General Chemistry Concepts

Learn to distinguish solids from liquids and gases, differentiate chemical changes from physical changes, and identify elements, compounds, and mixtures.

Learn how to determine the number of significant figures in a number, round accurately, and add, subtract, multiply, and divide numbers with sig figs.

Learn how to use scientific notation to represent big and small numbers in a clean fashion. Then look at dimensional analysis and scientific unit conversion.

Take a historical stroll down chemistry lane. Learn how early atomic truths were unveiled, and take a look at some of the early atomic structure models.

Knowing how to read nuclear symbols is an important chemistry skill. In this lesson, Professor Dave shows you how to interpret them with ease.

Begin by looking at the construction of a chemical equation and discovering what it means. Then, practice balancing a few chemical equations in this lesson.

Professor Dave offers an easy-to-understand explanation of moles, stoichiometry, and the rules for solving stoichiometric calculations in this chemistry lesson.

Professor Dave explains limiting reagents in an easy-to-understand fashion. Learn to calculate the amount of end product, percentage yield, and more.

How do you find out how much of each atom is in a compound? Elemental analysis can help you figure this out, and in this lesson, Professor Dave shows how!

Review the properties of a gas, then learn about gas pressure, temperature, volume, and moles, and see how each of these relate using the ideal gas law.

Explore the basics of light, distinguish frequency from intensity, and discover how wave-particle duality changed the entire landscape of physics.

In this lesson, learn the key characteristics about the nucleus and surrounding electrons in a hydrogen atom according to the Bohr atomic model.

Discover whether electrons should be thought of as particles, waves, or both, and understand how the basics of the uncertainty principle apply.

Learn how electrons are arranged within an atom via orbitals, and understand how quantum numbers uniquely identify each of these electrons in this lesson.

In this chemistry lesson, Professor Dave discusses important periodic table trends and explains the concepts of electron affinity and ionization energy.

Learn about ionic bonds, as well as polar and non-polar covalent bonds, and explore how each differs from each other depending on electrostatic attraction.

Professor Dave discusses the fundamentals of compounds, then shares how to name ionic compounds using easy-to-understand scientific nomenclature.

Unsure what to make of all the dots and lines in a lewis structure? Join this chemistry lesson to learn how to draw molecules as electron diagrams.

Join this chemistry lesson to learn about the VSEPR theory, hybridization of atomic orbitals, and a simple method to determine the molecular geometry.

Can you make predictions about matter? Explore the basics of intermolecular forces, including how compounds react and interact, in this chemistry lesson.

What is heat? It's not just a movie with Pacino and DeNiro. Learn all about heat, and more importantly, enthalpy! Energy exchange is a big part of chemistry.

In this chemistry lesson, learn about Hess's law and how to calculate the enthalpy change before performing chemical reactions, and avoid unwanted explosions!

Join Professor Dave Explains to run your own coffee cup calorimetry experiment, and gain a stronger understanding of how heat transfers between substances.

Join this chemistry lesson to learn about phase changes and read a phase diagram, which shows you how temperature and pressure affect a substance's state.

What substances are soluble and insoluble? This chemistry lesson explores the basics of solution chemistry, and shows you how to determine net ionic equations.

In this chemistry lesson, learn how to measure the molarity of a particular substance and discover how volume and solute affect the concentration of a solution.

Why do some things dissolve in water while others don't? Is a supersaturated solution just a beaker with a cape? All this and more!

Solutes interfere with the physical processes of a solution, and these colligative processes, along with molality, are covered in this chemistry lesson.

Do you know the laws of thermodynamics? Join this chemistry lesson to learn the three laws governing how energy flows , along with an explanation of entropy.

Kinetics allow you to measure and predict reaction rates of chemical compounds. Join this chemistry lesson to learn about reaction order, initial rate and more.

Which molecular arrangements and energy levels lead to chemical reactions? Learn about collision theory and reaction mechanisms in this chemistry lesson.

In this chemistry lesson, learn Le Chatelier's Principle in which a system at equilibrium is changed and it shifts in a particular way to regain equilibrium.

When chemicals have forward and backward reactions, a balance between the reactions is called equilibrium; learn to predict equilibrium in this lesson.

What is molecular orbital theory? Join this chemistry lesson to understand and predict molecular structure and observe a demonstration of atom interaction.

Join this chemistry lesson to learn how acids and bases work on a molecular level, including how to measure the way protons are donated and accepted.

Now that you know what acids and bases are, join this lesson to understand how to find acid-base equilibrium and learn how a buffer resists changes in pH.

Want to know the concentration of an acid or a base in a solution? Join this chemistry lesson to learn about acid-base titration and how to calculate it.

Chemical reactions involving the the gaining or losing of electrons are undergoing oxidation-reduction reactions; join this lesson to learn how they work.

How does a battery work? Just a bit of oxidation-reduction (redox) chemistry! In this chemistry lesson, learn electrochemistry concepts the easy way.

What makes something radioactive? Join this chemistry lesson to learn what nuclear reactions are, and how to predict what processes may occur.