30-Second Chemistry

30-SECOND
CHEMISTRY
30-SECOND
CHEMISTRY
THE 50 MOST ELEMENTAL CONCEPTS IN CHEMISTRY,
EACH EXPLAINED IN HALF A MINUTE
Editor
Nivaldo Tro
Contributors
Jeff C. Bryan
Stephen Contakes
Glen E. Rodgers
Ali O. Sezer
James Tour
Nivaldo Tro
John B. Vincent
Illustrations
Steve Rawlings
This paperback edition published in the UK in 2020 by
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CONTENTS 48 The Solid State 100 Organic Chemistry
50 Profile: Robert Boyle 102 GLOSSARY
52 Ceramics 104 Organic Chemistry & Vitalism
54 Solutions 106 Hydrocarbons
108 Alcohols
56 Chemical Reactions & Energetics 110 Aldehydes, Ketones & Esters
6 Introduction 58 GLOSSARY 112 Carboxylic Acids & Amines
60 Chemical Equations 114 Profile: Friedrich Wöhler
10 Atoms, Molecules 62 Combustion Reactions 116 Chemistry Copying Nature
& Compounds & Energy Sources 118 Polymers
12 GLOSSARY 64 Neutralizing: Acids & Bases
14 Matter is Made of Particles 66 Creating Solids: Precipitation 120 Biochemistry
16 The Structure of the Atom Reactions 122 GLOSSARY
18 Inside the Atom 68 Using Chemistry to Generate 124 Carbohydrates
20 Where Did Atoms Electricity 126 Lipids
Come From? 70 Reaction Rates & Chemical Kinetics 128 Amino Acids & Proteins
22 The Dual Nature of 72 Profile: Humphry Davy 130 Profile: Anna Jane Harrison
the Electron 74 Energy & the First Law of 132 The Biological Blueprint:
24 Where Electrons Are Thermodynamics Nucleic Acids
within an Atom 76 Entropy & the Second Law of 134 Biotech Drug Synthesis
26 Periodic Patterns Thermodynamics
28 Bonding Atoms Together 78 Entropy & the Third Law of 136 Nuclear Chemistry
30 Profile: John Dalton Thermodynamics 138 GLOSSARY
32 The Lewis Model for 80 Entropy & Spontaneous 140 Radioactivity
Chemical Bonding Processes 142 Splitting the Atom
34 Valence Bond & Molecular 144 Nuclear Weight Loss
Orbital Theories 82 Inorganic Chemistry 146 The Effect of Radiation on Life
36 Opposites Attract 84 GLOSSARY 148 Profile: Otto Hahn
86 The Uniqueness Principle 150 Nuclear Medicine
38 States of Matter 88 Colour
40 GLOSSARY 90 Cluster Chemistry 152 Appendices
42 The Forces That Hold 92 Transition Metal Catalysts 154 Resources
Matter Together 94 Profile: Mario Molina 156 Notes on Contributors
44 The Gaseous State 96 Carbon: It’s Not Just for Pencils 158 Index
46 The Liquid State 98 Nanotechnology 160 Acknowledgements
INTRODUCTION
Nivaldo Tro
The core idea of chemistry is that the whole can be

explained by its parts. The properties of matter can be explained by the
bits that compose it. Understand the bits, and you understand the whole.
Philosophers call this idea reductionism. Reductionism has not always
been popular in the history of thought, nor is it clear that it is universally
true. But the stunning and ongoing success of chemistry in explaining the
behaviour of matter – even living matter – suggests that, at a minimum,
reductionism is a powerful and useful idea.
The ‘bits’ in chemistry are atoms, ions and molecules. Although
the idea that matter has fundamental ‘bits’ is quite old – it was first
suggested more than 2,000 years ago – its broad acceptance is quite
recent, and occurred only about 200 years ago. Before that time, most
thinkers thought that matter was continuous, that it had no smallest
bits. The advent of the scientific revolution in the sixteenth century led
Chemistry helps us
understand that we - and thinkers to correlate their ideas about nature more carefully with empirical
all things around us - are measurements. Since empirical measurements supported the particulate
made up of particles. model, the continuous model was discarded.
Once the particulate model was accepted in the 1800s, progress came
relatively quickly. Scientists began figuring out the structure of the basic
particles that compose matter, and by the early-to-mid twentieth century,
chemists had good models that explained how atoms bond together to
form molecules, and how the structures of atoms and molecules affect
the properties of the substances they compose. In fact, throughout
chemistry, the relationship between structure and properties is a key
unifying theme.
A second unifying theme of chemistry is the progression from simple
to complex. It turns out that, in nature, when you put together simple
particles in slightly different ways, you can get vast complexity. Just as the
26 letters of our alphabet can be combined in different ways to compose
many words, and just as you can combine those words in many ways to
form an even larger number of complex ideas, so the 91 elements that
compose matter can be combined to form many compounds, and those
compounds can be combined to form an even larger number of complex
substances, including all living things.
Graphene is a new,
carbon-based material
that is just one atom thick
but is stronger than steel.
How far can chemistry go in its explanations? We still don’t really

know. We know that chemistry can explain how a gas behaves, but can
it explain how a human brain behaves? The second half of the twentieth
century saw the outgrowth of chemistry into biology with tremendous
success. We now know details about the structures of the complex
molecules at the core of life, and how those structures affect many
attributes of living things. We have been able to custom-make molecules
to fight disease, and even change the hereditary molecules (DNA) in
living organisms to alter the characteristics of those living organisms. The
twenty-first century has brought new challenges and new directions. On
one frontier, scientists are using the ideas in chemistry to try to explain
even more complex phenomena, such as human consciousness, for
example. On another frontier, scientists are using chemistry to build ever
smaller structures and machines, one atom at a time. Someday we may
have molecular submarines, capable of navigating the bloodstream to
fight invading cancer cells or viruses. On yet another frontier, scientists
have created new materials such as graphene, a two-dimensional
substance only one atom thick and stronger than steel. It seems that, at
least for the foreseeable future, the power of the particulate model of
matter to explain behaviour and produce new technology will continue.
8 g Introduction
A tour of this book
In this book, we present the 50 most important ideas in chemistry. Each
entry is broken up into several parts: the 30-second chemistry is the body
of the explanation; the 3-second nucleus is the idea expressed in a single
sentence; the 3-minute valence describes how the idea fits within a wider
context, or can be applied to different circumstances. The book starts
with atoms, their structures and their properties. It then goes on to
show how atoms bond together to form compounds, and how we can
understand bonding and the resulting molecules. From there we move on
to the states of matter (gases, liquids and solids) and then on to chemical
reactions. We then examine the energetics and describe the laws that
govern the flow of energy. Finally, we survey four subfields of chemistry:
inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry and nuclear
chemistry. Our goal throughout is not to provide exhaustive or detailed
The position of electrons
accounts of chemistry, but rather to give you a flavour of the field – to within an atom is central
show that behind all that happens around you and inside you, particles to understanding how
are doing a complex and beautiful dance that makes it all possible. atoms bond together.
Introduction g 9
g
ATOMS, MOLECULES & COMPOUNDS
ATOMS, MOLECULES & COMPOUNDS
GLOSSARY
alkali metals The column of metals Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle The

(group IA) on the far left of the periodic quantum mechanical principle that certain
table that includes lithium, sodium, quantities, such as position and momentum,
potassium, rubidium, cesium and francium. cannot be simultaneously specified to
arbitrary accuracy.
atomic number The unique number
assigned to each element that corresponds ionic bonding The joining of two atoms
to the number of protons in the element’s by the transfer of an electron from one
nucleus. to the other.
atomic theory The idea that all matter is ionic compound A compound, usually
composed of tiny particles called atoms. composed of a metal and one or more
non-metals, that contains atoms joined
classical physics Physics before the advent by ionic bonds.
of quantum mechanics.
isotope An atom that has the same number
covalent bonding The joining of atoms of protons as another atom, but a different
by the sharing of one or more electrons. number of neutrons.
electron A subatomic particle with mass number The sum of the number of
a negative charge and a mass of protons and neutrons of an atom.
0.00055 amu (atomic mass unit).
molecular compound A compound, usually
element A fundamental substance that composed of two or more non-metals, that
cannot be divided into simpler substances. contains atoms joined by covalent bonds.
There are 91 naturally occurring elements.
12 g Atoms, Molecules & Compounds

neutron A subatomic particle with no quantum mechanics The realm of physics,
charge and a mass of 1 amu. developed in the early twentieth century,
that deals with the very smallest particles
noble gases The column of gases (group that exist.
8A) on the far right of the periodic table
that includes helium, neon, argon, krypton, Schrödinger’s Cat thought experiment
xenon and radon. A thought experiment involving the
application of the uncertainty principle to a
nuclear fusion The joining of two lighter cat in a box with a radioactive substance that
nuclei to form a heavier one. has a 50 per cent chance of decaying. If the
atom decays, then the cat dies, so the cat is
nuclear model A model for the atom in in a strange state of being both dead and
which most of the mass of the atom is undead, with a 50 per cent probability of
contained in a small dense nucleus each. Schrödinger used this experiment to
composed of protons and neutrons. Most show that quantum mechanical ideas are not
of the volume of the atom is occupied by applicable to large scale objects (such as cats).
the electron cloud.
valence electrons The highest energy
nucleosynthesis The process by which electrons (and therefore the most important
elements form within stars. in bonding) in an atom.
proton A subatomic particle with a positive velocity A measure of how fast (and in what
charge and a mass of 1 amu. direction) an object is moving.
Glossary g 13
MATTER IS MADE
OF PARTICLES
the 30-second chemistry
The Ancient Greek philosophers
believed that matter was infinitely divisible –
that matter had no fundamental particles.
3-SECOND NUCLEUS Subsequent thinkers followed suit for more than RELATED TOPICS
Matter is composed of 2,000 years. It was not until the eighteenth and See also
particles. The nature of the THE STRUCTURE OF
nineteenth centuries that early chemists used
particles – especially their THE ATOM
structure – determines the
careful measurements – primarily the relative page 16
properties of matter. weights of related samples of matter – to INSIDE THE ATOM
determine otherwise. And it wasn’t until the page 18
early twentieth century that the question was WHERE DID ATOMS COME
3-MINUTE VALENCE
Humans have wondered
definitely settled: the 1926 Nobel Prize for FROM?
page 20
about the fundamental Physics was awarded to Jean Perrin for settling
composition of matter the matter. The Greeks were wrong – matter is
for 2,500 years. The basic particulate (it is made up of particles), and those 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
question is this: if you
divide a sample of matter
particles are called atoms. And that turns out JOHN DALTON
1766–1844
into smaller and smaller to be among the most important ideas in all of English chemist who
pieces, could you go human thought. Why? Because the idea that articulated the atomic theory
of matter
on forever or would
matter is made of particles has enabled us to
you eventually get to JEAN PERRIN
fundamental particles that understand nature from the bottom up. What 1870–1942
are no longer divisible? we found was remarkable: as far as we can tell, French physicist who studied
the motion of tiny particles
For most of civilization, the particles that compose matter – their suspended in liquid to
humans got the answer experimentally settle the
to this question wrong.
composition and structure – determine the question of the particulate
properties of matter. Matter does what the nature of matter
particles that compose it do. Water boils at

