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CK01A Standard/Honors Home School Chemistry Laboratory Kit

Download the full CK01A Manual

CK01A kits are currently in stock and available for immediate shipping. Orders received by 10:00 a.m. eastern time on any business day normally ship that day. Orders received after 10:00 a.m. normally ship the following business day. We ship to street addresses and PO boxes in all 50 states via USPS Priority Mail, with typical delivery times of 1 to 3 business days. Delivery times to APO/FPO addresses are typically 6 to 10 business days, depending on your actual physical location, but may take longer.

Note: As of 27 January 2013, we no longer ship CK01 kits to Canada. The shipping costs, already very high, increased by 35% as of 27 January, and the paperwork hassles have become more than we're willing to deal with. Sorry.

Many Canadians who live near the US border or who are visiting friends or family in the US have us ship kits to the US address and then take the kits with them when they drive back to Canada. We have shipped scores of kits this way and no one has ever reported a problem returning to Canada with the kits.

We use PayPal to do our credit card processing securely, but you needn't be a PayPal member to order a kit. You can order kits using any major credit card. Kit prices include shipping. Sales tax at 6.75% is added automatically for products shipped to North Carolina addresses. No international sales. Shipping regulations and the nature of the kits make it impossible for us to accept returns, so please be certain you want the kit before you order it. All sales are final. To avoid shipping delays, please be sure that the shipping address you provide is the same as the billing address for your credit card.

If you have questions before ordering, please email us at: support (at) thehomescientist dot com.

The CK01A kit includes one set of chemical splash goggles; the CK01AG kit includes a second set of splash goggles for a teacher or a second student. To order one kit, click the Add to Cart button.  To order one of either item, click the Add to Cart button for that item. To order more than one of either item, click the Add to Cart button and then update the quantity for that item in the shopping cart before submitting the order.

Click here for information about price changes effective 1 June 2013

CK01A Chemistry Kit, $168:
CK01AG Chemistry Kit, $173:

CK01A Homeschool Chemistry Kit

About the CK01A Chemistry Kit

Because chemistry is widely considered to be the most difficult lab course to do well—particularly on a tight budget—we offer the CK01A Standard/Honors Home School Chemistry Laboratory Kit. It provides a comprehensive, rigorous laboratory component for a first-year high school chemistry course, and does so affordably. With the exception of standard household items (such as table salt, sugar, vinegar, aluminum foil, foam cups, and so on) and other minor items that are readily available locally, the kit contains all of the special equipment and chemicals you'll need for a complete chemistry lab course.

The kit can be used with a religious curriculum or a secular curriculum, and is easy to coordinate with any standard chemistry textbook, including A Beka, Alpha Omega, Apologia, Bob Jones, CK-12, Real Science for Kids (RS4K) Chemistry II, RS4Teens Chemistry, and many others. The laboratory sessions encompass the entire range of topics typically covered in a first-year high school chemistry course. The kit contains sufficient material to provide lab sessions, interspersed with your lecture material, over the course of a full school year. For students who have already completed a first-year chemistry lecture course that did not include a lab component, you can use this kit as a standalone chemistry lab course taught on weekends during the school year or during the summer session.

For a student who will go on to major in college in chemistry or another science, the kit provides a rigorous, comprehensive first-year chemistry lab experience. For non-science majors, you can, at your option, reduce the rigor and scope of the chemistry lab experience simply by doing only selected core lab sessions, while still providing an essential introduction to chemistry lab concepts and procedures.

These kits are designed and produced by Robert Bruce Thompson, author of the best-selling Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments: All Lab, No Lecture, which has been used by thousands of homeschoolers to provide hands-on homeschool chemistry lab courses. As popular as that book is, we frequently receive email from readers asking if there is a way to do a rigorous first-year hands-on chemistry lab course without spending several hundred dollars or more on equipment and supplies. So we set out to design a homeschool chemistry kit that would be as inexpensive as possible while providing a full range of rigorous experiments.

The CK01A kit provides 39 hands-on chemistry experiments in 14 topic areas:

Topic I. Separating Mixtures

Session I-1: Recrystallization
Session I-2: Chromatography
Session I-3: Solvent Extraction
Session I-4: Salting Out

Topic II. Solubility and Solutions

Session II-1: Solubility as a Function of Temperature
Session II-2: Conductance of Ionic and Molecular Solutes
Session II-3: Colligative Properties of Solutions: Boiling Point Elevation and Freezing Point Depression

Topic III. Chemical Reactions and Stoichiometry

Session III-1:  Observe a Composition Reaction
Session III-2:  Observe a Decomposition Reaction
Session III-3:  Observe a Single Replacement Reaction
Session III-4:  Observe Double Replacement Reactions
Session III-5:  Stoichiometry of Double Displacement Reactions

Topic IV. Reduction-Oxidation (Redox) Reactions

Session IV-1: Observe Oxidation States of Manganese

Topic V. Acid-Base Chemistry

Session V-1: Determine the Effect of Concentration on pH and the pH Range of Indicators
Session V-2: Determine the Molarity of Vinegar by Titration

Topic VI. Chemical Kinetics

Session VI-1: Determining the Effect of Temperature, Concentration, and Surface Area on Reaction Rates
Session VI-2: Determining the Effect of a Catalyst on Reaction Rate
Session VI-3: Determining a Reaction Order

Topic VII. Chemical Equilibrium

Session VII-1: Observe Le Châtelier's Principle in Action
Session VII-2: Determine a Solubility Product Constant
Session VII-3: Observe the Characteristics of a Buffer Solution

