Is Chemistry All About Learning Acid And Base

I still remember the days when I had to deal with the benzene rings. They used to be my worst enemies. I used to see the reflection of butcher in my chemistry teacher’s face. I used to hate the subject so much that I was eagerly waiting for the moment when my class X will get over and I could jump to the Arts stream. What a relief it was when the moment really came. I tried hard but could never understand the reason why I found this specific subject so uninteresting. Unfortunately, I was given an assignment on Chemistry to find out facts about the subject. Irritated, I started with my work but gradually found it quite interesting. Chemistry was pioneered by the ancient Egyptians around 4,000 years ago. Ancient civilizations had used technologies that formed the basis of the different branches of chemistry such as making pottery and glazes, making pigments for cosmetics and painting, dying cloth, rendering fat into soap, making alloys, fermenting wine and beer, upto 1000 BC.

The modern scientific method was invented by the medieval Arab and Persian scholars. They brought up the observation and controlled experiment and discovered many chemical substances. The renowned Muslim chemists were al-Kindi, al-Baruni, Alhazen, al-Razi and Jabir ibn Hayyan. Jabir translated his work in Latin and it became popular in Spain during 14th century. Chemistry was emerged in Europe due to the Dark Ages in which many people died of plague and blights. The theory of Conservation of mass was developed by Antoine Lavoisier in 1783. And, in 1800, John Dalton developed the atomic Theory. The study of atoms, molecules, metals, elementary particles and other aggregates of matter is called traditional chemistry.

Chemistry is defined as the science of matter, particularly its composition, properties, reactions, structure and the changes it goes through. Chemistry is also called as “the central science” as it ties up physics with the other natural sciences like geology, biology and astronomy. There are certain laws which are fundamental concepts in chemistry. They are Beer-Lambert law, Charles’s law, Henry’s law, Law of conservation of energy, Law of multiple proportions, Avogadro’s law, Law of definite composition, etc.

chemistry is divided into several sub-disciplines such as analytical chemistry, biochemistry, materials chemistry, inorganic chemistry, nuclear chemistry, neurochemistry, physical chemistry, organic chemistry and theoretical chemistry. Neurochemistry is the chemical study of the nervous system which is a specialized discipline and has emerged in the recent years. Within chemistry there are other fields also such as astrochemistry, atmospheric chemistry, flavor chemistry, geochemistry, materials science, mathematical chemistry, polymer chemistry, radiochemistry, surface chemistry, thermo chemistry, supramolecular chemistry, mechano chemistry, etc.

The overall study of chemistry was good but since it was not my cup of tea, it never quite found itself a place in my brains. While going through the entire study, the only thing that went on in my mind was how I would pronounce such long chemical names while making my presentation before the whole class. However, now while recapitulating the old days, the subject still gives me slight shivers.