100°C (212°F) because the three atoms that 30-SECOND TEXT
compose a water molecule bond together in a Nivaldo Tro
certain order, at a certain angle and at certain
distances. Change any of these characteristics
and water would be a different substance. Jean Perrin won the
Nobel Prize essentially
for proving the
14 g Atoms, Molecules & Compounds existence of atoms.
THE STRUCTURE
OF THE ATOM
In 1897, J. J. Thomson discovered
a new type of particle – the electron – that was
much smaller than the atom itself. Thomson
3-SECOND NUCLEUS demonstrated that electrons were negatively RELATED TOPICS
An atom consists of a charged, that they were present in all different See also
tiny nucleus – containing INSIDE THE ATOM
kinds of matter and that their mass was
protons and neutrons page 18
– with electrons in a
1/2,000th the mass of the lightest atom.
WHERE DID ATOMS
diffuse cloud surrounding Thomson’s discovery implied that the atom COME FROM?
the nucleus. itself was composed of even smaller particles. page 20
Based on his discovery, Thomson developed a THE DUAL NATURE
3-MINUTE VALENCE
model for the atom called the ‘plum-pudding OF THE ELECTRON
page 22
Matter is particulate – it model’. In this model, even the lightest atoms
is made of particles. But were composed of thousands of electrons held
what are those particles in a sphere of positive charge. In 1909, Ernest 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
like? What is their
structure? The earliest
Rutherford (pictured) set out to confirm J. J. THOMSON
1856–1940
models implied that the Thomson’s model, but he proved it wrong English physicist who
distribution of matter instead. Rutherford accelerated particles (8,000 discovered the electron
within an atom was
times more massive than electrons) at a thin ERNEST RUTHERFORD
fairly uniform, but later 1871–1937
experiments suggested sheet of gold atoms. Most of these particles
New Zealand physicist whose
otherwise. The atom itself were not deflected by the gold atoms, but a few famous Gold Foil Experiment
is mostly empty space with established the nuclear model
bounced back. Rutherford claimed that his for the atom
nearly all of the mass
contained in a small space
results were ‘about as credible as if you fired a
called the nucleus. 15-inch [38-cm] shell at a piece of tissue paper
30-SECOND TEXT
and it came back and hit you.’ Rutherford Nivaldo Tro
developed a new model for the atom – the
nuclear model – in which the mass of the atom
is concentrated in a small space called the The nuclear atom, with
nucleus. Most of the volume of the atom is the nucleus enlarged
empty space. to be visible. If drawn
to scale, the nucleus
would be a tiny dot,
16 g Atoms, Molecules & Compounds too small to see.
INSIDE THE ATOM
The number of protons in the
nucleus of an atom is called the atomic number
(Z) and it determines the identity of the atom
3-SECOND NUCLEUS and its corresponding element. For example, RELATED TOPICS
An atom is composed of helium (Z=2) has two protons in its nucleus and See also
protons, neutrons and WHERE DID ATOMS
sodium (Z=11) has eleven protons in its nucleus.
electrons. The number of COME FROM?
electrons in a neutral atom
The number of known elements ranges from page 20
always equals the number Z=1 to Z=118 – as shown in the periodic table PERIODIC PATTERNS
of protons in its nucleus. on the facing page. Each element has a name, page 26
a symbol and a unique atomic number. The RADIOACTIVITY
3-MINUTE VALENCE
number of neutrons in the nucleus of an atom page 140
All atoms are composed can vary within atoms of the same element.
of the same three For example, most helium atoms have two
subatomic particles: 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHY
neutrons, but some have three. Atoms with the JAMES CHADWICK
protons, neutrons and
same number of protons but a different number 1891–1974
electrons (see table below). English physicist who
So what makes one atom of neutrons are called isotopes. Since most of discovered the neutron
different from another? the mass of an atom is due to its protons and
The numbers of those
neutrons, the sum of the numbers of these
particles. Incredible as it 30-SECOND TEXT
may seem, both sodium two particles is called the mass number (A). Nivaldo Tro
(a reactive metal that Scientists specify isotopes with the following
explodes in water) and notation: AZX, where X is the chemical symbol, Z
helium (an inert gas that
reacts with nothing) are
is the atomic number and A is the mass number.
made of the same For example, the helium isotope with 2 neutrons
subatomic particles, is specified by 42 He.
just different numbers
of them. Subatomic Particles
Mass (amu) Charge (relative) The periodic table lists
Proton 1.0 +1 the 118 known elements
Neutron 1.0 0 (91 naturally occurring
Electron 0.00055 -1 and 27 synthetic)
according to their
atomic number (top left
18 g Atoms, Molecules & Compounds in each element box).
1 2
H He
Hydrogen Helium
1.00794 4.002602
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Li Be B C N O F Ne
Lithium Beryllium Boron Cabon Nitrogen Oxygen Fluorine Neon
6.941 9.012182 10.811 12.0107 14.0067 1.00794 18.9984032 20.1797
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Na Mg Al Si P S Cl Ar
Sodium Magnesum Aluminium Silicon Phosphorus Sulfur Chlorine Argon
22.98976928 24.905 26.9815386 28.0855 30.973762 32.065 35.453 39.948
19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
K Ca Sc Ti V Cr Mn Fe Co Ni Cu Zn Ga Ge As Se Br Kr
Potassium Calcium Scandium Titanium Vanadium Chromium Manganese Iron Cobalt Nickel Copper Zinc Gallium Germanium Arsenic Selenium Bromine Krypton
39.0983 40.078 44.9559 1.00794 50.9415 51.9967 54.938045 55.845 58.933195 58.6934 63.546 65.38 69.729 72.64 74.9216 78.96 79.904 83.798
37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54
Rb Sr Y Zr Nb Mo Tc Ru Rh Pd Ag Cd In Sn Sb Te I Xe
Rubidium Strontium Yttrium Zirconium Niobium Molybdenum Technetium Ruthenium Rhodium Palladium Silver Cadmium Indium Tin Antimony Tellurium Iodine Xenon
85.4678 87.62 88.90585 92.9063 92.9063 95.96 [98] 101.07 102.9055 106.42 107.8682 112.411 114.818 118.71 121.76 127.6 126.90447 131.293
55 56 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86
Cs Ba 57-71 Hf Ta W Re Os Ir Pt Au Hg Ti Pb Bi Po At Rn
Caesium Barium Lanthanoids Hafnium Tantalum Tungsten Rhenium Osmium Iridium Platinum Gold Mercury Thallium Lead Bismuth Polonium Astatine Radon
132.9054519 137.327 1.00794 180.94788 183.84 186.207 190.23 192.217 195.084 196.966569 200.59 204.3833 207.2 208.9804 [209] [210] [222]
87 88 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118
Fr Ra 89-103 Rf Db Sg Bh Hs Mt Ds Rg Cn Nh Fl Mc Lv Ts Og
Francium Radium Actinoids Rutherfordium Dubnium Seaborgium Bohrium Hassium Meitnerium Darmstadtium Roentgenium Copernicium Nihonium Flerovium Moscovium Livermorium Tennessine Oganesson
[223] [226] [267] [268] [271] [272] [270] [276] [281] [280] [285] [284] [289] [289] [293] [294] [294]
57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71
La Ce Pr Nd Pm Sm Eu Gd Tb Dy Ho Er Tm Yb Lu
Lanthanum Cerium Praseodymium Neodymium Promethium Samarium Europium Gadolinium Terbium Dysporsium Holmium Erbium Thulium Ytterbium Lutetium
138.90547 140.116 140.90765 144.242 [145] 150.36 151.964 157.25 158.9253 162.5 164.93032 167.259 168.93421 173.054 174.9668
89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103

Ac Th Pa U Np Pu Am Cm Bk Cf Es Fm Md No Lr
Actinium Thorium Protactinium Uranium Neptunium Plutonium Americium Curium Berkelium Californium Einsteinium Fermium Mendelevium Nobelium Lawrencium
[227] 232.03806 140.90765 238.02891 [237] [244] [243] [247] [247] [251] [252] [257] [258] [262] [262]
WHERE DID ATOMS
COME FROM?
According to the big bang model,
our universe began as a hot, dense collection of
matter and energy that rapidly expanded and
3-SECOND NUCLEUS cooled. During the first 20 minutes of that RELATED TOPICS
Atoms form through expansion, hydrogen and helium (the two most See also
nucleosynthesis, which RADIOACTIVITY
abundant elements in the universe) formed
began in the first few page 140
minutes after the big bang
from the soup of subatomic particles. Then
SPLITTING THE ATOM
and happens to this day nucleosynthesis stopped as the universe page 142
within the core of stars continued to expand and cool. Eventually, after
and supernovae. NUCLEAR WEIGHT LOSS
about 500 million years, the first stars formed. page 144
Stars are the nurseries in which all other
3-MINUTE VALENCE elements are made. As stars burn – through
Our planet naturally a process called nuclear fusion – they fuse 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
ARTHUR EDDINGTON
contains about 91 different together the nuclei of smaller atoms to form 1882–1944
elements. Where did the
atoms that compose these
larger atoms. Young stars fuse hydrogen atoms English astronomer and
physicist who first suggested
elements come from? How to form helium. This fusion gives off tremendous that stars are powered by
fusion
did atoms form? They amounts of heat and light and can power a star
formed through a process FRED HOYLE
for billions of years. As a star ages, and if it is
called nucleosynthesis, 1915–2001
which began about 13.7 large enough, fusion can continue to form larger English astronomer who
formulated the theory of
billion years ago at the atoms such as carbon and oxygen – all the way nucleosynthesis within stars
very birth of our universe. up to iron. The formation of elements beyond
iron requires the input of energy, and only
happens in the supernova stage of a star’s life. 30-SECOND TEXT
Nivaldo Tro
A supernova is essentially a large exploding star.
The energy emitted by a supernova can power
the nucleosynthesis of elements up to uranium,
the heaviest naturally occurring element. In stars, smaller atoms
fuse together to form
larger atoms. All atoms
beyond helium were
born in the core of stars
20 g Atoms, Molecules & Compounds and supernovae.
THE DUAL NATURE
OF THE ELECTRON
An electron travelling through
space behaves very differently from a baseball
flying towards the outfield. A baseball has a
3-SECOND NUCLEUS definite trajectory – a deterministic path that RELATED TOPICS
For electrons and other it follows. A good outfielder can predict where See also
small particles, the INSIDE THE ATOM
a baseball will land. This prediction requires
trajectories of classical page 18
physics are replaced
the outfielder simultaneously to know two
WHERE ELECTRONS ARE
with the probability properties of the flying baseball: its position WITHIN AN ATOM
distributions of (where it is) and its velocity (how fast it is going). page 24
quantum mechanics.
If the outfielder only knew one of these two PERIODIC PATTERNS
properties, he or she could not predict the page 26
3-MINUTE VALENCE baseball’s path. An electron behaves differently

Are the smallest particles because it has a dual nature: a wave nature
that exist, such as 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
(associated with its velocity) and a particle ERWIN SCHRÖDINGER
electrons, just like those
nature (associated with its position). The key 1887–1961
that we can see with our Austrian physicist central to
eyes only smaller? Does an to understanding electron behaviour is the development of quantum
mechanics and known for the
electron orbiting an atom Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, which states thought experiment
behave like a planet
that ‘an electron never exists as both a wave ‘Schrödinger’s Cat’
orbiting the Sun? No.
Electrons behave and a particle simultaneously’. It is either one or WERNER HEISENBERG
1901–76
differently. Electrons, and the other, but not both. Although Heisenberg’s
German physicist who
other small particles, have principle solved a great paradox (how something articulated the ‘Uncertainty
a wave-particle duality that Principle’
makes it impossible to
can be both a wave and a particle), it implied the
predict exact trajectories death of determinism. If you can’t observe the
for them. Instead, we wave nature and particle nature of the electron 30-SECOND TEXT
describe their behaviour simultaneously, then you can’t simultaneously Nivaldo Tro
in terms of probability.
know its velocity and its position, which means
you can’t predict its future path.
In an atom, electrons
do not orbit the nucleus
like planets orbit the
Sun. Instead, they exist
22 g Atoms, Molecules & Compounds in clouds of probability.
WHERE
ELECTRONS ARE
WITHIN AN ATOM
The electron orbits of early
atomic models were later replaced by quantum
mechanical orbitals. Unlike a planetary orbit, an
3-SECOND NUCLEUS orbital is a three-dimensional probability map RELATED TOPICS
Electrons in atoms exist that shows the probability of finding an electron See also
in quantum mechanical THE DUAL NATURE
in a certain volume of space. You can understand
orbitals, three-dimensional OF THE ELECTRON
probability maps that show
an orbital with a simple analogy. Imagine taking page 22
the likelihood of finding a photo every 10 seconds for several minutes BONDING ATOMS TOGETHER
the electron in a certain of a moth flying around a light bulb, and then page 28
volume of space.
superimposing all the photos to make a single
image. The result shows the light bulb with
3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
3-MINUTE VALENCE dozens of images of the moth. The volume NIELS BOHR
Atoms bond together by immediately surrounding the light bulb has 1885–1962
sharing or transferring Danish physicist central to the
many moth images, indicating a high probability development of the quantum
electrons. As a result, the mechanical model for atomic
positions of electrons
of finding the moth in that space. Further away structure
within an atom – where from the light bulb there are fewer moth
ERWIN SCHRÖDINGER
they are – is important images, meaning that the probability of finding 1887–1961
because it affects how
the moth in that space is lower. A quantum Austrian physicist central to
atoms bond together. In the development of the
an early model, electrons mechanical orbital is analogous – the light bulb quantum mechanical model
of the atom
were thought to orbit the is the atomic nucleus and the moth is the
nucleus of the atom much electron. Just as the early model of the atom
like planets orbit the Sun.
However, this model was
had many different orbits at different distances 30-SECOND TEXT
later proved wrong and from the nucleus and with different energies, Nivaldo Tro
was replaced with the so the quantum mechanical model has many
quantum mechanical different orbitals, each with different average
model for the atom.
distances from the nucleus and with different Early atomic models
energies. Electrons can be observed in one had electrons orbiting
orbital or another, but never in between. the nucleus like planets
orbit the Sun. These
have been replaced
by the quantum
24 g Atoms, Molecules & Compounds mechanical model.
PERIODIC PATTERNS
The ancient Greeks thought that
matter was composed of only four elements:
earth, water, fire and air. By the mid-1800s,
3-SECOND NUCLEUS however, scientists had discovered more than RELATED TOPICS
When elements are listed 50 different elements. Dmitri Mendeleev See also
in order of increasing INSIDE THE ATOM
noticed a pattern in the properties of known
atomic number, their page 18
properties recur in a
elements when he listed them in order of
BONDING ATOMS TOGETHER
regular pattern. increasing atomic number: certain properties page 28
recurred periodically. Based on this observation,
THE UNIQUENESS PRINCIPLE
Mendeleev constructed a table of elements with page 86
3-MINUTE VALENCE
Our Earth contains about
atomic number increasing from left to right, and
91 different naturally elements with similar properties aligning in
occurring elements, each columns. His table contained some gaps that 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
JULIUS LOTHAR MEYER
one with its own distinctive allowed him to predict the existence and 1830–95
properties. However,
certain groups of elements
properties of yet undiscovered elements (which German chemist who made
significant contributions to the
share similarities. The were later discovered). Mendeleev’s table periodic table
periodic law and the evolved into the modern periodic table, which DMITRI MENDELEEV
corresponding periodic 1834–1907
lists all known elements to date. The elements
table allow us to organize Russian chemistry professor
the known elements in on the left and middle of the table are mostly who formulated the periodic
law and constructed one of the
ways that help us make metals, and the elements on the right side of first periodic tables
sense of their properties. the table are mostly non-metals. Each column
represents a family of elements with similar
properties. For example, the far left column 30-SECOND TEXT
Nivaldo Tro
contains the alkali metals, a family of elements
that are all solid metals at room temperature
and highly reactive. The far right column, by
contrast, contains the noble gases, a family of Mendeleev formulated
elements that are all gases at room temperature one of the first periodic
and display little or no chemical reactivity. tables, which organizes
elements according to
atomic number and
26 g Atoms, Molecules & Compounds chemical properties.
1 2
H He
Hydrogen Helium
1.00794 4.002602
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Li Be B C N O F Ne
6.941 9.012182 10.811 12.0107 14.0067 1.00794 18.9984032 20.1797
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
22.98976928 24.905 26.9815386 28.0855 30.973762 32.065 35.453 39.948
19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
39.0983 40.078 44.9559 1.00794 50.9415 51.9967 54.938045 55.845 58.933195 58.6934 63.546 65.38 69.729 72.64 74.9216 78.96 79.904 83.798
37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54
85.4678 87.62 88.90585 92.9063 92.9063 95.96 [98] 101.07 102.9055 106.42 107.8682 112.411 114.818 118.71 121.76 127.6 126.90447 131.293
55 56 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86
132.9054519 137.327 1.00794 180.94788 183.84 186.207 190.23 192.217 195.084 196.966569 200.59 204.3833 207.2 208.9804 [209] [210] [222]
87 88 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118
[223] [226] [267] [268] [271] [272] [270] [276] [281] [280] [285] [284] [289] [289] [293] [294] [294]
57 58 59 60 61 67 68 69 70 71
La Ce Pr Nd Pm Ho Er Tm Yb Lu
Lanthanum Cerium Praseodymium Neodymium Promethium Holmium Erbium Thulium Ytterbium Lutetium
138.90547 140.116 140.90765 144.242 [145] 164.93032 167.259 168.93421 173.054 174.9668
89 90 91 92 93 99 100 101 102 103

