Includes index.

Practical chemistry -- The age of alchemy -- Enlightenment chemistry -- The chemical revolution -- The industrial age -- The machine age -- The nuclear age -- A changing world.

Practical chemistry. He who does not know beer, does not know what is good: Brewing ; Sweet oil, the fragrance of the gods: Purifying substances ; Fat from the ram, ashes from the fire: Making soap ; Dusky iron sleeps in dark abodes: Extracting metals from ores ; If it were not so breakable, I should prefer it to gold: Making glass ; Money is by nature gold and silver: Refining precious metals ; Atoms and the vacuum were the beginning of the universe: The atomic universe ; Fire and water and earth and the limitless vault of air : The four elements
The age of alchemy. The philosopher's stone: Attempts to make gold ; The whole house burned down: Gunpowder ; The dose determines that a thing is not a poison: The new chemical medicine ; A far more subtitle thing than a vapor: Gases ; I mean by elements...perfectly unmingled bodies: Corpuscles ; An instrument most potent, fire, flaming, fervid, hot: Phlogiston
Enlightenment chemistry. This particular kind of air...is deadly to all animals: Fixed air ; The gas went off with a pretty loud noise!: Inflammable air ; This air of exalted nature: Oxygen and the demise of phlogiston ; I have seized the light: Early photochemistry ; In all the operations of art and nature, nothing is created: Conservation of mass ; I dare speak of a new earth: Rare-earth elements ; Nature assigns fixed ratios: Compound proportions ; Chemistry without catalysis would be a sword without a handle: Catalysis
The chemical revolution. Each metal has a certain power: The first battery ; Attractive and repulsive forces suspend elective affinity: Isolating elements with electricity ; The relative weights of the ultimate particles: Dalton's atomic theory ; Chemical signs ought to be letters: Chemical notation ; The same but different: Isomerism ; I can make urea without kidneys: The synthesis of urea ; The instantaneous union of sulfurous acid gas with oxygen: Sulfuric acid ; The quantity of mater decomposed is proportional to the quantity of electricity: Electrochemistry ; Air reduced to half its wonted extent, obtained twice as forcible a spring: The ideal gas law ; Any object may be copied by it: Photography ; Nature has made compounds which behave like elements themselves: Functional groups ; O, excellent air-bag!: Anesthetics
The industrial age. That gas would give to our Earth a high temperature: The greenhouse effect ; Coal-derived blues: Synthetic dyes and pigments ; Powerful explosives have enabled wonderful work: Explosive chemistry ; To deduce the weight of atoms: Atomic weights ; Bright lines when brought into the flame: Flame spectroscopy ; Notation to indicate the chemical position of the atoms: Structural formulae ; One of the snakes had seized hold of its own tail: Benzene ; A periodic repetition of properties: The periodic table ; The mutual attraction of the molecules: Intermolecular forces ; Left-and right-handed molecules: Stereoisomerism ; The entropy of the universe tends to a maximum: Why reactions happen ; Every salt, dissolved in water, is partly dissociated in acid and base: Acids and bases ; Change prompts an opposing reaction: Le Chatelier's principle ; Heat-proof, shatter-proof, scratch-proof: Borosilicate glass ; The new atomic constellation: Coordination chemistry ; A glorious yellow effulgence: The noble gases ; The molecular weight shall henceforth be called mole: The mole ; Proteins responsible for the chemistry of life: Enzymes ; Carriers of negative electricity: The electron The machine age. Like light rays in the spectrum, the different components are resolved: Chromatography ; The new radioactive substance contains a new element: Radioactivity ; Molecules, like guitar strings, vibrate at specific frequencies: Infrared spectroscopy ; This material of a thousand purposes: Synthetic plastic ; The most measured chemical parameter: The pH scale ; Bread form air: Fertilizers ; The power to show unexpected and surprising structures: X-ray crystallography ; Gas for sale: Cracking crude oil ; The throat seized as by a strangler: Chemical warfare ; Their atoms have identical outsides but different insides: Isotopes ; Each line corresponds to a certain atomic weight: Mass spectrometry ; The biggest thing chemistry has done: Polymerization ; Development of motor fuels is essential: Leaded gasoline ; Curly arrows are a convenient electron accounting tool: Depicting reaction mechanisms ; Shapes and variations in the structure of space: Improved atomic models ; Penicillin started as a chance observation: Antibiotics ; Out of the atom smasher: Synthetic elements ; Teflon touches every one of us almost every day: Nonstick polymers ; I will have nothing to do with a bomb!: Nuclear fission ; Chemistry depends upon quantum principles: Chemical bonding
The nuclear age. We created isotopes that did not exist the day before: The transuranic elements ; Delicate motion that resides in ordinary things: Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy ; The origin of life is a relatively easy thing: The chemicals of life ; The language of the genes has a simple alphabet: The structure of DNA ; Chemistry in reverse: Retrosynthesis ; New compounds from molecular acrobatics: The contraceptive pill ; Living light: Green fluorescent protein ; Polymers that stop bullets: Super-strong polymers ; The whole structure spread out before one's eyes: Protein crystallography ; The siren draw of miracle cures and magic bullets: Rational drug design ; This shield is fragile: The hole in the ozone layer ; Power to alter the nature of the world: Pesticides and herbicides ; If it blocks cell division, that's good for cancer: Chemotherapy ; The hidden workhorses of the mobile era: Lithium ion batteries ; Beautifully precise copying machines: The polymerase chain reaction ; 60 carbon atoms hit us in the face: Buckminsterfullerene
A changing world. Build things one atom at a time: Carbon nanotubes ; Why not harness the evolutionary process to design proteins?: Customizing enzymes ; A negative emission is good: Carbon capture ; Biobased and biodegradable: Renewable plastics ; The magic of flat carbon: Two-dimensional materials ; Astonishing images of molecules: Atomic force microscopy ; A better tool to manipulate genes: Editing the genome ; We will know where matter ceases to be: Completing the periodic table? ; Humanity against the viruses: New vaccine technologies

"Discover and understand the key ideas that underpin the core science of chemistry and learn about the great minds who uncovered them. Written in plain English, The Chemistry Book is packed with short, pithy explanations of some of the most historic moments in science, from the birth of atomic theory to the discovery of polyethylene and the development of new vaccine technologies to combat COVID-19. Simple graphics, such as flowcharts and mind maps, support the text and make the explanation of key concepts easy to follow. Arranged in chronological order, the book covers key themes in the physical and natural sciences, such as geochemistry and the elements. Within each chapter, a series of articles traces the history of scientific thought and introduces the work of the scientists who have shaped the subject such as John Dalton, Marie Curie, Dmitri Mendeleev, Kathleen Lonsdale, and Stephanie Kwolek. Along the way, the book addresses some of the most fundamental questions in science, such as what is the universe made of, how is matter created, and what are the chemical bonds that make life possible? Whether you are new to chemistry, a student of the sciences, or just want to keep up with and understand the latest news and scientific debates, The Chemistry Book is for you"--

Publisher's description

Written in plain English, The Chemistry Book is packed with short, pithy explanations of more than 95 key ideas. Step-by-step flowcharts unpick complex theories, diagrams demystify chemical processes, illuminating quotes make the ideas and discoveries memorable, and witty illustrations enhance and play with our understanding of the science. Whether you're new to the subject, an avid student of chemistry, or simply intrigued about the diverse applications within the field, you'll find plenty in this book to satisfy your curiosity

College of Arts and Sciences Bachelor of Science in Biology

In English