Shopping List for Unit 15
This Unit is different. While normally, we stick to everyday items, this advanced unit on chemistry requires a full chemistry set. The good news is, you only have to buy one item, as it includes the glassware, safety gear, workbook, chemicals, and equipment. The downside? Don’t eat any of these things, and store far out of reach from small kids and pets.
We’re going to be using real chemicals in this Unit, some of which are corrosive, hazardous, and most are toxic. This Unit is NOT for small children or households with loose pets (so stick the dog outside while you work). When your materials arrive, please keep ALL chemicals out of reach and sealed until you need them. We’ll show you how to safely store, mix, and clean up your chemicals.
Make sure you have goggles and gloves for all experiments, and protect your table (put it near a window for good ventilation) with a thick plastic tablecloth. You’ll be using real glassware for these experiments (included in the set) to do your experimenting.
Shopping List for Unit 15: Advanced Chemistry: Click here for Shopping List for Unit 15.
Beginner Chemistry (Grades K-4)
For younger students, we do NOT recommend this unit. Instead, hop on over to a more appropriate Chemistry Level for your students here in Unit 8.
Intermediate Chemistry (Grades 5-8)
For kids in grades 5-8th, you’ll need the smaller Chemistry Kit: C1000 by Thames and Kosmos. Order the C1000 from Amazon or Home Training Tools.(Note that the C1000 is included in the advanced set (C3000) below. If you even think you’re going to do high school level chemistry, then the best deal is to get the C3000.)
NOTE: If you’ve already purchased the chemicals and glassware for Unit 8, here’s the ones you’ll need to add to your set for Unit 15:
- sodium bisulfate (AKA sodium hydrogen sulfate)
- magnesium ribbon
- carbon rod
- bare copper wire
- insulated wire
- 1.5V light bulb and 6V light bulb
- 9V battery clip and 9V battery
Note that if you opt to only get the chemicals above instead of upgrading to the C1000, you’ll be missing out on about 65 further experiments, as the C1000 includes a workbook with additional experiments we’re not covering in Unit 15. You’ll also get a set of glassware too!
Advanced Chemistry (Grades 9-12)
For kids in grades 9-12th, you’ll need the larger Chemistry Kit: C3000 by Thames and Kosmos. (Note that the C1000 is included in this advanced chemistry set, and we’ll be using both sets extensively for 9-12th graders.)
NOTE: If you’ve already purchased the chemicals and glassware for Unit 8, you’ll be adding to your set when you get the C3000. Did you know that it’s actually cheaper to get the C3000 than try to individually purchase each of the chemicals needed to make up the difference between the two sets? You’ll also get a thick workbook and additional glassware. We’re also considering adding Chemistry Part 3, which will cover the more advanced experiments in C3000… more on this later!
High School AP Chemistry
For students needing a more rigorous set of chemistry lessons in preparation for college, you’ll want something that is beyond the scope of Units 8 and 15. After searching through a vast mound of chemistry textbooks and experiment guides, we’ve found a good resource for you to work through from cover-to-cover: The Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments. This book will take you through two full years of high school level chemistry and prepare you for your AP exams. Note that those experiments are more advanced than the ones you’ll find here in Unit 15. If you’re not sure which is a better fit, we recommend completing Units 8 and 15, and if your child still hounds you for more, then get the book and follow it carefully and diligently (and partner up with a local college professor).
It’s the same set only we include the 3.5 hour instructional DVD with ours.
I am sorry I have so many questions today. We live out of the country and will be visiting the states in a week, and so am trying to get everything.
What is the difference of your chemistry 3000 and the one from Thames and Kosmos?
Thanks,
Deni
Great question – and the happy answer is no – the C3000 has EVERYTHING you need in it for glassware equipment. If you also want to do the smaller set of experiments with Unit 8, then pick up just the Chemical Kinetics box. And yes, we still keep propellers in stock just for e-Science members (it’s become a popular option!)
If I buy the Chemistry kit C3000, do I also need to buy the C1000 and the glassware set for lesson 8. I am buying for all lessons right now and so just needed to know if the C3000 would work for both Unit 8 and 15, or if I need to buy the others too.
I also saw the blog about the propellers. Is it still okay to send you money and buy the propellers from you?