Ac Th Pa U Np Es Fm Md No Lr
Actinium Thorium Protactinium Uranium Neptunium Einsteinium Fermium Mendelevium Nobelium Lawrencium
[227] 232.03806 140.90765 238.02891 [237] [252] [257] [258] [262] [262]
BONDING
ATOMS TOGETHER
Atoms bond together by either
sharing (covalent bonding) or transferring (ionic
bonding) the electrons in their highest-energy
3-SECOND NUCLEUS orbitals to form compounds. Sharing of RELATED TOPICS
Atoms bond together to electrons typically occurs between two or more See also
form compounds. A WHERE ELECTRONS ARE
non-metals, resulting in a molecular compound,
compound, unlike a mixture WITHIN AN ATOM
of elements, contains two
so called because it is composed of distinct page 24
or more elements in a fixed, molecules (groups of atoms bonded together). THE LEWIS MODEL FOR
definite proportion. Transfer of electrons typically occurs from a CHEMICAL BONDING
metal to a non-metal and results in an ionic page 32
3-MINUTE VALENCE
compound. Ionic compounds do not contain VALENCE BOND &
MOLECULAR ORBITAL
The universe contains distinct molecules, but rather exist as an array of
THEORIES
118 different elements, ions (charged particles) with alternating positive page 34
but would be lifeless if and negative charge. Water is a good example
these elements did not
bind together to form
of a molecular compound. We represent a
compounds. When two compound with a chemical formula, which tells JOSEPH PROUST
or more elements combine us the elements present in the compound and 1754–1826
to form a compound, a French chemist who made
the relative number of atoms of each one. For observations on the
completely new substance
forms with properties example, the formula for water is H2O, which composition of compounds
much different from the means that a water molecule is composed of LINUS PAULING
elements that compose it. 1901–94
two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom,
In this way, our universe’s American chemist who made
118 different elements
and the formula for sucrose (table sugar) is significant contributions to our
understanding of chemical
can form millions of C12H22O11. Molecular compounds can contain as bonding
compounds. And this, few as two atoms in a molecule to as many as
among other things, thousands. Sodium chloride (table salt) is a good
makes life possible. 30-SECOND TEXT
example of an ionic compound. The formula for Nivaldo Tro
sodium chloride is NaCl, which indicates sodium
and chlorine in a one-to-one atomic ratio. Water is a molecular
compound, composed
of two hydrogen
atoms bonded to
28 g Atoms, Molecules & Compounds one oxygen atom.
1766 1787 1810
Born in Eaglesfield, Begins to keep Nominated for
England in a white meteorological diaries membership of the Royal
bungalow that still stands Society but refuses the
offer because Quakers
1793 resist public recognition
1776 Now at the New College
Sent to Pardshaw Hall in Manchester, publishes
Quaker School a paper on red-green 1822
colour blindness now Renominated and elected
often known as to the Royal Society
1781–93 ‘daltonism’ without his knowledge
Teaches at the
Stramongate School in
Kendal 1801 1826
Formulates Dalton’s Law Receives the Royal
of Partial Pressures Society’s first Royal
Medal
1803
Delivers a paper in which 1832
he first describes his Initially refuses an
atomic theory honorary doctorate
degree from Oxford
University that would
1808 have required him to wear
Publishes A New System scarlet robes. Persuaded
of Chemical Philosophy, that the robes were a dull
in which his atomic green, he accepts the
theory is presented in full degree
1844
Dies and is accorded a
civic funeral with full
honours
30 g Atoms, Molecules & Compounds

JOHN DALTON
John Dalton was born into a Most famously, Dalton devised the first
poor, staunchly Quaker family in the town of concrete atomic theory that organized a
Eaglesfield in northern England in 1766. At the number of the assumptions known at the time,
age of 10 he was sent to a nearby Quaker School starting with the Greek idea of indivisible
and just two years later began teaching there. atoms. He maintained that the atoms of a given
Soon afterwards he started to teach and element are unique (particularly in mass) and
study in Kendal, where he began to carry out combine with atoms of another element in
and record meteorological observations, many whole-number ratios. In chemical reactions,
with instruments that he built himself. He did atoms are reshuffled from one configuration to
this for 57 years until the day he died, recording another. He went on to construct one of the
more than 200,000 observations. He once first ever tables of atomic weights but this was
wrote that ‘my head is too full of triangles, marred by inaccuracies that could have been
chymical processes and electrical experiments, easily corrected had he been more open to
etc., to think much of marriage.’ valuable new ideas from the international
Moving to Manchester as a tutor in scientific community. Despite these difficulties
mathematics and natural philosophy, he joined his theory could be tested and its general
the Manchester Literary and Philosophical assumptions held up well.
Society. His first communication at the society Given that Dalton had taken a concept that
described a red-green ‘colour blindness’ – from had been imprecisely discussed and largely
which he and his brother suffered – that is still rejected for 2,000 years and fashioned it into a
referred to as ‘daltonism’. guiding paradigm that revolutionized all of
His love of meteorology led him to consider science, his colleagues were anxious to honour
the composition of the air and the nature of its him. However, due to his Quaker beliefs he
component gases. He concluded that the refused many of these honours, including a
atmosphere is a mixture of gases and that the doctorate degree from Oxford University that
total pressure it exerts is the sum of the ‘partial would have required him to wear scarlet robes.
pressures’ that each individual gas exerts. The Later, told that the robes were in fact green (he
overall pressure, he maintained, is due to the was colour-blind, after all), he received the
particles (what we would call atoms and degree. When Dalton died, he could not stop
molecules) of these gases slamming against the 40,000 people filing past his coffin and 100
walls of the container in which they are held. coaches following his funeral cortège.
Glen E. Rodgers
John Dalton g 31
THE LEWIS
MODEL FOR
CHEMICAL BONDING
In the simplest model for
chemical bonding, called the Lewis model,
atoms share or transfer their highest energy
3-SECOND NUCLEUS electrons (called valence electrons) to obtain an RELATED TOPICS
In the Lewis model for octet – eight electrons in their highest energy See also
chemical bonding, atoms WHERE ELECTRONS
(or outermost) set of orbitals. One important
bond to obtain octets – ARE WITHIN AN ATOM
eight electrons in their
exception is hydrogen, which shares/transfers page 24
valence shell. its one electron to obtain a duet – two electrons BONDING ATOMS TOGETHER
in its outermost orbital. When applying the page 28
Lewis model, chemists use special symbols to VALENCE BOND &
3-MINUTE VALENCE
The most powerful pieces
represent atoms and their valence electrons. MOLECULAR ORBITAL
THEORIES
of scientific knowledge are For example, the Lewis symbols for hydrogen
page 34
theories (or models). and oxygen are as follows:
Theories explain not only
what happens in nature H O
3-SECOND BIOGRAPHY
but also why it happens. GILBERT N. LEWIS
The Lewis model for The one dot next to H represents hydrogen’s 1875–1946
chemical bonding explains one valence electron and the six dots around American chemist and
why, for example, water is University of California,
the O represent oxygen’s six valence electrons. Berkeley chemistry professor
H2O and not some other who constructed the Lewis
combination of atoms. The bonding between hydrogen and oxygen to model for chemical bonding
The Lewis model is simple, form water involves the sharing of the valence
however, and other more electrons, and we draw the Lewis symbol for
sophisticated models are 30-SECOND TEXT
even more powerful at
water as follows:
Nivaldo Tro
predicting and explaining H O H Duet H O H Duet
chemical bonding.
Octet
The shared electrons (those between two

elements) count towards the octet (or duet)
of both atoms. So in this Lewis structure, each
hydrogen atom has a duet and oxygen an octet. The Lewis model
shows how atoms
share electrons to
32 g Atoms, Molecules & Compounds obtain octets.
H H
C C
H O H H O H
H H H H
C C C C
H H H H
H C C H H C C H
VALENCE BOND
& MOLECULAR
ORBITAL THEORIES
Chemists use three different
models to explain chemical bonding: the Lewis
model, valence bond theory and molecular
3-SECOND NUCLEUS orbital theory, each increasingly complex but RELATED TOPICS
In the valence bond also increasingly powerful. The Lewis model See also
model, a chemical bond WHERE ELECTRONS
requires nothing more than paper and pencil to
is the overlap between ARE WITHIN AN ATOM
half-filled atomic orbitals.
enable chemists to predict and explain a great page 24
In molecular orbital theory, deal of chemical behaviour. Valence bond and BONDING ATOMS TOGETHER
atomic orbitals are molecular orbital theory, by contrast, both page 28
completely replaced by
require more complex calculations, usually on THE LEWIS MODEL FOR
molecular orbitals.
a computer. In valence bond theory, a chemical CHEMICAL BONDING
page 32
bond is modelled as the overlap between
3-MINUTE VALENCE half-filled atomic orbitals. As the orbitals
The Lewis model for overlap, the energy of the electrons in those 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
chemical bonding is
practical and useful;
orbitals decreases, stabilizing the molecule JOHN EDWARD JONES
1894–1954
however, it also has limits. relative to its constituent atoms. A molecular English mathematician,
We know, for example, that orbital is to a molecule what an atomic orbital is physicist and pioneer of
electrons are not stationary computational chemistry
to an atom. Each molecule has its own unique
dots that sit between LINUS PAULING
atoms. Two more powerful set of molecular orbitals that depend on the 1901–94
bonding models – valence constituent atoms and their arrangement in American chemist who made
bond theory and molecular significant contributions to
space. If the overall energy of the electrons in valence bond theory
orbital theory – take into
account the quantum
the molecular orbitals is lower than in the
mechanical nature of constituent atoms’ atomic orbitals, the resulting
30-SECOND TEXT
electrons and provide even molecule is stable. Both valence bond theory Nivaldo Tro
more powerful predictions and molecular orbital theory can accurately
and explanations of
chemical bonding. predict details about molecular structure Molecular orbital
including molecular geometries, bond lengths theory predicts that
and bond strengths. oxygen should be a
magnetic liquid, which
it is. The simpler
bonding theories fail to
34 g Atoms, Molecules & Compounds predict this property.
OPPOSITES ATTRACT
We know from previous entries
that atoms can bond together by sharing
electrons. But if the bonding atoms are
3-SECOND NUCLEUS different (two different elements), then the RELATED TOPICS
The often uneven sharing is often not equal – one of the two See also
distribution of electrons BONDING ATOMS TOGETHER
atoms hogs the electron more than the other.
that can result when two page 28
different atoms bond
The result is a polar bond, one that has a
THE FORCES THAT HOLD
together results in a polar positive end on one side and a negative end on MATTER TOGETHER
bond, which greatly affects the other. In a molecule, polar bonds may add page 42
a substance’s properties.
together to result in a polar molecule. Polar THE LIQUID STATE
molecules interact strongly with one another page 46
3-MINUTE VALENCE because the positive end of one molecule is

The existence of liquid attracted to the negative end of its neighbour
water on Earth’s surface 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
– just as the north pole of a magnet is attracted JOHANNES DIDERIK
can be attributed to polar
bonds. Most small
to the south pole of another magnet. These VAN DER WAALS
1837–1923
molecules are gases at attractions affect the properties of the Dutch physicist who was
room temperature, but substances that the molecules compose. For among the first to postulate
water is among the very forces between molecules
example, polar substances tend to have higher
few that is a liquid. Why? LINUS PAULING
Because water has highly melting and boiling points than their nonpolar 1901–94
polar bonds with hydrogen counterparts because the attraction between American chemist who
at one end and oxygen on quantified the polarity of
neighbouring molecules makes the molecules chemical bonds
the other. The small size
of hydrogen allows the
more difficult to separate. Polar substances also
molecules to get very close tend not to mix well with nonpolar substances.
30-SECOND TEXT
together and interact For example, water and oil do not mix because Nivaldo Tro
strongly. This strong water is very polar and oil is nonpolar. Water and
interaction makes it
difficult to separate
ethyl alcohol (ethanol), by contrast, mix in all
water molecules from proportions because they are both polar.
one another.
A polar molecule has an
asymmetrical charge
distribution that causes
an attraction to other
36 g Atoms, Molecules & Compounds polar molecules.
g
STATES OF MATTER
STATES OF MATTER
GLOSSARY
amorphous solid A solid whose atoms or intermolecular forces Attractive forces that
molecules are not arranged in an ordered, exist between atoms and molecules.
repeating, three-dimensional array.
ionic bond The joining of two atoms by the
covalent bond The joining of atoms by transfer of an electron from one to the other.
the sharing of one or more electrons.
‘like dissolves like’ principle The idea that
crystalline solid A solid whose atoms or polar molecules mix well with other polar
molecules are arranged in a well-ordered, molecules, but don’t mix well with nonpolar
repeating, three-dimensional array. molecules. Mostly applicable to aqueous
solutions.
dipole force The attractive force that
exists between two or more polar macroscopic properties of gases Properties
molecules due to an asymmetric such as temperature, volume, pressure and
distribution of charge. number of moles of a sample of a gas.
dispersion force The attractive force that osmotic pressure The pressure required to
exists between atoms and molecules due stop osmotic flow. Osmotic flow is the flow
to temporary dipoles that develop because of water through a semipermeable membrane
of charge fluctuations. from a more dilute solution to a more
concentrated one.
homogeneous mixture A mixture
containing two or more components that polar bond A chemical bond with asymmetric
has the same composition throughout. charge distribution.
40 g States of Matter
polar molecule A molecule containing
polar bonds that also has an asymmetric
charge distribution over the entire
molecule.
polar solute A solute (component of a

