Tuesday, November 5, 2019
An informal introduction to chemistry.
Before I begin, I want to talk about the subject of chemistry itself. Chemistry is the study of matter. It tells us what matter is made out of, what types of matter we are dealing with, how matter behaves by itself or when it interacts with other matter, and even how we can make new types of matter from existing matter. When I first began my studies, I was told the same phrase everyone hears about chemistry: Chemistry is everything. Chemistry rules the world. We are all made out of atoms, etc. I mean, yeah, makes sense, woo hoo, so what? Well, let's put it better: Phone batteries operate on principles learned in chemistry. Without chemistry, there would be no batteries. Chemistry is responsible for the colors of your walls at home. Paints are made using chemistry. Chemistry is also responsible for solar panels. Chemistry is the reason we have pure salt, sugar, epsom salts, paper, car tires, gasoline, plastics, wifi, radio, clocks, rockets, satellites, and more recently, meat-subsituted hamburgers! It's one thing to hear in a single sentence "Chemistry is everything", but it's another thing altogether to come to the realization that literally everything around us in today's modern world is chemistry! Many times, we don't spend much time fully grasping the significance of statements or concepts we learn, but in this case, the sentence of "Chemistry is Everything" really doesn't do justice to the fact that chemistry is literally responsible for our modern world!
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