Short videos of exciting demonstrations of the chemistry of everyday materials, taken from a lecture by Peter Wothers at the University of Cambridge.

Free Range Chemistry: 01 - Everything is Chemical

An introduction to Peter Wothers' lecture, Free Range Chemistry, about how chemistry is everywhere around us.

Free Range Chemistry: 02 - Coffee - Delicious Chemicals

Find out about some of the natural chemicals make up a delicious cup of coffee.

Free Range Chemistry: 03 - Carbon

Carbon was one of the first chemicals made by man - completely by accident.

Free Range Chemistry: 04 - Gas from Coal

A demonstration of how gas can be made from coal, and how we can use it for light and warmth.

Free Range Chemistry: 05 - Hydrogen Bang

We know we've made hydrogen gas if it catches fire!

Free Range Chemistry: 06 - Coal Gas vs. Hydrogen

How does pure hydrogen gas compare to coal gas when it's set on fire?

Free Range Chemistry: 07 - Making Hydrogen

Making hydrogen gas from the reaction of an acid and a metal.

Free Range Chemistry: 08 - Gold

If you're lucky, you can find pure gold lying around...

Free Range Chemistry: 09 - Native Copper

Copper forms beautiful ores in nature.

Free Range Chemistry: 10 - Copper from Malachite

A demonstration of how we can extract pure copper from some malachite ornaments.

Free Range Chemistry: 11 - Cooking with Copper

Find out how people used to use copper in cooking, and some of the problems it could cause.

Free Range Chemistry: 12 - Testing for Copper

How do we test for poisonous copper in our food?