solution) that has an asymmetric charge
distribution. A nonpolar solute has a highly
symmetrical charge distribution.
single liquid phase A liquid mixture with

uniform composition.
solute The minority component of a

solution.
solvent The majority component of a

solution.
vapour pressure The pressure of the

vapour of a liquid in equilibrium with its
liquid.
Glossary g 41
THE FORCES
THAT HOLD
MATTER TOGETHER
Matter exists in three states:
solid, liquid and gas. In the gas state, the
particles that compose matter are separated
3-SECOND NUCLEUS by large distances and do not interact with one RELATED TOPICS
Solid and liquid matter another very much. In the solid and liquid states, See also
exist because the particles OPPOSITES ATTRACT
by contrast, the particles interact strongly, held
that compose them have page 36
strong attractions to one
together by attractive forces. Some solids, such
THE LIQUID STATE
another. as a diamond, are held together by covalent page 46
chemical bonds between atoms (which is what
THE SOLID STATE
makes diamond so strong). Other solids, such page 48
3-MINUTE VALENCE
Why are some substances
as table salt, are held together by ionic bonds
solid at room temperature, between ions. Still other solids, such as ice, and
while others are liquids or many liquids are held together by attractive 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHY
JOHANNES DIDERIK
gases? Because the forces that exist between molecules. These VAN DER WAALS
particles that compose 1837–1923
matter are attracted to one
forces are known as intermolecular forces.
Dutch physicist who was
another in varying degrees. Intermolecular forces exist because the electron among the first to postulate
forces between molecules
Strong attractions between distribution in a molecule can be either
particles are responsible for
temporarily asymmetrical, resulting in the
solids at room temperature,
moderately strong dispersion force, or permanently asymmetrical, 30-SECOND TEXT
attractions result in liquids resulting in the dipole force. In either case, the Nivaldo Tro
and weak attractions result asymmetrical electron distribution causes part
in gases. The higher the
temperature, the stronger
of the molecule to be positively charged (either
the attractions between temporarily or permanently) and another part
particles must be to to be negatively charged. The positive and
maintain the liquid and negative ends of neighbouring molecules are
solid state.
then attracted to one another much like
opposite poles of a magnet are attracted to one The strength of
another. These attractions must be overcome the intermolecular
for a substance to melt or boil. forces between water
molecules in ice
determines its
42 g States of Matter melting point.
THE GASEOUS STATE
Gases have the unique property
– unlike solids and liquids – of always completely
filling the volume of their container. By the end
3-SECOND NUCLEUS of the eighteenth century, the relationships RELATED TOPICS
Kinetic-molecular theory between the volume, pressure and amount of See also
explains the macroscopic MATTER IS MADE OF
gas had been empirically described. Hot-air
properties of gases based PARTICLES
on the behaviour of gas
balloonists Jacques Charles (of Charles’ law page 14
particles. fame) and Joseph Gay-Lussac not only set new ENTROPY & THE SECOND LAW
altitude records for ballooning, but also used OF THERMODYNAMICS
these adventures to collect data on the page 76
3-MINUTE VALENCE
Kinetic-molecular theory is
temperature-volume relationship of gases,
based on three postulates. which indicated that the volume occupied by 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHY
The sizes of the particles a gas increased with temperature. Robert Boyle JAMES CLERK MAXWELL
that comprise a gas are 1831–79
demonstrated that the volume occupied by a Scottish mathematician who,
negligibly small, so that gas
particles occupy essentially
gas is inversely proportional to its pressure, a while best known for his work
in electromagnetism, also
none of the volume of a relationship that became known as Boyle’s law. worked on developing a
statistical means of explaining
gas. Gas particles are in Amedeo Avogadro hypothesized that equal the properties of gases
constant motion and have
volumes of gas were occupied by equal numbers
an average kinetic energy
proportional to the of molecules as part of his theory that gases
30-SECOND TEXT
temperature of the gas. consisted of molecules that in turn were John B. Vincent
Collisions between gas composed of atoms. His theory was largely
molecules are perfectly
elastic in that energy can
ignored at the time. Further progress in
be transferred but not lost understanding the origin of these relationships
in the collisions. required the acceptance by chemists of the
theory of the particle nature of atoms and
molecules. The current model to explain these
properties is kinetic-molecular theory.
The properties of
gases make both
hot-air ballooning and
44 g States of Matter scuba diving possible.
THE LIQUID STATE
The molecules that compose a
liquid are like dancers in a crowded night club.
The dancers have so much energy that they
3-SECOND NUCLEUS move around the floor constantly interacting RELATED TOPICS
Liquids are made up of with different people. They are attracted to See also
molecules with enough MATTER IS MADE
everyone else in the club and want to dance
energy to flow past one OF PARTICLES
another, but generally not
with everyone. Similarly, molecules in liquids page 14
enough to overcome their have attractive forces with all the other THE FORCES THAT HOLD
mutual attraction entirely. molecules around them, but they have so MATTER TOGETHER
much energy that they don’t stay still and are page 42
3-MINUTE VALENCE
constantly moving past one another. As a whole, THE GASEOUS STATE
Pour water into a glass – the people in the dance club have the same
page 44
it fills to a certain level, shape as the club. If they all moved from a
and the shape of the water square club to a circular one, their overall shape 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
is the same as the inside of
the glass. If you pour the
would change. Similarly, as a whole, water ROGER JOSEPH BOSCOVICH
1711–87
water into a square-shaped molecules flow to assume the shape of their Ragusan (now Croatia)
glass, it assumes that container. Not every molecule in a liquid (or physicist who predicted that
the states of matter depended
shape. If you leave the
person in a dance club) has the same amount of on forces between their
water to stand for a few particles
days, it slowly evaporates energy. Some have more, some have less. A few
have a lot more energy – so much that they can FRANÇOIS-MARIE RAOULT
away. How do we explain
1830–1901
this behaviour from a break free of their attraction to the other French chemist who explored
particulate viewpoint? the properties of solutions
molecules in the liquid and fly out on their own
as a gas molecule (they essentially dance right
out of the club). This is how liquids evaporate. 30-SECOND TEXT
Jeff C. Bryan
The molecules that

compose the liquid
state are in constant
motion, not unlike
dancers in a crowded
46 g States of Matter night club.
THE SOLID STATE
The particles that compose a
solid are like the dancers in the nightclub from
the previous entry (on liquids), except that they
3-SECOND NUCLEUS have less energy relative to the strength of their RELATED TOPICS
Solids have a definite size attractions. The dancers are still shaking, but See also
and shape because the MATTER IS MADE
they are not moving around each other because
particles that compose OF PARTICLES
them are stuck in place.
they are strongly attracted to those currently page 14
surrounding them. Similarly, the attractions THE FORCES THAT HOLD
between the particles in a solid are so strong MATTER TOGETHER
3-MINUTE VALENCE compared to the energy they possess that the page 42
Solids behave differently
from liquids or gases. They
particles don’t flow past one another as they THE LIQUID STATE
have a fixed shape and size do in a liquid. The particles that compose a
and don’t assume the crystalline solid are not only stuck in one place,
shape of their container but also arranged in an orderly fashion like bricks 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
like a liquid, nor are they
compressible like a gas.
in a wall. In contrast, the particles that compose WILLIAM LAWRENCE BRAGG
1890–1971
an amorphous solid are arranged in a more Australian-born British
haphazard way, like a pile of macaroni. Crystalline physicist and winner of the
1915 Nobel Prize in Physics who
solids (such as salt or ice) tend to be less flexible discovered how to peer in at
the structures of solids
than amorphous solids (such as plastic or glass).
Although the particles that compose solids do LINUS PAULING
1901–94
not move past or around one another, they do American winner of the 1954
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, who
wiggle and shake. When heated, they get more developed our understanding
energy. Eventually, when heated enough, they of how atoms and molecules
are attracted to each other
start moving past one another and the solid
melts. The amount of energy (temperature)
needed for melting depends on how strongly 30-SECOND TEXT
Jeff C. Bryan
the molecules are attracted to each other.
The molecules in the
solid state are like
dancers who are stuck
in one place on the
48 g States of Matter dance floor.
1627 1661 1668
Born in Lismore, Ireland Publishes The Sceptical Moves back to London,
Chymist, in which he where he and Hooke
strongly expresses his again establish a
1639 corpuscular or atomic laboratory. By now the
Sent on a Grand Tour hypothesis and provides a ‘Invisible College’ has
to Paris, Geneva and definition of an element become the ‘Royal
Florence Society of London for
Improving Natural
1662 Knowledge’
1644 Publishes the second
Returns to England after edition of The Spring of
his father’s death and the Air, in which he 1691
stays with his sister establishes Boyle’s Law Dies in London one week
Katherine, Lady Ranelagh after his sister
in London, where they
are members of the
‘Invisible College’
1645
Moves into his father’s
manor in Stalbridge in
Dorsetshire, England,
where he sets up his first
laboratory
1654
Moves to Oxford where
he again lives with his
sister. He and his
assistant Robert Hooke
establish a laboratory.
Hooke builds a
‘pneumatic engine’
50 g States of Matter
ROBERT BOYLE
Robert Boyle, born in a castle in a ‘pneumatic engine’ or vacuum pump that

Lismore, Ireland in 1627, was the 14th child of Boyle used to establish what is today known as
Richard Boyle, the Great Earl of Cork and one of Boyle’s Law, which states the inverse
the richest men in Britain. Boyle’s father sent relationship between the volume of a gas and
his 12-year-old son on a Grand Tour of Paris, the pressure exerted on it. His experiments lent
Geneva and Florence that kept him safe during great support to the idea that air was composed
the Irish Rebellion of 1641. In Geneva, during a of discrete, rapidly moving ‘corpuscles’ (what
fearsome, life-threatening thunderstorm, he we would call atoms or molecules) that collide
pledged to devote his life to promoting God’s with the walls of their container and exert a
work on Earth. His ensuing religiosity continued pressure that Boyle called ‘the spring of the air’.
for the rest of his life. In his book The Sceptical Chymist (1661) he
He returned to London to live with his sister defined elements as ‘certain primitive and
Katherine (the ‘Lady Ranelagh’) in 1644 and simple, or perfectly unmingled bodies’. He
together they became early members of the argued that the Aristotelian view that the
‘Invisible College’, so named because it did not elements should be confined to earth, air, fire
have a regular meeting place, which met to and water was not supported by observations.
discuss science – then still known as ‘natural His primary goal was to transform alchemy to
philosophy’. In Stalbridge, Dorsetshire, make it more scientific by framing good
convinced that observations and experiments hypotheses based on sound experimental
were the cornerstones on which scientific methods reported with great accuracy and
investigations had to be built, he set up his detail. In London, Boyle established another
first laboratory. laboratory and, among other endeavours, was
Boyle is properly regarded as a transitional active in the isolation and production of the
figure between alchemy and chemistry. He was new element: phosphorus. He was also a prolific
responsible for dropping the ‘al-’ of alchemy writer of more than 40 books on a variety of
and is best referred to as a ‘chymist’. Among topics including chemistry as well as philosophy,
many other interests, he was devoted to medicine and religion. Boyle died in 1691 one
chrysopoeia, the science of transmutating ‘base week after his beloved sister.
metals’ into gold. Starting in 1654, he and his
assistant Robert Hooke set up a laboratory in Glen E. Rodgers
Lady Ranelagh’s house in Oxford. Hooke built
Robert Boyle g 51
CERAMICS
Ceramics are among the most
important materials in human civilization. They
are solids held together by networks of ionic
3-SECOND NUCLEUS or covalent bonds extending throughout the RELATED TOPICS
The technologically material. They differ from metals in that the See also
useful properties of THE LEWIS MODEL FOR
bonds are to some extent directional and so
ceramic materials depend CHEMICAL BONDING
on the 3D arrangement of
must be broken in order for planes of atoms page 32
their atoms and the nature to slip past one another. As a result, ceramics THE SOLID STATE
of the chemical bonds cannot be easily deformed, as metals can, but page 48
holding them together.
instead tend to be brittle and hard. Ceramics
may be made by mixing finely powdered
3-MINUTE VALENCE minerals and heating them until their atoms are HERMANN SEGER
The first ceramic figurines moving fast enough to move into each other or 1839–93
and pots were made more German chemist who pioneered
until the minerals melt into a single liquid phase. the scientific study of ceramics
than 20,000 years ago, using the periodic table
long before metal tools.
When cooled, the atoms in the resulting ceramic
Later artisans used tough are often aligned in the neat rows of a crystal. RUSTUM ROY
1924–2010
ceramics like porcelain, Glasses may be produced if the cooling is fast Indian-born scientist who
clear ceramics like glass
enough so that the atoms are frozen in a developed the sol-gel method
and the cements that for preparing ceramics from
dominate cityscapes snapshot of the chaotic liquid from which they liquid chemical precursors
today. Ceramic scientists were made. Many alumino-silicate mineral W. DAVID KINGERY
continue to produce new ceramics consist of covalently bonded chains or 1926–2000
technologically useful American material scientist
materials: recent examples
sheets that can absorb water and metal ions in who first applied solid state
between the layers. These include clays that chemistry principles to ceramic
include silicon carbide synthesis and processing
cutting tools, boron-nitride swell considerably when they take up water, as
lubricants, silicon computer well as the mineral kaolinite, which is a primary
chips and bioglass-based 30-SECOND TEXT
medical implants made
component of fine china or porcelain.
Stephen Contakes
from silica and
hydroxyapatite.
The structure and bonding