Topic VIII. Gas Chemistry

Session VIII-1: Observe the Pressure-Volume Relationship of Gases (Boyle's Law)
Session VIII-2: Observe the Volume-Temperature Relationship of Gases (Charles' Law)
Session VIII-3: Determine Gas Mass Ratios by Effusion (Graham's Law)

Topic IX. Thermochemistry

Session IX-1: Determine Heat of Solution
Session IX-2: Determine Heat of Fusion of Ice
Session IX-3: Determine the Specific Heat of a Metal
Session IX-4: Determine the Enthalpy Change of a Reaction

Topic X. Electrochemistry

Session X-1: Observe Electrolysis
Session X-2: Observe the Electrochemical Oxidation of Iron
Session X-3: Measure Electrode Potentials
Session X-4: Build a Voltaic Cell

Topic XI. Photochemistry

Session XI-1: Photochemical Reaction of Iodine and Oxalate

Topic XII. Colloids and Suspensions

Session XII-1: Observe Some Properties of Colloids and Suspensions

Topic XIII. Analytical Chemistry

Session XIII-1. Determine Boron Concentration with Curcumin
Session XIII-2. Determine Salicylate Concentration in Urine
Session XIII-3. Determine Vitamin C Concentration in Urine
Session XIII-4: Detect Lead in Household Materials

Topic XIV. Synthetic Chemistry

Session XIV-1. Synthesize Esters

The CK01A kits include a complete PDF manual. You do not need the Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments book to use this kit.



Kit Contents

The CK01A kit contains the following chemicals, equipment, and other materials:

Chemicals (30 mL bottles)

□ Acetic acid, 6.0 M
□ Copper(II) sulfate, 1.0 M
□ Hydrochloric acid, 6.0 M
□ Iodine/iodide solution, 0.1 M
□ Lead(II) acetate, 0.1 M
□ Oxalic acid, 0.5 M
□ Potassium permanganate, 0.1 M
□ Sodium borate, 0.1% w/r to boron
□ Sodium hydroxide, 6.0 M
□ Sodium salicylate, 200 ppm w/r to salicylate
□ Vegetable oil

Chemicals (15 mL bottles)

□ Ammonia, 6.0 M
□ Barium nitrate, 0.1 M
□ Bromothymol blue indicator solution
□ n-Butanol
□ Calcium nitrate, 0.1 M
□ Iron(II) sulfate, 0.1 M
□ Iron(III) chloride, 0.1 M
□ Methyl orange indicator solution
□ Methyl red indicator solution
□ Phenolphthalein indicator solution
□ Phosphoric acid, 1.0 M
□ Potassium bromide, 0.1 M
□ Potassium dichromate, 0.1 M
□ Potassium ferricyanide, 0.1 M
□ Potassium iodide, 0.1 M
□ Sodium bisulfite, 1.0 M
□ Sodium carbonate, 1.0 M
□ Sodium ferrocyanide, 0.1 M
□ Sodium sulfide, 0.1 M
□ Sodium thiosulfate, 1.0 M (stabilized)
□ Starch indicator solution
□ Sulfuric acid, 1.0 M
□ Thymol blue indicator solution
□ Turmeric reagent

Chemicals (widemouth bottles)

□ Charcoal, activated
□ Magnesium sulfate
□ Salicylic acid

Chemicals (packets)

□ Ascorbic acid (500 mg tablets)
□ Copper (wire)
□ Iron (nail and wool)
□ Magnesium (strip)
□ Sodium bicarbonate (650 mg tablets)

Equipment

□ Alligator patch cord, black
□ Alligator patch cord, red
□ Battery adapter, 9V
□ Beakers, polypropylene, 50 mL
□ Beakers, polypropylene, 100 mL
□ Beaker, glass, 250 mL
□ Centrifuge tubes, 15 mL
□ Centrifuge tubes, 50 mL, self-standing
□ Cylinder, graduated, polypropylene, 10 mL
□ Cylinder, graduated, polypropylene, 100 mL
□ Goggles, chemical splash, w/ cap vents
□ Goggles, chemical splash, w/ cap vents, 2nd set [CK01AG only]
□ Pipettes, polyethylene, thin-stem
□ Reaction plate, 24-well
□ Reaction plate, 96-well
□ Ruler (6”/150mm)
□ Spatula, stainless, 4”, flat/spoon
□ Stirring rod, 6” x 5mm
□ Syringe, 10 mL oral, with cap
□ Stoppers
□ Test tube brush
□ Test tube clamp
□ Test tube rack
□ Test tubes
□ Thermometer
□ Wire gauze

Other Consumables

□ Battery, 9V
□ Chromatography paper
□ Cobalt chloride test strips
□ Cotton balls
□ Cotton swabs
□ Sharpie marking pen
□ Wide-range pH test strips
□ Wood splints

The CK01AG kit includes a second set of chemical splash goggles, for use by the teacher or a second student.

Please note: many of the materials included in the CK01A kits are hazardous if handled or used improperly. Before opening or using the kit, please take the time to read the Material Safety Data Sheets, and observe all recommended precautions and safety measures while using the kit.



Documentation and Support

Rather than include a printed manual, we provide the instruction manual for this kit in PDF format, which can be read on any computer and on most tablets, smart phones, ebook readers, and similar devices. Reading the manual requires Adobe Reader, which is already installed on most computers and other reading devices. If you need to install it, visit the Adobe Reader download page. You can copy and print all or parts of this manual as often as necessary for personal use. We recommend printing and reading each lab session before you begin the session. Use the printed material for reference as you do the session.

We also provide a PDF copy of the answer key, which provides detailed answers to the questions posed at the end of each lab session. In an attempt to keep students from "peeking", we don't make this answer key freely downloadable. Instead, we'll email you a copy when you submit your order.

Each kit purchase includes an account in our on-line support forums.






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