chemistry

Chemistry

2022

We explain what chemistry is, its history, branches and applications. Also, the principles of modern chemistry and its relation to physics.

Chemistry explains both constants and changes in matter.

What is chemistry?

Chemistry is the science that studies composition, structure Y properties of the matter, including its relationship to the Energy and also the changes that can occur in it through the calls reactions. It is the science that studies substances and the particles that compose them, as well as the different dynamics that can occur between them.

Chemistry is one of the great Sciences contemporary, whose appearance revolutionized the world forever. This science has offered functional and testable explanations for the complex behavior of known materials, capable of explaining both their permanence and their changes.

On the other hand, chemical knowledge is present in everyday life, to the extent that we use natural substances and create artificial ones. Processes such as cooking, fermentation, metallurgy, the creation of smart materials and even many of the processes that take place in our bodies, can be explained through a chemical perspective (or biochemistry).

On the other hand, the domain of chemistry allowed the emergence of the industry: the transformation of materials at the will of man to create useful objects (or the materials necessary to make them). In this sense, it is one of the sciences that has had the greatest impact in the world and in the history of the humanity.

History of chemistry

In a strict sense, the history of chemistry began in the prehistory when the human He became interested in materials, manufacturing, cooking and baking. Its link with the technological progress of humanity is unquestionable.

The word chemistry comes from Latin ars chimia ("Alchemical art"), in turn derived from the Arabic term alchemy, with which the pseudoscientific practice of the seekers of the philosopher's stone was named around the year 330, with which they could convert the lead and other metals in gold, to grant immortality or omniscience.

The first alchemists were Islamic scientists who, as the West plunged into the fanaticism religious Christian, they cultivated the wisdom of the elements and materials, understood as a set of bodies and spirits that using the techniques correct could be manipulated or transformed.

These mysterious characters used to be called "chemicals" (from alchemical). However, as of 1661, with the publication of “The Skeptic Chemist " from the Irish scientist Robert Boyle (1627-1691), the term came to have a less esoteric (spiritual) meaning and more linked to science.

On the other hand, the definition of chemistry has varied enormously over time. In particular because his field has grown and evolved enormously, resignifying this discipline.

Around 1662, the Swiss scientist Christopher Glaser (1615-1670) defined chemistry as the scientific art of dissolving the bodies of different materials, because in 1730 the German Georg Stahl (1659-1734) called it the art of understanding the dynamics of mixtures.

It was not until 1837 that the French chemist Jean-Baptiste Dumas (1800-1884) defined it as the science that deals with intermolecular forces. Instead, today we understand it as the study of matter and its changes, following the definition of the famous Hong Kong chemist Raymond Chang (1939-2017).

However, chemistry as a science came into being in the 18th century, when the first scientific experiments verifiable with matter took place in the Europe modern, especially after the 1983 nomination of the Atomic theory by John Dalton.

Since then, chemistry has sparked numerous discoveries and revolutions. In addition, it has had an important impact on sciences and similar disciplines, such as biology, the physical and engineering.

The United Nations declared that 2011 would be the International Year of Chemistry, in recognition of the enormous scientific trajectory traveled and the undeniable impact that this discipline has on our life.

Branches of chemistry

Biochemistry allows us to understand the reactions that occur in cells.

Chemistry comprises a wide number of branches, since its field of study is close to various sciences and disciplines. Among these branches are:

  • The inorganic chemistry. Dedicated to the study of the matter that does not mainly make up the living beings nor to its substances, but is proper to inanimate forms of matter. It differs from organic chemistry in that it is not focused on any element in particular (as is organic chemistry on carbon).
  • Organic chemistry. Also called life chemistry, it is a branch of chemistry focused on compounds that revolve around carbon and hydrogen, and that are mostly those that allow the composition of life.
  • The biochemistry. Taking a step towards biology, biochemistry is the chemistry of the bodies of living beings, interested in the energy processes that keep them alive, in the reactions that occur in an orderly manner in their cells, and other areas of knowledge that allow us to understand how our bodies are physically made.
  • Physicochemistry. Also called physical chemistry, it studies the physical bases that sustain all kinds of chemical processes, especially with regard to energy, such as the area of ​​electrochemistry, thermodynamics chemistry and other sectors of physics (or chemistry, as you see it).
  • Industrial chemistry. Also called applied chemistry, it takes the theoretical knowledge of chemistry and applies it to the resolution of problems of everyday life. It goes hand in hand with chemical engineering since it is interested in the economic production of chemical reagents, in novel materials and, currently, in the ways of conducting industrial activity without affecting the environment.
  • The analytic chemistry. Its fundamental purpose is to detect and quantify the chemical elements present in a given substance, that is, to find methods and ways to check what things are made of and in what percentage.
  • Astrochemistry. He withdraws from the everyday world to take an interest in stars and its composition goes hand in hand with astrophysics. It is one of the most specialized branches of this vast science.