in ceramic materials
determine their many
52 g States of Matter useful properties.
SOLUTIONS
Solutions are homogeneous
mixtures formed when one substance (a solute)
dissolves in another substance (a solvent).
3-SECOND NUCLEUS Ocean water, air and sugar water are common RELATED TOPICS
When the particles of one examples of solutions. Aqueous solutions are See also
substance are dissolved in THE GASEOUS STATE
those in which water is the solvent. Solutions
a second (the solvent), page 44
they interfere with the way
show different properties from the components
THE LIQUID STATE
the solvent molecules that compose them. For instance, a salt-water page 46
interact, changing the solution has a lower freezing temperature than
properties of the solution.
pure water (which is one reason why freshwater
lakes freeze more easily than oceans). Similarly, 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
DAVID BERNOULLI
3-MINUTE VALENCE a salt-water solution has a higher boiling 1700–82
The nature of intermolecular temperature, lower vapour pressure and higher Swiss mathematician whose
work Hydrodynamica provided
forces in all states of matter osmotic pressure when compared to pure water. the first qualitative discussion
partly determines whether of aqueous salt solutions
one substance dissolves in
Such solution characteristics are known as
another. The ‘like dissolves ‘colligative properties’. They were first studied RICHARD WATSON
1737–1816
like’ principle is helpful in experimentally by Richard Watson, a Professor Professor of Chemistry at the
determining solubility in University of Cambridge who
of Chemistry at Cambridge University, who first carried out experimental
water: polar solutes tend to
be most soluble in water observed the freezing time of a series of 18 measurements studying the
properties of aqueous salt
(since water is polar). For aqueous solutions of various salts exposed to solutions
example, salt is soluble in an unusually cold (-14°C/6.8°F) February
water but grease (mostly
nonpolar) is not.
atmosphere in Cambridge. He realized that
30-SECOND TEXT
the primary factor determining the degree of Ali O. Sezer
lowering in the freezing point of a solution is the
number of solute particles (concentration) and
not the type of salt. Calcium chloride (CaCl2) is Salt water solutions
more effective in treating icy roads than sodium have a lower freezing
chloride (NaCl) because it provides more solute point than pure water,
particles (ions) when mixed with the icy surface. which is why salt is
used to reduce snow
and ice build-up on
54 g States of Matter roads and pathways.
g
CHEMICAL REACTIONS & ENERGETICS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS & ENERGETICS
GLOSSARY
acid A substance that produces H+ ions in electrolyte A substance that produces an

solution. Acids neutralize bases, producing electrically conductive solution when dissolved
water as a product. in water.
base A substance that produces OH- ions entropy A thermodynamic quantity related
in solution. Bases neutralize acids, to the amount of energy dispersed into a
producing water as a product. substance at a given temperature.
catalyst A substance that increases the enzyme A protein that acts as a biological
rate of a reaction without being consumed catalyst to increase the rate of a biochemical
by the reaction. reaction.
chemical energy The energy that can be exothermic A reaction that emits energy into
obtained from a chemical reaction when the surroundings.
the reactants have greater potential energy
than the products. filtration A process of separation in which
a solid is separated from a liquid using a
chemical reaction A process in which the filtration device such as a funnel and
atoms in one or more substances (the filter paper.
reactants) rearrange to form different
substances (the products). greenhouse gas An atmospheric gas that
is transparent to visible light, but absorbs
electrolysis The use of electrical current infrared light. These atmosphere gases act like
to drive a chemical reaction that would glass in a greenhouse, allowing light to enter
not happen spontaneously. but preventing heat energy from escaping.
The three most important greenhouse gases
in Earth’s atmosphere are water vapour,
carbon dioxide and methane.
58 g Chemical Reactions & Energetics

hydrocarbon An organic compound reactant Any one of the substances that
containing only carbon and hydrogen. undergoes a chemical reaction. In a reaction,
reactants react to form products.
Kelvin scale An absolute scale used for
measuring temperature. On the Kelvin thermal energy The energy associated with
scale, water freezes at 273 K and boils at the random thermal motion of atoms and
373 K. The lowest possible temperature (at molecules.
which point molecular motion stops) is zero
on the Kelvin scale. thermodynamics The study of energy and its
conversions from one form to another.
kinetic energy The energy associated with
the motion of an object or particle. transition-metal oxides Compounds
containing a transition metal and oxygen.
neutralization A chemical reaction
between an acid and a base that typically voltaic cell A chemical cell that employs a
produces water and a salt. spontaneous chemical reaction to produce
electrical current.
oxide An oxygen-containing compound.
potential energy The energy associated

with the position (within a field) or
composition of an object.
precipitation A reaction between two

solutions in which a solid (or precipitate)
forms.
Glossary g 59
CHEMICAL
EQUATIONS
Chemists must move seamlessly
between three related worlds: the macroscopic
world that exists in the lab within beakers, flasks
3-SECOND NUCLEUS and test tubes; the atomic and molecular world, RELATED TOPICS
A chemical equation which we can’t see but are constantly trying to See also
is a way to precisely BONDING ATOMS TOGETHER
imagine and understand; and the symbolic
represent a chemical page 28
reaction, a change in which
world, which is how we represent the atomic
COMBUSTION REACTIONS
the atoms that compose and molecular world on paper. A chemical & ENERGY SOURCES
one or more substances equation is a way to symbolically represent page 62
rearrange to form one or
changes that occur in the atomic and molecular NEUTRALIZING: ACIDS
more different substances.
world. These changes are called chemical & BASES
page 64
reactions and they often (although not always)
3-MINUTE VALENCE result in significant changes in the macroscopic
Chemical reactions occur world. For example, the burning of natural gas is 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
all around us all the time.
For example, our cars are
a chemical reaction. In this reaction methane gas ROBERT BOYLE
1627–91
powered by chemical combines with oxygen to form carbon dioxide Anglo-Irish chemist who
reactions; cooking is a and water. In the macroscopic world, we see the formulated some of the earliest
ideas about chemical reactions
chemical reaction; and our
reaction as a blue flame on our stove top. In the
bodies maintain a myriad ANTOINE LAVOISIER
of reactions that allow us molecular world, methane molecules combine 1743–94
to think, move, eat and with oxygen molecules and transform into French chemist who
contributed significantly to our
reproduce. Chemical carbon dioxide molecules and water molecules. understanding of chemical
equations not only reactions, especially
represent the identities of
In the symbolic world, we represent the reaction combustion
the reactants and products with the following chemical equation:
in a chemical reaction; they CH4 + 2 O2 → CO2 + 2 H2O.
also give us quantitative Chemical equations must be balanced: they 30-SECOND TEXT
relationships between the Nivaldo Tro
amounts that react.
must contain the same number of each type
of atom on either side of the equation. Why?
Because in a chemical reaction, matter is
conserved. Atoms can’t just vanish or form We witness chemical
out of nothing. reactions, such as the
burning of natural
60 g Chemical Reactions & Energetics gas, every day.
COMBUSTION
REACTIONS &
ENERGY SOURCES
The first chemical reaction that
early humans used was burning or combustion.
In a combustion reaction, a substance combines
3-SECOND NUCLEUS with oxygen and most commonly produces RELATED TOPICS
Our society’s energy carbon dioxide, water and other oxide products. See also
comes largely from the CHEMICAL EQUATIONS
Combustion reactions are useful because they
combustion of fossil page 60
fuels, which produce
emit heat as they occur – they are exothermic.
HYDROCARBONS
large amounts of energy Certain molecules, especially hydrocarbons, page 106
when burned. have an inherently high potential energy that
can be released through combustion. For this
reason, our society’s fuels are largely based on 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHY
3-MINUTE VALENCE ANTOINE LAVOISIER
Energy is critical to a hydrocarbons. Natural gas is primarily methane 1743–94
society’s standard of living. (CH4). Liquefied petroleum (LP) gas is a mixture French chemist who
In general, as the standard contributed significantly to our
of propane (C3H8) and butane (C4H10). Petrol is a understanding of chemical
of living rises, so does reactions, especially
energy consumption. Our mixture of hydrocarbons, such as octane (C8H18), combustion
current energy sources are containing five or more carbon atoms. Coal is
dwindling, however, and also a major part of our energy equation: it is
creating environmental 30-SECOND TEXT
mostly carbon and combines with oxygen to
problems. The shift to Nivaldo Tro
alternative energy sources form carbon dioxide. Together these fuels are
– such as solar power or known as fossil fuels because they originated
wind power – has been from ancient plant and animal life. However,
slow, but steady. The main
challenges of the
the combustion of fossil fuels is not without
alternative sources are problems. The most vexing problem is probably
their cost and their the emission of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse
inherent intermittence. gas that is affecting Earth’s climate. Since the
Industrial Revolution, atmospheric carbon
dioxide levels have risen by about 38 per cent,
and average global temperatures have risen by
about 0.8°C (1.4°F).
Combustion or burning
is common in energy
62 g Chemical Reactions & Energetics generation and industry.
NEUTRALIZING:
ACIDS & BASES
Most of us experience acids by
taste – they are sour. Citrus fruits, vinegar,
carbonated beverages, yoghurt and sour sweets
3-SECOND NUCLEUS all owe their tangy deliciousness to the acids RELATED TOPICS
Acids produced H+ in water they contain. Chemists prefer not to taste their See also
while bases produce OH–. OPPOSITES ATTRACT
work and often define acids as chemicals that
An acid and a base react to page 36
produce water, effectively
produce the hydrogen ion (H+) when dissolved in
SOLUTIONS
neutralizing each other. water. If acids are a chemical yin, then bases are page 54
the yang. Bases tend to taste bitter and produce
CHEMICAL EQUATIONS
hydroxide (OH–) in water, the chemical opposite page 60
3-MINUTE VALENCE
The pH scale is used to
of H+. When an acid and base are mixed, the
measure the acidity or hydrogen ion combines with the hydroxide ion
basicity of a solution. The to form HOH (water): 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
SVANTE ARRHENIUS
lower the pH value, the H+ + OH– → H2O. 1859–1927
higher the concentration
of H+, and the more acidic
This type of chemical reaction is called Swedish winner of the Nobel
Prize for Chemistry (1903), who
the solution. The higher neutralization. If exactly equal amounts of H+ first suggested the acid/base
definitions given here
the pH value, the higher and OH– are mixed, the resulting solution will
the concentration of OH–, JOHANNES BRØNSTED
contain neither (because all of the H+ and OH–
and the more basic the & MARTIN LOWRY
solution. Pure water is ions reacted to form water), and it won’t be 1879–1947 & 1874–1936
neutral and has a pH of 7. acidic or basic. Our stomachs use hydrochloric Danish and British chemists
who defined acids and bases
Stomach acid is pH 1.6, acid (HCl) to help digest our food. If we eat on how they react
tomato juice 4.2, sea water
8.2 and milk of magnesia
too much, especially acidic or fatty foods, our
(Mg(OH)2) 10.4. stomachs can produce too much HCl, causing
30-SECOND TEXT
us to feel uncomfortable (sometimes called Jeff C. Bryan
‘sour stomach’). To neutralize the excess acid,
we can take an antacid. Antacids are bases like
aluminium hydroxide (Al(OH)3), magnesium
hydroxide (Mg(OH)2) and calcium carbonate
(CaCO3) that neutralize the excess stomach acid. Antacids contain bases
that neutralize stomach
acid, the cause of
64 g Chemical Reactions & Energetics heartburn.
CREATING SOLIDS:
PRECIPITATION
REACTIONS
Two friends are out for a night
on the town, both looking for love. One is
drawn to an incredibly attractive stranger.
3-SECOND NUCLEUS Once together, the friend and the stranger RELATED TOPICS
A precipitation reaction never separate, because the attraction is so See also
occurs when two ions OPPOSITES ATTRACT
strong. They drop out of sight, losing touch
are so strongly attracted page 36
to each other that they
with their old friends. This scenario is similar
THE SOLID STATE
form a solid. to a particular type of chemical reaction called page 48
a precipitation reaction. When two or more ions
CERAMICS
are mixed in water, they are initially attracted page 52
3-MINUTE VALENCE
Precipitation reactions are
to nearby water molecules. However, as they
particularly useful when move around (due to thermal energy), the ions
something needs to be encounter each other and are drawn together. 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHY
LINUS PAULING
removed from a solution. If the attraction is strong enough, the two ions 1901–94
For example, water
treatment plants can use
will stick together and fall out of solution (form American winner of the 1954
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, who
precipitation reactions to a solid). If the attraction isn’t very strong, the developed our understanding
of how atoms and molecules
remove undesirable ions don’t get together and just stay in solution. are attracted to each other.
contaminants from our He was also a peace activist
As examples, when silver (Ag+) and chloride (Cl–) and won the 1962 Nobel
water. If a chemical
reaction takes place in a are mixed they stick together and form a solid Peace Prize
solution, and the product is precipitate. However, sodium (Na+) is much less
insoluble in that solution, attractive to chloride, so they don’t form a 30-SECOND TEXT
then it falls out of solution
as a solid and can be
precipitate. The ‘bathtub ring’ that you Jeff C. Bryan
isolated by filtration. sometimes see if you bathe in hard water is due

to a precipitation reaction between the ions in
hard water and the ions in soap.
In a precipitation,
a solid forms when
two liquid solutions
66 g Chemical Reactions & Energetics are mixed.
USING CHEMISTRY
TO GENERATE
ELECTRICITY
Chemical reactions in which
electrons migrate from one chemical substance
to another are called oxidation-reduction
3-SECOND NUCLEUS reactions. These types of reactions can be used RELATED TOPIC
Loss of electrons is to generate electricity by arranging the chemical See also
oxidation, while gain of CHEMICAL EQUATIONS
substances so that the substance gaining
electrons is reduction; page 60
reactions that involve
electrons (being reduced and called the oxidizing
transfer of electrons agent) is not in physical contact with the
between reactants are substance losing electrons (being oxidized and 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
oxidation-reduction or MICHAEL FARADAY
called the reducing agent). The electrons are 1791–1867
redox reactions.
then forced to travel through an external circuit English scientist who
developed the system of
to get from the reducing agent to the oxidizing oxidation numbers and coined
many terms associated with
3-MINUTE VALENCE agent. This arrangement is called a voltaic cell. electrochemistry
Corrosion results from Self-contained voltaic cells – either by
oxidation of metals WALTHER HERMANN NERNST
exposed to oxidizing
themselves or connected in series – function as 1864–1941
agents in the environment. batteries. They produce electricity. The lead German chemist who
developed the equation for
When the metal is iron, the storage battery used to start a car engine is the relationship between
process is rusting. Rust is concentration and voltage
comprised of six voltaic cells containing lead and
hydrated forms of iron(III)
oxide generated when iron lead oxide immersed in a solution of sulfuric acid
is exposed to moisture and (battery acid). Dry cell batteries, such as those 30-SECOND TEXT
oxygen. The rate of rusting John B. Vincent
used in torches, use zinc and magnesium dioxide.
depends on the acidity of
Button batteries (used in calculators or watches)
the environment and the
presence of electrolytes to also use zinc, but they have mercuric oxide or
help carry electric current. silver oxide substituted as the oxidizing agent.
Having a metal that is more Lithium ion batteries use lithium between planes
easily oxidized (a sacrificial
electrode) in contact with
of graphite as the reducing agent and a lithium
iron can retard rusting. metal oxide as the oxidizing agent.
Batteries use chemical

