Applying mathematics, the scientific method, and physics to discover everything we can about matter, chemistry focuses on the elements, their relationships to each other, their interactions, and reactions, the resulting energy balances, and ways to utilize that knowledge to our advantage.
Mankind has used chemistry since the beginning of time. It did not become a science until after the scientific method was developed, but even cavemen unwittingly used chemistry when they discovered how to make fire and inadvertently developed a taste for denatured protein, roasted meat.
The matter that chemistry studies is made of atoms, ions, molecules, and compounds. Each element has different properties because the atom representing each consists of a different number of protons, neutrons, and electrons. The Periodic Table organizes the elements according to their number of protons, neutrons, and reflects how electrons are distributed within each atom.
Each atom has enough negatively charged electrons to balance the positive charge of the protons in the atom’s nucleus, giving all atoms no charge. Atoms are affected by the environmental conditions surrounding them. An atom that loses or gains one or more of its electrons to something in the environment becomes an ‘electrically charged’ ion. Discharging static electricity feels like an electric shock because of the presence of electrically charged ions.
Chemists study the properties of atoms, ions, compounds and molecules. They study how atoms and ions bond to each other, and how to control the conditions of molecules and compounds to make new ones. Learning the mechanisms and all the steps necessary for molecules to react, break old bonds and form new ones, thus creating a new set of molecules enables chemists to devise and synthesize new molecules and compounds that we use, for example, making polymers that will form plastics and synthesize new compounds.
Mankind’s manipulation of seemingly everything we touch, while endlessly wondering “Why This, How That, What Next, and Will It Happen Again?”, lead to the creation of the sciences. Scientists’ understanding, gained through the ages, has peaked at an opportune time for us to manipulate the largest system of all to save Life as we have known it on planet Earth. Philosophy and belief can’t fix what ails the world we have created. Only science can. It should help for all of us to understand some of the science behind the changing conditions on our planet.