Chemistry is a discipline whose operation can be seen everywhere . You just have to think about it for a moment and surely every thing that comes to mind, natural or artificial, works or exists due to the discoveries we have made in this science. Light bulbs? That’s chemistry. Refuel a car? Chemistry. Fry eggs? While you cook, you are literally watching chemical reactions in action Chemistry WordPress Blog.
Truly, it is difficult to overstate the role that chemistry plays in our lives , especially since we ourselves are made up of atoms and molecules. All of biology is too, and there is only one discipline we have to thank for the way we breathe, see, move and eat.
So, if in basic chemistry courses you think about how much you hate the subject, how much it frustrates you, how boring it is or how little sense it makes, remember that there is nothing more fundamental in the world than the things that are They study in this subject. Chemistry is anything but meaningless.
To prove it, we have taken from the textbook the most interesting things in the world of chemistry. We have developed an introduction to chemistry that is not all functional groups, atomic structure, and acids and bases. Although high school chemistry may not be, we want to show you that chemistry in the real world is fun .
The basics of chemistry
Let’s take a quick look at some of the most important ideas in general chemistry that you need to understand, the kind of things any scientist takes for granted. Where do we start? You guessed it: the periodic table of the elements.
The periodic table
Surely you have seen it in all the laboratories or chemistry classrooms you have been in. No chemistry department is complete without one . But what is it for?
You’ve heard of elements, right? The pure substances we refer to with names like oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, potassium. They are substances that cannot be reduced to anything else ; Well these are the things that are shown on the periodic table.
The table is ordered according to the reactivity of each element, from least reactive to most, and according to the atomic number of each one.
chemical reactions
But the bread and butter of physical chemistry is the chemical reaction . It’s what happens when you burn toast, when you breathe, when you light a fire, when you do almost anything. It is what is studied in class.
We know that everything around us is made up of relationships between one type of molecule or atom and other different types, often formed together with bonds (in which pure molecules form compounds). However, these molecular relationships are never stable, since they change when heat or another certain substance may be present.
When they change, and when the molecules, or the ions or the electrons that make up these molecules, rearrange themselves, this is what is called a chemical reaction .
Acids and bases
Surely we have all encountered acids and bases at some point. You may even use acids almost every day , since lemons and vinegar are acidic.
Bases may be less common, but every time you’ve washed your hands with soap or used bleach to clean the sink, you’ve come into contact with a base.
The theory says that, in chemical reactions, acids release a proton to the reactant, while bases steal them . Believe it or not, this seemingly simple process is the main reason behind the difference.
Some Key Chemistry Terms
But as you know, as a chemistry student, the subject is full of theoretical and analytical terms that you simply have to learn . If you want to be a successful chemist, you have to do it, and we all know this can be one of the least interesting parts of learning something!
So, do you know what a polymer or a hydrocarbon is? Do you know the difference between a covalent bond and an ionic bond ? Any ideas what a catalyst or chemical might be? Or what could oxidation, distillation or titration mean?
We have made a glossary of essential chemical terminology in this article that describes the most important terms in the chemistry curriculum so that you do not miss anything about chemical structure or states of matter or in case you are just starting to do your first chemistry experiments.