reactions that involve
the transfer of electrons
68 g Chemical Reactions & Energetics to produce electricity.
REACTION RATES &
CHEMICAL KINETICS
Chemical reactions occur at a
variety of speeds or rates. Chemical explosions
occur rapidly, with the creation of large volumes
3-SECOND NUCLEUS of hot gas. Many chemicals are stable, however; RELATED TOPICS
The rate of a chemical they react so slowly that they can be placed in See also
reaction is the speed at CHEMICAL EQUATIONS
a bottle. Fortunately, the rates (or speeds) at
which the reaction occurs page 60
and depends on reactant
which chemical reactions occur can be controlled
USING CHEMISTRY TO
concentration, temperature – and studying these processes is the field of GENERATE ELECTRICITY
and whether or not a chemical kinetics. One way to increase the rate page 68
catalyst is present.
of a reaction is by increasing the temperature.
For this reason, the reactions that cook food
3-MINUTE VALENCE happen faster the higher the temperature. JACOBUS HENRICUS
Although nitrogen and Increasing the concentration of the reactant VAN ’T HOFF
oxygen gas are stable, 1852–1911
substances or surface area also increases the Dutch chemist who won the
at the temperature of a
car engine they react to
rates of chemical reactions. You can hold an first Nobel Prize in Chemistry
in part for determining graphical
produce nitric oxide gas iron nail in your hand, but if it is ground to a methods to establish that
reaction rates depend on the
(NO), an air pollutant that fine powder (greatly increasing its surface area) concentrations of the reactants
is a cause of acid rain and
the iron can burst into flames in air. The
smog. NO is removed from HENRY TAUBE
a car’s exhaust gas by a concentration of many chemicals in your body 1915–2005
must be carefully regulated for you to remain American chemist who won
catalytic converter. In the the 1983 Nobel Prize in
converter, the exhaust healthy. Your body accomplishes this by Chemistry for relating rates
passes over a honeycomb- of chemical reactions to
like structure of alumina
regulating the rates of a wide range of chemical electronic structure
impregnated with solid reactions. The rates of slow reactions are

transition-metal oxides accelerated by proteins called enzymes; these
that catalyse the 30-SECOND TEXT
biological molecules are catalysts (substances John B. Vincent
conversion of NO back
to O2 and N2.
that change the rate of a chemical reaction
without being consumed by the reaction).
Controlling how fast
a chemical reaction
occurs allows us to
reduce pollution and
70 g Chemical Reactions & Energetics create new molecules.
1778 1800 1812
Born in Penzance, in The news of Alessandro Knighted, marries, retires
southwestern England Volta’s 1796 discovery of and with his new wife and
a chemical battery, Faraday, tours the
known as the ‘Voltaic continent visiting major
1795 Pile’, comes to England laboratories
Apprenticed to a surgeon
and apothecary
1801 1815
Invited to be a lecturer at Invents the coal miner’s
1797 the newly formed Royal safety lamp
Studies chemistry by Institution in London
reading in French the
recently guillotined 1829
Antoine Lavoisier’s Traité 1802 After a lengthy period of
élémentaire de chimie Appointed professor of debilitation, dies in
chemistry at the Royal Geneva, Switzerland
Institution; soon builds a
1798 giant Voltaic pile in the
Becomes the director of basement
Thomas Beddoes’
Pneumatic Institute in
Bristol 1807-1808
Using his Voltaic pile,
discovers six elements
1799 (sodium, potassium,
Prepares and imbibes magnesium, calcium,
nitrous oxide, which he strontium and barium)
nicknames ‘laughing gas’ in two years
1800 1810
Publishes Researches, ‘Discovers’ and launches
Chemical and Michael Faraday on a
Philosophical; chiefly stellar chemistry career
concerning nitrous oxide
or dephlogisticated
nitrous air, and its
respiration
72 g Chemical Reactions & Energetics

HUMPHRY DAVY
Humphry Davy, ‘full of mischief, In 1801, Davy was invited to be a lecturer at

with a penchant for explosions . . . a born the newly minted Royal Institution in London.
chemist’, spent his youth fishing, hunting, Here he quickly produced a series of immensely
reading, storytelling and writing poetry. As a popular lectures augmented by striking
teenager he loved fireworks and other explosive demonstrations. He was an extremely
chemical reactions. He was apprenticed to a handsome young man with a gift for working
surgeon and apothecary, but reluctantly gave audiences, so he attracted huge crowds that
this up to become director of Thomas included many of the young ladies of that day.
Beddoes’s Pneumatic Institute in Bristol. This One such admirer admitted that ‘those eyes
clinic, established to study the effect of gases were made for something besides poring over
on improving human health, gave Davy the crucibles.’ Active in the electrolysis of metal
opportunity to prepare, characterize and purify oxides, he discovered six elements (sodium,
nitrous oxide – which earlier researchers had potassium, magnesium, calcium, strontium and
thought caused the plague. Davy was not barium) in two years (1807–08) and became the
convinced and took a small whiff for himself. leading chemist of his day.
Noting that he did not meet his demise, he soon His penchant for self-experimentation caused
discovered that this sweet-smelling gas was debilitating injuries that resulted in his hiring of
thoroughly intoxicating. Fellow partakers Michael Faraday as his assistant. Davy often
giggled and laughed out loud, and Davy called claimed that Faraday was his most important
it ‘laughing gas’. ‘discovery’. In 1812 Davy was knighted, married
In Bristol, Davy became friends with a broad and embarked on a Grand Tour of Europe. Upon
cross-section of intellectuals. His good looks, his return he invented the coal miner’s safety
personal charm, and storytelling abilities, lamp that saved many lives. He was essentially
combined with his startling discoveries, made an invalid for the last third of his life and died
him a rising star. Although it soon became clear shortly after his 50th birthday. Nevertheless,
that Beddoes’s clinic would be short-lived, Davy during his short and exciting lifetime, he was
had matured into an excellent chemist. Luckily one of the best practitioners of and spokesmen
he soon found an electrifying new field of study for the new science of chemistry.
occasioned by Alessandro Volta’s invention of a
chemical battery, known then as a Voltaic pile. Glen E. Rodgers
Characteristically, one of the first things he did
was to build his own pile and shock himself to
gauge its effectiveness!
Humphry Davy g 73
ENERGY & THE
FIRST LAW OF
THERMODYNAMICS
The universe has a quantity we
call energy. Objects can possess it and can
transfer it to other objects, but it can neither
3-SECOND NUCLEUS be created nor destroyed. The total amount of RELATED TOPICS
Energy can be energy that exists is constant. This principle is See also
transferred or exchanged ENTROPY & THE SECOND LAW
known as the first law of thermodynamics.
but, according to the first OF THERMODYNAMICS
law of thermodynamics,
(A more nuanced treatment includes mass/ page 76
it can never be created energy as the constant, but we simplify a bit ENTROPY & THE THIRD LAW
or destroyed. here.) We formally define energy as the capacity OF THERMODYNAMICS
that an object has to exert a force on another page 78
3-MINUTE VALENCE
object across a distance. For example, a moving ENTROPY & SPONTANEOUS
PROCESSES
The first law of car has energy because it has the capacity to
page 80
thermodynamics implies strike another object and exert a force on it over
that energy cannot be a distance. Energy can come in many different
made out of nothing. Any
human attempt to create
forms. The moving car has kinetic energy, the 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHY
RUDOLF CLAUSIUS
energy out of thin air has energy associated with its motion. All substances 1822–88
failed. The law has not, of above zero kelvin have thermal energy, a type of German physicist who
course, prevented humans formulated one of the earliest
kinetic energy associated with the random, versions of the first law of
from trying. But as far as thermodynamics
we know, the spontaneous temperature-dependent motion of the particles
creation of energy is that compose the substance. The higher the
impossible. In other words, temperature, the greater the thermal energy. 30-SECOND TEXT
when it comes to energy,
you can’t win – you can’t
The book you are holding contains potential Nivaldo Tro
get something for nothing. energy, the energy associated with an object’s
position. Chemical substances have chemical
energy, a type of potential energy associated
with the positions of all of their electrons and
protons. Energy can be transferred or exchanged
but, according to the first law, it can never be
created or destroyed. A steam engine is
powered by the
energy transferred
74 g Chemical Reactions & Energetics from burning fuel.
ENTROPY & THE
SECOND LAW OF
THERMODYNAMICS
We have seen that in energy
transactions, you can’t win – you can’t get
energy out of nothing. But it gets worse – you
3-SECOND NUCLEUS can’t even break even. In our universe, energy RELATED TOPICS
For all spontaneous always spreads out or randomizes itself as much See also
processes entropy ENERGY & THE FIRST LAW
as possible. The second law of thermodynamics
increases. OF THERMODYNAMICS
describes this pervasive tendency: in any page 74
spontaneous process, a quantity called entropy ENTROPY & THE THIRD LAW
3-MINUTE VALENCE (which you can think of as a measure of energy OF THERMODYNAMICS
The second law of randomization or energy dispersion) always page 78
thermodynamics implies
that a perpetual motion
increases. You have no doubt experienced the ENTROPY & SPONTANEOUS
PROCESSES
machine – one that keeps second law every time you hold a warm drink.
page 80
on moving forever without The thermal energy in the drink disperses itself
the need for energy input into the surroundings – the drink spontaneously
– is impossible. With each
cycle of the machine’s
cools down (and the air surrounding the drink 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
NICOLAS LÉONARD
motion, some energy must warms up a bit). Imagine a universe in which the SADI CARNOT
be dispersed in order for hot drink gets hotter (and the surroundings 1796–1832
the motion to occur at all. French physicist instrumental
slightly cooler) as energy transfers from the in the development of
As a result, the energy
of the machine must surroundings into the drink! Not possible thermodynamics
necessarily decrease according to the second law. The second law RUDOLF CLAUSIUS
over time, and it must implies that, in any energy transaction, some 1822–88
eventually stop moving. German physicist who was
energy must be dispersed if the transaction is to instrumental in formulating the
second law of thermodynamics
occur at all. In other words, nature always takes
a heat tax. For example, recharging a battery will
always take more energy than the amount of 30-SECOND TEXT
energy you can use as you discharge the battery. Nivaldo Tro
Such is the second law – when it comes to

energy, you can’t break even.
A perpetual motion
machine cannot exist
according to the second
76 g Chemical Reactions & Energetics law of thermodynamics.
ENTROPY & THE
THIRD LAW OF
THERMODYNAMICS
According to the first law of
thermodynamics, you can’t win – you can’t get
something for nothing. According to the second
3-SECOND NUCLEUS law, you can’t break even – every energy RELATED TOPICS
The absolute entropy of transaction necessarily results in a loss to the See also
a perfect crystal at zero ENERGY & THE FIRST LAW
surroundings. According to the third law of
kelvin is zero. OF THERMODYNAMICS
thermodynamics, you can’t get out of the game. page 74
In the case of thermodynamics ‘getting out of ENTROPY & THE SECOND LAW
3-MINUTE VALENCE the game’ means getting to the lowest possible OF THERMODYNAMICS
Entropy is a measure of temperature, zero kelvin or absolute zero. page 76
the energy dispersed
into a system per unit
Absolute zero is the temperature at which ENTROPY & SPONTANEOUS
PROCESSES
temperature. For this atomic and molecular motion essentially stops.
page 80
reason, dispersing the The third law of thermodynamics states that the
same amount of energy entropy of a perfect crystal is zero at zero kelvin.
into a system at a colder
temperature produces
This law has two implications. The first one is 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHY
WALTHER HERMANN NERNST
greater entropy than that entropy, unlike other thermodynamic 1864–1941
dispersing that energy into quantities, can be measured on an absolute German chemist who
a warmer system. As we formulated the third law of
scale. All perfect crystals have zero entropy at thermodynamics and received
will see in the next entry, the 1920 Nobel Prize in
this is the reason that ice zero kelvin. As the temperature rises, energy is Chemistry for his work
melts above its melting dispersed into the crystal and its temperature
point but not below it. and entropy increases. The second implication
is that absolute zero can never be reached in a 30-SECOND TEXT
Nivaldo Tro
finite number of steps. It would take an infinite
number of cooling steps to arrive at the
absolute zero of temperature, so it can never
be achieved. The third law of
thermodynamics, as
formulated by Walther
Nernst, implies that
the absolute zero of
temperature cannot
78 g Chemical Reactions & Energetics be reached.
ENTROPY &
SPONTANEOUS
PROCESSES
The criteria for determining
whether any process will happen is simple:
will the process result in an increase in entropy?
3-SECOND NUCLEUS Consider the freezing of water. Water freezes RELATED TOPICS
A process is spontaneous spontaneously below 0°C (32°F). Why? When See also
if it increases the entropy ENERGY & THE FIRST LAW
water freezes, the water molecules become
(energy dispersion) of the OF THERMODYNAMICS
universe.
more organized, and the energy they contain page 74
becomes less randomized - their entropy ENTROPY & THE SECOND LAW
decreases. How then is this process ever OF THERMODYNAMICS
3-MINUTE VALENCE spontaneous? Because when water freezes it page 76
Processes that result in a
decrease in entropy are not
gives off heat (energy is dispersed) and the ENTROPY & THE THIRD LAW
OF THERMODYNAMICS
impossible, they just don’t resulting entropy increase in the surroundings
page 78
happen spontaneously. is temperature-dependent. We can understand
Iron spontaneously reacts this with a simple analogy. If you give a poor
with oxygen to form iron
oxide (rust). This process
person £1,000, you significantly increase his or 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
JOSIAH WILLARD GIBBS
causes an increase in the her net worth. But if you give a rich person the 1839–1903
entropy of the universe. same £1,000, the impact is negligible. Similarly, American physicist who
However, iron oxide can be developed the main criteria for
if you disperse a given amount of energy into the spontaneity of a process
turned back into iron. In
fact, the manufacture of cold surroundings, you significantly increase its LUDWIG EDUARD
iron metal from iron oxide entropy, but if you disperse the same amount BOLTZMANN
depends on it. 1844–1906
of energy into warm surroundings, the increase
Austrian physicist who
is less. When the freezing of water occurs below developed a statistical
description of the second
0°C, the heat emitted into the surroundings is law of thermodynamics
enough to increase the entropy of the
surroundings so much that it more than
30-SECOND TEXT
compensates for the decrease in entropy of the Nivaldo Tro
water molecules themselves, resulting in an
overall increase in entropy of the universe and When ice melts at a
therefore a spontaneous process. temperature above
its melting point, the
entropy of the universe
80 g Chemical Reactions & Energetics increases.
g
INORGANIC CHEMISTRY
INORGANIC CHEMISTRY
GLOSSARY
allotropes Two or more forms of the same crystal field theory (also ligand field theory)
element, but with different structures (and A bonding theory in inorganic chemistry in
therefore different properties). which ligands donate an electron pair to a
central metal ion.
catalytic properties To have the ability to
act as a catalyst (a substance that increases diffraction grating A surface engraved with
the rate of chemical reaction without being a series of closely spaced lines that reflects
consumed by the reaction). different wavelengths of light at different
angles. Diffraction gratings can split white
CFCs Chlorofluorocarbons. These light up into its constituent colours.
compounds were common in air
conditioning and refrigeration, but are now electromagnetic spectrum The range of
banned due to their harmful effect on the frequencies of electromagnetic radiation
Earth’s ozone layer. bounded by radio waves at low frequencies
and gamma rays at high frequencies.
colour wheel A circle or wheel that
contains different colours and shows how fuel cell An electrochemical cell that produces
they are related. You can use a colour wheel electrical current from the continuous input of
to predict the colour of an object based on a fuel.
what colours the object absorbs.
fullerenes Carbon molecules that have
complementary colours Two colours spherical, tubular or other similar structures.
opposite each other on a colour wheel.
Complementary colours have high graphene A form of carbon consisting of a
contrasts between one another. sheet of carbon atoms one atom thick.
complex (transition metal complex) A graphite A form of carbon composed of

compound or ion consisting of a transition carbon atoms bound together in sheets,
metal linked to one or more ligands. which are stacked on top of one another.
concatenated atoms Atoms that have

been linked to form a chain structure.
84 g Inorganic Chemistry
ligand A molecule or ion that donates an silicate Compound containing silicon, oxygen
electron pair to a central metal ion in and sometimes various metal atoms. Silicates
transition metal complex. form network covalent structures with high
melting points.
metalloid An element that falls along the
boundary between metals and non-metals stratosphere An atmospheric layer that
on the periodic table. Metalloids have begins about 10 km (just over 6 miles) above
properties intermediate between metals the Earth’s surface and is sandwiched
and non-metals. between the troposphere below and the
mesosphere above.
oxidation state The charge an atom would
have in a chemical compound if all of the substrate The molecule on which an enzyme
bonding electrons were assigned to the (a biological catalyst) acts.
more electron negative atom (the atom
that most strongly attracts electrons). transition metals Those metals found in the
large centre block of the periodic table (the
photosynthesis The process by which d-block). Transition metals (in contrast to main
plants convert carbon dioxide, water and group metals) tend to have properties that are
sunlight into glucose and oxygen. less predictable based on their exact position
on the periodic table.
prism A clear optical element that is
usually triangular in shape and can bend valence electrons The highest energy
light of different wavelengths by different electrons (and therefore the most important
amounts. When white light travels through in bonding) in an atom.
a prism, it is broken up into its constituent
colours. Zintl ions Ionic clusters of main group
elements.
reactant Any one of the substances that
undergoes a chemical reaction. In a
reaction, reactants react to form products.
Glossary g 85
THE UNIQUENESS
PRINCIPLE
The periodic table contains a
dividing line that is never marked. The invisible
line occurs between the table’s second and third
3-SECOND NUCLEUS rows, where boron meets aluminium; carbon RELATED TOPICS
Elements in the periodic meets silicon; and so on until fluorine meets See also
table’s second row behave PERIODIC PATTERNS
chlorine. Elements above the line cannot form
differently from heavier page 26
elements because they
bonds to as many atoms as those below the
THE LEWIS MODEL FOR
form strong multiple bonds line, being strictly limited to a total of eight CHEMICAL BONDING
and are limited to eight ‘valence’ or bonding-level electrons. Thus, while page 32
valence electrons.
oxygen forms the mono- and dioxides with itself CARBON: IT’S NOT JUST
(that is, O2 and O3), sulfur, selenium and tellurium FOR PENCILS
page 96
3-MINUTE VALENCE form mono-, di- and trioxides, of which SO, SO2
One consequence of the and SO3 are examples. Similarly, nitrogen forms
uniqueness principle is that the trichloride NCl3 while phosphorous, arsenic 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
planetary atmospheres
largely consist of first-
and antimony form both tri- and pentachlorides VICTOR GOLDSCHMIDT
1888–1947
and second-row elements. such as PCl3 and PCl5. However, unlike later Swiss crystal chemist who
Earth’s atmosphere is elements, the non-metals of the second row classified elements by their
dominant geologic locations
comprised mostly of
are small enough to form strong multiple bonds,
nitrogen and oxygen; THOM DUNNING
Mars’s atmosphere mostly a quality that enables them to form compact 1943–
of CO2; and those of the molecules where a heavier element would form American chemist who
gas giants are mostly explained first-row anomalies
an extended structure of linked atoms. Carbon, in terms of recoupled pair bonds
hydrogen, helium, CH4
for instance, forms the triple and doubly bonded
and NH3. In contrast, the
planetary crusts of planets oxides CO and CO2, while its heavier counterparts
30-SECOND TEXT
such as Earth and Mars – silicon, germanium, tin and lead – react with Stephen Contakes
contain large amounts of oxygen to form three-dimensional solid networks
silicate minerals, many
of which contain chains,
held together exclusively by single bonds.
sheets and 3D networks The second-row
held together by silicon-
elements are unique -
oxygen single bonds.
they are very different
from the elements that
lie below them in the
86 g Inorganic Chemistry periodic table.
1 2
H He
Hydrogen Helium
1.00794 4.002602
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Li Be B C N O F Ne
6.941 9.012182 10.811 12.0107 14.0067 1.00794 18.9984032 20.1797
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
22.98976928 24.905 26.9815386 28.0855 30.973762 32.065 35.453 39.948
19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
39.0983 40.078 44.9559 1.00794 50.9415 51.9967 54.938045 55.845 58.933195 58.6934 63.546 65.38 69.729 72.64 74.9216 78.96 79.904 83.798
37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54
85.4678 87.62 88.90585 92.9063 92.9063 95.96 [98] 101.07 102.9055 106.42 107.8682 112.411 114.818 118.71 121.76 127.6 126.90447 131.293
55 56 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86
132.9054519 137.327 1.00794 180.94788 183.84 186.207 190.23 192.217 195.084 196.966569 200.59 204.3833 207.2 208.9804 [209] [210] [222]
87 88 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118
[223] [226] [267] [268] [271] [272] [270] [276] [281] [280] [285] [284] [289] [289] [293] [294] [294]
57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71
La Ce Pr Nd Pm Sm Eu Gd Tb Dy Ho Er Tm Yb Lu
Lanthanum Cerium Praseodymium Neodymium Promethium Samarium Europium Gadolinium Terbium Dysporsium Holmium Erbium Thulium Ytterbium Lutetium
138.90547 140.116 140.90765 144.242 [145] 150.36 151.964 157.25 158.9253 162.5 164.93032 167.259 168.93421 173.054 174.9668
89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103

Ac Th Pa U Np Pu Am Cm Bk Cf Es Fm Md No Lr
Actinium Thorium Protactinium Uranium Neptunium Plutonium Americium Curium Berkelium Californium Einsteinium Fermium Mendelevium Nobelium Lawrencium
[227] 232.03806 140.90765 238.02891 [237] [244] [243] [247] [247] [251] [252] [257] [258] [262] [262]
COLOUR
When white light passes through
a prism, the light is dispersed into a spectrum
of colours. The colours range from red at the
3-SECOND NUCLEUS lowest frequencies through orange, yellow, RELATED TOPICS
Coloured objects appear to green, blue and finally violet at the highest. See also
have colour because they CLUSTER CHEMISTRY
Substances that absorb all frequencies of visible
absorb some frequencies page 90
of visible light and reflect
light appear black, while substances that reflect
TRANSITION METAL
or transmit the others. all frequencies of visible light appear white. CATALYSTS
Coloured objects appear to an observer to page 92
have a colour because they absorb certain
3-MINUTE VALENCE
Our eyes can detect a
frequencies (or wavelengths) of visible light
narrow range of while reflecting or transmitting (allowing to ALFRED WERNER
frequencies in the pass) others. The precise colour a substance has 1866–1919
electromagnetic spectrum. Swiss chemist who won
depends on which frequencies are absorbed. the 1913 Nobel Prize in
This range of frequencies Chemistry for predicting the
is responsible for all of the
In general, a substance will appear to have a three-dimensional structure
colours that we see. Our colour complementary to the one absorbed of many transition metal
complexes before modern
brains have evolved to use (and opposite it on a colour wheel). For example, structural methods
colour as a way to help
a substance that appears yellow absorbs violet JOHN HASBROUCK
distinguish one substance
from another. Modern light (the complement of yellow). Transition VAN VLECK
1899–1980
spectrometers, which metal complexes are often deeply coloured American physicist who won
precisely measure the because they strongly absorb certain frequencies the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physics
frequencies absorbed by and was instrumental in the
substances, are among the
of light in the visible region. These complexes development of crystal field
theory, the precursor to ligand
most powerful scientific often have unfilled outer-level orbitals that field theory
tools in substance can receive an electron excited by specific
identification. frequencies of visible light. The colour absorbed
30-SECOND TEXT
depends on the separations between the John B. Vincent
d-orbitals, which in turn depend on the ligands
attached to the metal.
White light separates
into its component
colours when passed
88 g Inorganic Chemistry through a prism.
CLUSTER
CHEMISTRY
In some molecules, ions and
materials the electrons that hold the atoms
together are shared between a group of
3-SECOND NUCLEUS clustered atoms. For instance, some metals and RELATED TOPICS
Cluster compounds form metalloids can be reduced to liquid-soluble See also
when atoms and ions WHERE ELECTRONS ARE
fragments of metal while many transition metals
share electrons and WITHIN AN ATOM
bunch together in a
form clusters when combined with chlorine, page 24
polyhedral shape. sulfur or carbon monoxide under the right THE LEWIS MODEL FOR
conditions. Some of the latter clusters catalyze CHEMICAL BONDING
commercially important reactions, although page 32
3-MINUTE VALENCE
none has yet found industrial use. Sometimes NANOTECHNOLOGY
Many of the most page 98
important reactions for life clusters exist as discrete units; in other cases
on Earth are facilitated by they are linked together in a network. Solid
metal-containing clusters MoCl2, for example, consists of octahedral 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
located within proteins.
For example, clusters
clusters of Mo6Cl84+ bridged by intervening WILLIAM N. LIPSCOMB
1919–2011
containing iron and sulfur Cl- ions. However, when heated in the presence American chemist who
facilitate the movement of additional chloride, the connections are pioneered study of the
structure and bonding in
of electrons through
broken to give discrete Mo6Cl142- units. The borane clusters
many biological systems,
including the respiratory ratio of electrons to atoms in a cluster affects KENNETH WADE
chain our cells use to its shape. When clusters have just enough 1932–2014
British chemist who developed
harvest energy by electrons to hold together, they form as ‘Wade’s Rules’ for predicting
converting oxygen to cluster compounds’ shapes
compact a shape as possible – that of the and stability
water. In photosynthesis
plants reverse this process, smallest polyhedron that can accommodate all
harvesting even more the core atoms. In contrast, clusters with more
energy from sunlight to electrons tend to open up and take on the shape 30-SECOND TEXT
produce oxygen at a cluster Stephen Contakes
containing four manganese
of larger polyhedra with unoccupied vertices,
ions and one calcium ion. giving clusters that sometimes look like a
molecular nest or a web.
Cluster compounds
have polyhedral shapes
90 g Inorganic Chemistry and unique properties.
TRANSITION
METAL CATALYSTS
Many industrial chemicals are
produced by combining small organic molecules
or substrates with catalysts composed of
3-SECOND NUCLEUS transition metals (such as cobalt, chromium RELATED TOPICS
Transition metal or iron) which are themselves bound to small See also
compounds facilitate REACTION RATES &
molecules called ligands. In these processes
chemical reactions between CHEMICAL KINETICS
small molecules that bind
the metals speed up reactions between the page 70
to the metal, rearrange and substrates by acting as platforms where COLOUR
get released as new substrates can bind and then break into smaller page 88
products.
molecular fragments, rearrange how their atoms AMINO ACIDS & PROTEINS
are bound together and form new bonds with page 128
3-MINUTE VALENCE other substrates. The new molecules and