Thank you,
Deni
Hi Marianne,
I can understand about not going into enough depth… that’s one of the reasons we started eScience with just Physics and dove as far into each as we could! A lot of families dovetail the eScience program (which is heavy on the experiments) with their favorite science textbook – even the one you used in college would work… the principles aren’t that different, just in the delivery of the content. Here’s a list of the popular texts that some families are using along with eScience.
The science texts we post to the site are available for you download as a part of your enrollment (there’s no additional charge). The 9-12th grade textbooks that the K-12 enrollment students have access to are mostly written for high school and college level students. However, I can recommend different texts depending on your kid’s ages and reading levels.
I’m currently evaluating a set of science texts, as there’s a major jump in our eScience program text downloads between the lower and upper levels, and I want to add a middle level for grades 5-8 (but realistically won’t be completed and up for a while yet). But I’ve peeked through a few, and thought you might want to know what I’ve been looking at.
Here are additional texts you might want to pick up to supplement the reading material if you kids are craving more than we have on eScience:
For Electricity and Electronics, these are my top three picks for your kids’ age range:
• Getting Started in Electronics by Forrest Mims III – good to start with
• MAKE: Electronics by Charles Pratt – excellent second book into electronics
• Practical Electronics for Inventors by Paul Scherz – the third one is more for high school, but they’ll reference it forever if they’re into electronics at all
For Chemistry, here’s a few that look the most promising:
• Here’s a really awesome (free) online chemistry textbook, but your kids have to really want to read screenfuls of text…
• For AP Level Chemistry: The Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments. (Keep in mind the experiments in this text are NOT the ones we’re covering in Unit 15 – they are above and beyond Unit 15.)
• Hands-On Chemistry Activities with Real-Life Applications
• Chemistry for Dummies
• Chemistry Concepts and Problems
Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any further questions.
Happy experimenting,
Aurora
My kids will be in 7th and 8th grades in the fall. They are pretty bright kids so could most likely handle a high school text.
Probably not college level though:-). I have poked around the chemistry unit (3 and 8 ) and I think there is not enough depth in the text material for us. This is only going off this one unit and one on electricity also. This past year, we used NOEO Physics II. I found the same issue with it. It was very broad but not in depth enough. (It also had experiments that were quite disappointing which is how we ended up finding your program:-) Personally for ease of teacher planning time and knowing myself, I would prefer a program that is “put together”, if you will, like your is with experiments and reading. We will supplement with text as needed but this means much more planning and coordinating on my part. Sometimes I have time to do this, other times not so much.
Anyway, let me know what you think. Would using the high school level work? If you are working on a junior high level, do you think it will really be done by fall? What would be the cost for it? Also, what texts do you recommend that I could look at?
Thanks,
Marianne
Hi Kim,
You’re right – the really toxic chemicals aren’t able to be shipped in the same container, and there’s often additional charges to ship hazardous stuff like NaOH and HCl. However, we’ve got videos on how to make both of those using the chemicals already inside the set. You will need to get denatured alcohol from the drug store (it’s much cheaper that way).
Do NOT buy Sulfuric Acid from an auto parts store, as the container you’re given has way more than you’ll ever use, and pouring it is impossible to do without splashing (and in this case, it will also eat clear through your skin). It’s really nasty stuff to work with, so we suggest getting it already in its own container from a science supply store. There are links on Shopping List Unit 15 for where to get each additional chemical, how to store them, etc. You’ll need to learn how to safely store each one (some chemicals should not even be near each other).
I would recommend skipping the advanced ones now and simply picking up the alcohol at the store for your burner. You’ll have plenty to do without the nasty ones, and after your kids demonstrate safe chemical handling, you can feel more comfortable getting the more dangerous ones. Does that help?
I just looked at the Thames and cosmos kit online. I almost bought this a couple years ago, but the kids weren’t quite ready for it. So I am going to purchase it now. One complaint from the reviews was that it DOES NOT come with some critical chemicals that you need for the experiments.
One of the reviews said this: “As regards not being to get the Sodium Hydroxide, you can get it from Unitednuclear.com, and Homesciencetools.com sells both Hydrochloric acid and Sodium hydroxide. Both sites sell other chemicals too, so you won’t have a problem getting the necessary chemicals. Also, many hardware stores sell Hydrochloric acid (they call it Muriatic acid), as well as Sulfuric acid (battery acid). So, getting the necessary chemicals is not as hard as it may seem.”
Do you have any insight on these companies? Or do you have a recommended source? If not, maybe this will be a good resource for you to recommend to your customers. I am going to check them out.
Thanks again.
Kim