Importance of chemistry

Chemistry is present in the vast majority of industrial processes, as well as in very everyday aspects of our lives. Thanks to it, we have developed complex materials adapted to our various needs throughout history.

From the alloys metals, to pharmacological compounds or fuels to boost our means of transport, knowledge of the chemical reactions it has been fundamental. In fact, thanks to chemistry we have changed the world around us, for better and for worse.

On the other hand, chemistry will probably give us the knowledge to repair the damage caused by ecosystem throughout our history.

Chemistry Applications

Chemistry allows the manufacture of multiple materials such as synthetic fibers.

Chemistry is one of the fields of human knowledge that has the greatest applications in many areas of life. Some of them are:

  • Obtaining energy. Thanks to the handling of chemical substances such as fuels and hydrocarbons, or even to the manipulation of atomic nuclei of heavy elements, it is possible to generate caloric energy which in turn serves to generate electric power . This is what happens in thermoelectric or thermonuclear power plants.
  • The manufacture of advanced materials. Thanks to chemistry, today there are synthetic fibers, smart materials and other elements that allow the manufacture of new types of garments, better tools and new applications to improve human life.
  • Pharmacology. Hand in hand with biochemistry and medicine, chemistry allows the combination of compounds to produce medicines and treatments that extend human life and also improve its quality.
  • The improvement of agriculture. Through understanding the chemistry of soils, today we can manufacture additives, fertilizers and other substances whose correct use turns poor soils into soils ideal for planting, allowing to combat hunger and poverty.
  • Sanitation and decontamination. By understanding the properties of astringent substances, degreasers and other types of local action, we can produce disinfectants and cleaners to lead a healthier life, and also provide a remedy for the ecological damage that our own industries cause to the ecosystem.

Principles of modern chemistry

Modern chemistry is governed by the so-called quantum principle, the result of the atomic theory that considers matter from different levels of complexity, such as:

  • Matter. Whatever i have mass, volume and is composed of particles. It can be composed of pure substances or mixtures.
  • Chemical compounds. Chemical substances made up of more than one chemical element or type of atom, which does not mean that they are mixtures, but rather that they are substances whose framework of particles repeats combinations of the same different elements.
  • Molecules. Unions of two or more atoms, in a minimum unit endowed with unique functionality and properties, the result of the characteristics, location and abundance of the elements that compose them. A chemical compound can be reduced to its minimum molecules, but if these are “broken”, there will be no more compound and we will only have atoms, that is, the minimum pieces that compose it.
  • Atoms. Minimal, imperceptible particles, endowed with weight, volume, stability and electric chargeThey are the bricks with which matter is made. There is a finite number of atoms, each type corresponding to a chemical element contemplated in the periodic table of elements.
  • Subatomic particles. Particles that make up the atoms and give them their properties. Three types are known: electrons (negatively charged), neutrons (no load) and protons (positively charged). The former orbit the nucleus of the atom like a cloud, while the latter two make up the nucleus itself, and are in turn composed of even smaller and ephemeral subparticles, called quarks.

Chemistry and physics

Chemistry does not intervene in state changes but physics.

Chemistry and physics are sister disciplines, but they contemplate the reality from different points of view. Chemistry is the science of matter, of reactions and of their compositions. Instead, physics is the science of the forces that govern the real world and that largely determine the condition (not the composition) of matter.

This difference of perspectives can be understood if we think about the states of matter: the Water It is composed of two chemical elements that make up its molecules: hydrogen and oxygen (H2O). This will remain the case when the water is in liquid state, when frozen to the solid state and when it boils down to steam.

In each of its physical states, the substance has very different internal energy levels as a result of the vibration of its particles in different modes. There's a physical change, but not a chemical changeSince, as in the example of water, ice and steam still have the same chemical elements.

Instead, by promoting a chemical reaction of water with a metal is obtained oxideIn other words, the chemical composition of both substances changes and a new one is obtained (metal oxide), without the water ceasing to be liquid and the iron ceasing to be solid, that is, without altering the physical state of matter.

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