Science and nature are really fascinating. Whether you believe in a divine power or not, you cannot deny that everything around us is magnificently done. All, even the scarce and imperfect, come in incredible package. Every element works in their respective functions and their combinations lead only to nothing but the most wonderful things. The air that we breathe, the water that we drink, and the land we live on are but only few proofs of cosmic intelligence and mystery. Underneath it all, Chemistry is there.



Chemistry can be called as the focal point of science for it is the converging point of other sciences like physics, material science, nanotechnology, biology, and geology. Its horizon is too vast and wide for full human conquest. In simplistic view, Chemistry is everything found in this world, us included. In detailed view, Chemistry is the science of matter at the atomic to molecular levels. It is primarily concerned in studying of atoms in molecules, crystals, metals, and everything around us. In a deeper sense, Chemistry is about compositions and statistical properties of all structures. It touches on transformations, interrelations, and interactions among all matter.

Even before it was called in its current name, Chemistry has been existing even before the human race. Probably, man's fascination about nature's many changes and transformation can be rooted from the use of fire. The phenomenon of burning is one of the greatest mysteries that greatly puzzled our forefathers. Medieval people did not know what power is so inherent in fire that it is capable of transforming things. Fire is responsible for the discovery of iron and glass. The prototype of modern-day chemistry is Alchemy. When man discovered gold, it instantly became a precious element symbolic of affluence, wealth, and power. This became an impetus to discover the deeply buried mystery of fire and its capacity to destroy or create things like gold. Enthusiasts of Alchemy, or Alchemists as we now call them, are considered the first generation of chemists. Their zealousness on what can transform or alter things has led to many discoveries of chemical processes elements and domains.

Thanks to the greatness of Antoine Lavoisier, the law of Conservation of mass in 1783 paved the way for the emergence of chemistry as we know it today. Following his footsteps are the likes of Dmitri Mendeleev and Neils Bohr, who all made it possible for us to explore deeper the wonders of chemistry.

It is no doubt then that many are so interested in this science. Kids idolizing Dexter of "Dexter's Laboratory" and Jimmy Neutron's powerful potion all want to be the world's most celebrated chemist. If you would come to think of it, even Superman's source of power and weakness interests a lot of people in the mystery of element combination and transformation. It is not also a wonder then why there are online courses on chemistry widely available these days.

Gone are the days when online education are dominated only by computer course or language course. Choices for online courses now include vocational degrees, law, physical sciences, and even agriculture. Of course Chemistry will not be missing. With more and more advances in the field, many learning institutions have extended their chemistry courses for greater public access through online education. Atoms, molecules, compound, substance, or even the more complicated topics like nuclear radioactivity and nuclear synthesis can now be studied with greater ease and convenience.

In www.free-ed.net, there is even a free course on Chemistry. The General Chemistry course comes totally free of any charge. But being free does not make it less competent than the paid ones. The syllabus and the sources of the teaching materials are from the Department of Chemistry of Purdue University. This course is good for basic to above-average learning of chemistry. The course covers the areas of measurement, elements, compounds, mixtures, Stoichiometry, gases, Thermochemistry, atom structure, bonds, all the way to organic chemistry and nuclear chemistry. Some instructional materials even come in the form of video streaming to make learning of chemistry even more fun than it already is.