Short chemistry videos
| Revision videos | A YouTube channel containing a large number of short videos designed to help you revise the essential chemistry you have already learnt elsewhere. The ones I have looked at have been excellent, and I wish I had thought of doing this myself! To take full advantage of them, read the material on Chemguide, do the questions if they are available, and then watch the relevant video. To find the full list of videos on the site, click on the videos link from the home page. |
| Khan Academy | A huge resource of shortish (10 minutes or so) video lectures on all sorts of educational topics (including chemistry, biology, physics and maths) organised by subjects. |
| Periodic Table of Videos | A full periodic table from which you can access short, quirky videos about any element. From the University of Nottingham. Wonderful! |
| makescienceeasy.com | This site has some really useful talks under the heading of "Scientific Literacy" dealing with some basic maths and graph skills, and detailed work on the things you need to think about in carrying out scientific investigations. There are also questions after each item. You have to register, but that is only so that you can keep track of your progress. |
| Ryhan Hussain's YouTube channel | This video channel comes from a student who took chemistry, biology and economics at A level, and then went on to a medical degree. Most of what is there relates to his experience as a medical student, but anyone should be able to find things to motivate and help them from GCSE onwards. I found these videos quite addictive - be careful not to spend so long on them that you don't have time to study chemistry! |
Periodic Tables
| Webelements | Use the Periodic Table to search for all kinds of information about elements and their inorganic compounds. This is one of the key chemistry sites on the web, but is unfortunately getting cluttered with advertising. |
| Ptable | Try this Periodic Table if you can't stand WebElements advertising. |
| Editable Periodic Table | This gives you a printable Periodic Table which is full of information. It is available in colour or black and white, and is also available as an Excel file which you can adapt for your particular needs. The site warns you that to print it in its standard form, you will need a laser printer because of the very small fonts needed to fit in all the information, but in fact it printed OK on my inkjet printer. |
| Elements Database | There are better Periodic Tables if you want atomic information, but this one gives you a mass of general information about each element. |
| Tom Lehrer - The Elements | Every chemistry student should be familiar with this classic song. |
University entrance
| Which? guide to UK degree courses | A mine of information for students researching UK university courses, from the publishers of the consumer magazine Which?. This link will take you to the chemistry section, but you can easily search for any other course as well. If you are a UK student, this is really worth exploring in detail. |
| Engineering Degree Guides | A guide to careers in all sorts of engineering fields including bioengineering, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and so on. Currently the information is based on American experience, but there are useful pointers wherever you are. |
Assorted sites
| The Essential Chemical Industry | An online version of a long-established book packed with information about the chemical industry. If you want to know about uses for industrial chemicals and how they are manufactured, this is a good starting place for reliable information. |
| Test yourself | A link to Dr Phil Brown's website where UK GCSE, AS and A level chemistry students will find a wide and growing range of multiple choice, short answer and structured questions. |
| Macrogalleria | A fantastic source of information about polymers from the University of Southern Mississippi. Everything from uses up to detailed chemistry. |
| LibreTexts (previously ChemWiki) | This is a rapidly growing online source of material for university chemistry students, but parts of it may well be useful for 16 - 18 year olds as well. Material from Chemguide is incorporated into it. You will probably want to follow the link to the Core. |
| NIST Chemistry WebBook | A high powered chemistry database of chemical information including spectra. Probably more useful for teachers than for students. |
| Animations | Good stuff from the University of Colorado. Probably more likely to be used by teachers with a class than by students on their own, because you would need some guidance as to how to get the best from them. The site also has lots of physics simulations and some biology, maths and earth science. |
| Chalkbored | A fantastic resource of worksheets, handouts, and PowerPoint presentations by an American high school teacher and author, and aimed at eleventh and twelfth-grade chemistry. Explore "chemistry11" and "chemistry12". Can be used by students, but is likely to be more useful to teachers. |
| Environmental Protection Agency | The EPA is the best place to start if you are looking for information on any environmental topic. |
| WUWT? | WattsUpWithThat.com, edited by Anthony Watts, claims to be the world's most viewed site on global warming and climate change. Several new articles are published most days, many of which are scientifically interesting contributions to the subject which you won't usually find easily elsewhere. |
| Molecule of the Month | From Bristol University. Often quirky information about molecules, some common, some not-so-common - a new one every month. |
| chemicalforums.com | An American chemistry forum which is worth looking at if you have a problem. Make sure that you select the right level, otherwise you are just going to irritate them. Look at the sort of questions which are being asked already in a forum to find which matches yours. |
| BetterExplained.com | A well written, easy to follow, site which looks in depth at some maths (and other) topics in order to generate high levels of understanding. If you are doing maths at A level (or its equivalents) or above, it would be worth a look. |
| Adhesives, glues and sealants | A specialist site written by a European adhesive engineer. If you ever have to do a project involving adhesives, or are just interested, this is a good place to start. |
| environmentalscience.org | An American site giving masses of information about careers in environmental science. The practical content about courses and specific career prospects is currently entirely US-based, but this should give anyone interested a good starting point for finding out more. |
| Why do scientists do what scientists do? | A survey of how scientists carry out research projects which is quick to read or to watch (you have the choice). The examples are mainly biological or medical, but anyone with an interest in science should find it worth reading. |
| Chemistry Hall | Blogs by an experienced organic chemist. These cover topics varying from those suitable for the general reader up to post-degree level. |
| Revisely | A large collection of revision notes, exam practice and some videos, currently for 3 of the UK Exam Boards - AQA, Edexcel and OCR. |
| Hubs Knowledge Base | A collection of articles about some interesting industrial processes, including 3D printing and injection moulding of plastics. |
Safety issues
| How chemicals enter the body | An interesting page from the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety about the various ways nasty things get into your body. |
| Introduction to lab safety | An overview of lab safety issues. This doesn't contain specific information about particular gases or pieces of apparatus, but looks at the sort of things you need to think about. Possibly most useful to teachers and older students who have to take more responsibility for themselves in the work they do. |
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© Jim Clark 2008 (last updated November 2021)
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