Water for life

Atoms, elements and molecules are the building blocks of everything that makes up our world, including ourselves. In this free course, Water for life, you will learn the basic chemistry of how these components work together, starting with a chemical compound we are all very familiar with water.

• Introduction
• Learning outcomes
• 1 The power of water
• 1 The power of water
• 2 Earth's store of water
• 2 Earth's store of water
• 2.1 Where water occurs and how we measure it
• 2.2 Going up: using scientific notation for large numbers
• 2.2.1 Using a calculator for scientific notation
• 2.3 The study of a raindrop
• 2.4 Going down: using scientific notation for small numbers
• 2.5 What is water made of?
• 2.6 Models of a water molecule
• 2.6.1 (a) Using Lego as a model
• 2.6.2 (b) Using spheres
• 2.7 The 'salt' in seawater
• 3 What are compounds?
• 3 What are compounds?
• 4 Inside the atom
• 4 Inside the atom
• 5 Molecules and covalent bonding
• 5 Molecules and covalent bonding
• 6 Chemical language
• 6 Chemical language
• 6.1 Introduction
• 6.2 Chemical symbols
• 6.3 Chemical formulas
• 6.4 Chemical equations and chemical reactions
• 6.4.1 Writing a chemical equation to describe a chemical process
• 7 Ions and ionic bonding
• 7 Ions and ionic bonding
• 8 Water and its impurities
• 8 Water and its impurities
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgements