The Nature of Science: Chemistry Overview

Study Notes

The Nature of Science

Chemistry is referred to as the "central science" due to its foundational role in various scientific fields.
It studies the properties, composition, and structure of substances, alongside the changes they undergo during reactions.

Importance of Chemistry in Daily Life

Provides basic necessities: shelter, food, and clothing.
Enhances luxuries: convenient transportation, advanced communication (computers, cosmetics, perfumes).
Aids in disease management with the synthesis of antibiotics, anesthetics, and hormones.
Explains food composition and nutritional values.
Advances scientific and technological studies in telecommunications and computing.
Increases awareness of bodily functions and chemical processes within the body.
Leads to the discovery of organophosphorus pesticides, reducing crop losses.

Branches of Chemistry

Inorganic Chemistry: Studies elements and their compounds excluding carbon, focusing on nonorganic materials and earth minerals.
Organic Chemistry: Concerned with carbon compounds and their interactions.
Analytical Chemistry: Involves the composition of substances; techniques for qualitative and quantitative analysis.
Biochemistry: Explores the chemical nature of living organisms and their transformations, integrating organic and physical chemistry concepts.
Physical Chemistry: Examines physical properties of materials and their interactions with electromagnetic fields.

Scientific Method

Involves systematic steps: stating a purpose/question, conducting research, forming a hypothesis, performing experiments, analyzing data, and drawing conclusions.
Alternative sequence includes observation, hypothesis/model creation, experimentation, data analysis, and conclusion.

Aluminum

In the 19th century, aluminum was a rare and valuable metal, never occurring in pure form in nature.
Found in bauxite ore, with common uses arising from chemistry and engineering collaboration.

History of Chemistry Timeline

Prehistoric Era: Initiation marked by the use of fire, cooking food, producing wine, and cosmetics.
Greek Civilization:
- Thales: Proposed all matter derived from water.
- Democritus: Introduced the concept of atoms as the simplest matter units.
- Empedocles: Identified four elements: fire, air, water, earth.
- Aristotle: Discussed four natural qualities: heat, cold, moisture, dryness.
Christian Era to 17th Century (Alchemy):
- Alchemists aimed to transmute base metals into gold, laying groundwork for modern chemistry.
- Paracelsus: Innovated medicine with opium and mercury; linked to pharmacology.
- Galileo: Pioneered accurate measurements.
- Robert Boyle: Disproved Aristotle's four elements; formulated Boyle's Law.
17th Century to Mid-19th Century (Traditional Chemistry):
- George Ernst Stahl: Established phlogiston theory.
- Joseph Priestley: Isolated oxygen from mercuric oxide.
- Jan Baptista van Helmont: Coined "gas" relating to carbon dioxide.
- Antoine Lavoisier: Father of modern chemistry, disproved phlogiston theory.
- Mikhail Lomonosov: Advanced the understanding of gas laws and organic origins of earth materials.
- John Dalton: Formulated atomic theory.
- Notable discoveries:
  - Vacuum tube by Heinrich Geissler
  - Cathode rays by William Crookes
  - Proton by Eugene Goldstein
  - Electric motor by Michael Faraday
  - X-rays by Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen
  - Spontaneous radioactivity by Henri Becquerel
  - Electron properties by Joseph John Thomson
  - Neutron by James Chadwick
  - Types of radioactivity by Ernest Rutherford
  - Radioactive properties by the Curies
  - Electron energy levels by Niels Bohr
  - Nuclear fission by Enrico Fermi
  - Periodic Law by Dmitri Mendeleev; recognized as the Father of the Periodic Table.
  - Atomic numbers arranged by Henry Moseley, leading to the increasing order in the periodic table.