Smart Art: Chemistry

Chemistry: A Quick Introduction

Even a very thick text on chemistry barely scratches the surface of this particular scientific discipline. To understand chemistry, you must begin by understanding some things about matter. Chemistry is "the science of the composition, structure, properties, and reactions of matter, especially of atomic and molecular systems." (source: The Free Dictionary)

Matter is anything that has mass and volume. Generally, we say something is either mass or energy. You can convert one into the other; this is what an atomic bomb does (nuclear reaction). Chemical reactions do not convert mass into energy; they release energy by breaking the bonds between particles of matter.

A core concept of physics is the Law of Conservation of Inertia. This is often misunderstood, due to our earthly frame of reference. We may not feel it, but we are always in motion. We are, for example, constantly falling toward the earth because of its gravity. Mass is a measure of the inertia an object has. An object's mass is its resistance to change in motion.

An object's volume is the amount of space it takes up. Most people who say they want to lose weight really mean they want to lose volume so their pants will fit again.

We measure the amount of a substance by how many units of it there are (in, say, a beaker of it). One unit of measurement chemists use to measure the amount of a substance is the mole. This unit is the bane of high schools students who take a chemistry class and spend long, painful hours performing calculations with Avagadro's number.

Two ways that chemists (and other scientists and engineers and even chefs) look at the properties of matter are physical properties and chemical properties. You can measure the physical properties without changing the identity of the chemical. But when you measure the chemical properties, you use a reagent and your interest is in how that chemical changes due to the reaction.

Matter will take up one of three states, depending on pressure and temperature. In order of decreasing energy level, they are: gas, liquid, and solid. And there's a fourth state, plasma. When electrical gear blows up, the molten copper that sprays onto whatever is nearby is a plasma. Plasmas are very energetic, making gases look downright geriatric by comparison.

Most people don't know that the glass in their windows is actually a liquid, not a solid.

So now you have a little background in chemistry. But it's only a start. Any serious student of chemistry is going to spend time getting very familiar with an amazing tool called the Periodic Table. The amount of information packed into this is much more than people think when they first see it. There is even information embedded in how the elements are arranged in the table.