, and polymers.

Each topic is paired with practice questions that reinforce learning and reveal gaps early, making it easier to study efficiently and build long-term retention. Whether you are catching up, preparing for exams, or aiming to feel truly comfortable in the lab, this course helps you move from memorizing steps to understanding chemistry with clarity and confidence.