Many biological and fragments that result can then be released from
industrial processes involve 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
the metal to yield the reaction products and HUMPHRY DAVY
transition metals acting as 1779–1829
catalysts, substances that
regenerate the original metal complex. In fact,
British chemist who discovered
speed up chemical from the viewpoint of the metal the entire that platinum was useful as a
heterogeneous catalyst
reactions without being process involves a cyclic series of reactions
changed themselves.
or ‘catalytic cycle’ in which the metal complex KARL ZIEGLER
Without metal catalysts we & GIULIO NATTA
could not use the oxygen adds reactants and spits out products. Some 1898–1973 & 1903–79
we breathe or produce metal catalysts do not even need to bind their German and Italian chemists
who developed a catalyst for
enough food to sustain substrates, but instead function by pushing making commercial plastics
current population levels. with specific properties
Perhaps we wouldn’t even
electrons around. For instance, some biological
be around today, because iron clusters facilitate the movement of
one hypothesis about the electrons between reactants, alternatively 30-SECOND TEXT
origin of life involves gaining an electron from one substrate and Stephen Contakes
catalysis by iron minerals.
passing it to another. Other complexes can
harvest energy from light and use it to push
electrons into or out of molecules, generating
unstable intermediates that then quickly react Transition metal
with other nearby molecules. compounds can act
as catalysts in
92 g Inorganic Chemistry chemical reactions.
I CO –
IrI
I CO
I–
CH3COI CH3I
CH3 –
O CH3
C I CO
I CO IrIII
IrIII I CO
I CO I
CH3OH
CH3CO3H
CH3
I CO I–
I CO CO
CO
19 March 1943 1973 1985
Born in Mexico City, Joins Professor Rowland’s Demonstrates that ice
Mexico research group at the crystals in the polar
University of California, stratosphere amplify
Irvine the ozone destruction
1972 capability of CFCs
Receives his PhD in
chemistry from the 1974
University of California, Co-authors a paper 1989
Berkeley in the journal Nature Moves to Massachusetts
highlighting the Institute of Technology to
damaging effects of continue his research in
CFCs to the ozone layer atmospheric sciences
in the stratosphere
1995
1982 Receives the Nobel Prize
Moves to the Jet in Chemistry for
Propulsion Laboratory ‘contributing to our
at the California Institute salvation from a potential
of Technology to carry global environmental
out experiments on the catastrophe’
effect of CFCs on the
ozone layer
2005
Moves to the University
of California, San Diego,
and the Centre of
Atmospheric Sciences
at Scripps Institution
of Oceanography
2013
Receives the Presidential
Award of Freedom from
President Obama
94 g Inorganic Chemistry
MARIO J. MOLINA
Born to a Mexican family of and France strengthening his engineering and

highly educated professionals, Mario J. Molina mathematics knowledge before completing his
is a Nobel Prize-winning chemist whose work on doctoral degree under the supervision of
the detrimental effects of chlorofluorocarbons Professor George Pimentel at the University of
(CFCs) – a class of industrial chemicals California, Berkeley.
commonly used in refrigeration, aerosol cans In 1973, Molina joined Professor Rowland’s
and plastic manufacturing – on the group as a postdoctoral researcher at the
stratospheric ozone layer provides an excellent University of California, Irvine, where he
example of how fundamental research can have discovered that CFCs break down in the
tremendous practical implications, greatly stratosphere, producing elemental chlorine,
improving the quality of life on Earth. His which destroys the ozone layer that protects
research findings, published in the journal living things on Earth from the Sun’s dangerous
Nature in 1974, led to an international ban on rays. Molina and Rowland met with fierce
CFC emissions into the atmosphere (the 1985 opposition from industrial producers of CFCs
Vienna Convention and the Montreal until the British Antarctic Survey detected a
Amendment). large and growing gap in the ozone layer in
Encouraged by his aunt Esther Molina, also a 1985. Molina, now a full-time researcher at the
chemist, Mario developed a strong fascination Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California
with natural sciences, which became stronger Institute of Technology, further demonstrated
when he observed the living organisms in a drop that polar ice crystals in the stratosphere
of pond water with his first microscope. This amplified the destructive effect of CFCs on the
thrilling experience drew him to acquire ozone layer. By the end of 1985, most of the
chemistry sets and to build his own laboratory CFC-producing countries signed the Vienna
in an unused bathroom of his family home. Convention, which was soon amended by the
Recognizing how excited he was about Montreal Protocol, to end CFC emissions into
chemistry, Molina’s parents briefly sent him to a the atmosphere. Mario Molina received the
Swiss boarding school at the age of 11 to learn 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for ‘contributing
German, a language then quite useful for a to our salvation from a potential global
successful career in chemistry. environmental catastrophe’.
After studying chemical engineering at the
Autonomous National University of Mexico, Ali O. Sezer
Molina spent more than two years in Germany
Mario
MarioJ. Molina g 95
CARBON: IT’S NOT
JUST FOR PENCILS
The major common allotropes of
carbon include shiny, transparent and super-
hard diamond and soft black graphite. Graphene
3-SECOND NUCLEUS (isolated in 2010 by Andre Geim) is a one-atom- RELATED TOPICS
Carbon allotropes include thick sheet of carbon atoms densely packed into See also
diamond, graphite and BONDING ATOMS TOGETHER
a chicken-wire-shaped structure. Graphite is
fullerenes. Fullerenes, page 28
named after Buckminster
many sheets of these graphene layers stacked
THE LEWIS MODEL FOR
Fuller, come in the form together. Since these layers are only weakly CHEMICAL BONDING
of hollow spheroids bound to each other they are readily rubbed page 32
(‘buckyballs’) and
off onto paper and therefore used in pencils. THE FORCES THAT HOLD
nanotubes (‘buckytubes’).
In 1985, Harry Kroto discovered a new form of MATTER TOGETHER
page 42
carbon (C60) when he and his colleagues Richard
3-MINUTE VALENCE Smalley and Robert Curl simulated chemical
Carbon is a unique element. reactions that might occur in the atmosphere 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
Not only is it the central
element on which all life is
of red giant stars. C60 is one of a larger family R. BUCKMINSTER FULLER
1895–1983
based, but in its elemental of carbon forms known as fullerenes. Fullerenes American inventor, architect
state it also exists in several are molecules in the form of hollow spheres, and author who popularized
the geodesic dome
fascinating and useful
ellipsoids or cylinders. Since C60 looks much like
allotropes (different HARRY KROTO
molecular forms of a the famous geodesic domes of R. Buckminster 1939–2016
given element). Fuller, it was dubbed ‘buckminsterfullerene’. English chemist, winner of the
1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Spherical or ellipsoidal fullerenes are fondly for discovering fullerenes
known as ‘buckyballs’. Graphene layers can also
wrap around and form cylindrical tubes called
30-SECOND TEXT
‘nanotubes’ or ‘buckytubes’. Fullerenes are Glen E. Rodgers
flexible, strong and stable, with an ever-
increasing number of practical uses – for
example, as catalysts, in energy generation and
storage devices, as MRI and X-ray contrast
agents and in flexible electronics. Carbon comes in many
forms including familiar
graphite and new forms
96 g Inorganic Chemistry such as graphene.
NANOTECHNOLOGY
Nanotechnology is the study of
matter where the basic structure has at least
one of its dimensions less than or equal to 100
3-SECOND NUCLEUS nanometres (1 nanometre is one-billionth of a RELATED TOPICS
Nanotechnology is the metre.) This would therefore include almost all See also
science of building tiny CLUSTER CHEMISTRY
of chemistry, since most molecules meet such a
structures from the page 90
molecular size up.
requirement. However, what is different about
CARBON: IT’S NOT JUST
nanochemistry is that it uses bottom-up FOR PENCILS
molecular routes to reach the larger domains, page 96
3-MINUTE VALENCE coupling molecule to molecule to make larger
Nanochemistry can
also be used to construct
structures. This is in contrast to the traditional
nanoparticles of precise top-down approaches in which large structures RICHARD FEYNMAN
size and shape with unique are cut into smaller pieces. The bottom-up route 1918–88
catalytic properties for American physicist who first
permits the precision of chemical synthesis to suggested building molecular
processes such as structures one atom at a time;
converting hydrogen and
affect larger materials properties. As an example he won the 1965 Nobel Prize in
oxygen to water in a fuel of this bottom-up approach, different molecules Physics
cell to generate electricity. that are about 0.1 nanometre in size can be RICHARD SMALLEY
Other nanoparticles can be 1943–2005
attached together using synthetic chemical
used to split water, using American chemist and
sunlight, to the requisite techniques to make tiny structures such as foundational figure in
nanotechnology who was
hydrogen and oxygen nanocars. A single nanocar is 2 nm x 3 nm in size awarded a share of the 1996
needed by the fuel with four wheels, fully rotating axles, chassis Nobel Prize in Chemistry
cell. Combined, such a
system could potentially
and light-activated motors. These nanocars may
supply the world’s energy be able to perform work, such as bringing in 30-SECOND TEXT
needs in a far cleaner molecules or atoms through selective voltage James Tour
manner than using fossil pulse commands to further construct larger
fuels – as we do today.
entities or to deliver drugs to cells. Molecularly
built nanocars are so small that 25,000 of them Molecular machines
lined up end to end would only span a distance such as nanocars
the diameter of a human hair. have the potential
to perform vital tasks
in medicine and
98 g Inorganic Chemistry energy supply.
g
ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
GLOSSARY
aldehydes A family of organic compounds cross-linked structure A common structure

containing a terminal C=O functional group. in polymers in which long chain-like molecules
form bonds between the neighbouring chains.
aldosterone A hormone responsible for
the regulation of sodium and potassium. cyclic structures Any structure containing
one or more rings of atoms bonded together.
alkaloids Organic bases found in plants;
often poisonous. distillation A process by which a mixture of
compounds with differing boiling points can
amines Organic compounds containing be separated by heating the mixture and
a nitrogen atom bonded to one or more recondensing the gases that vaporize.
carbon atoms.
ester An organic compound containing the
aromatic ring A flat, ring-shaped chain of –COO– functional group.
carbon atoms containing alternating single
and double bonds. functional group A characteristic atom or
group of atoms present in a family of organic
carbonyl The C=O functional group. compounds that give the compounds certain
characteristics.
carboxylic acid An organic compound
containing the –COOH functional group. homologous series A series of organic
compounds that differ in length by one
covalent bond The joining of atoms by carbon atom.
the sharing of one or more electrons.
102 g Organic Chemistry

hydrocarbon An organic compound molar mass The mass of one mole of
containing only carbon and hydrogen. an element or compound.
hydroxyl group An –OH group monomer Repeating unit in a polymer.

characteristic of the organic family
of alcohols. organic compounds Compounds that contain
carbon bonded to hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen
isomers Two molecules with the same or sulfur.
chemical formula but different structures.
paraffin wax A soft, flammable solid
ketone A family of organic compounds composed of a mix of long chain
that contain the C=O functional group hydrocarbons.
sandwiched between two other carbon
atoms. progesterone A female sex hormone with the
formula C21H30O2 that plays a role in the
linear structure A chemical structure menstrual cycle and pregnancy.
in which the atoms that compose the
structure fall on a continuous line. testosterone A male sex hormone with the
formula C19H28O2.
macromolecule A very large molecule,
such as a polymer, typically containing
thousands of atoms.
Glossary g 103
ORGANIC
CHEMISTRY
& VITALISM
Early chemists divided compounds
into two distinct types: organic and inorganic.
Organic compounds were isolated from living
3-SECOND NUCLEUS organisms and tended to be quite fragile. For RELATED TOPICS
Vitalism, the belief that example, sugar is an organic compound (isolated See also
living things contained HYDROCARBONS
from sugar cane or the sugar beet). If you heat
some unique force not page 106
contained in non-living
sugar in a pan, it quickly decomposes. Inorganic
ALCOHOLS
things, was proved false compounds came from the Earth and tended to page 108
and abandoned in the be more durable. For example, table salt is an
nineteenth century. ALDEHYDES, KETONES
inorganic compound (isolated from salt mines & ESTERS
or from oceans). If you heat salt in a pan, the page 110
3-MINUTE VALENCE salt does not decompose – you simply get hot
The downfall of vitalism salt. Furthering the divide, early chemists were
is significant because it 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
able to synthesize inorganic compounds in the GEORG ERNST STAHL
meant that living things 1659–1734
could be studied from a
laboratory, but not organic compounds. This
German chemist and advocate
chemical point of view. divide fitted well with an eighteenth-century of vitalism
The reactions that happen belief called vitalism, which suggested that all FREDERICH WÖHLER
in living organisms are not
living organisms contained a vital force that 1800–82
qualitatively different from German chemist who, in 1828,
those that happen outside separated them from non-living things. The vital synthesized urea, an organic
of living organisms. force allowed living organisms to synthesize compound, from inorganic
starting materials
The revolution that has organic compounds, but a chemist could not
occurred in biology
over the last half-century
synthesize an organic compound in a beaker
is largely due to because no vital force was present. Vitalism died 30-SECOND TEXT
Nivaldo Tro
understanding life from a slow death in the middle of the nineteenth
a molecular perspective. century because chemists began to synthesize
organic compounds from inorganic ones. Today,
hundreds of thousands of organic compounds
have been synthesized, including many Urea (centre) was one
compounds central to life itself. of the first organic
compounds synthesized
from inorganic
104 g Organic Chemistry compounds.
HYDROCARBONS
Hydrocarbons, the principle
constituents of petroleum and natural gas, are
organic compounds of hydrogen and carbon.
3-SECOND NUCLEUS Because carbon can bond, not only to other RELATED TOPICS
Petrol, a potpourri of many atoms like hydrogen, but also to itself (a process See also
hydrocarbons, packs a CARBON: IT’S NOT JUST
called ‘catenation’), there are many naturally
large amount of energy FOR PENCILS
in a small volume, which
occurring and synthetically produced page 96
makes it a convenient hydrocarbon compounds. Hydrocarbons have ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
source of fuel for had an unmatched influence on the economic, & VITALISM
transportation. page 104
social and environmental development of
modern society. They are a convenient source
3-MINUTE VALENCE of energy and the starting materials to make 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
Hydrocarbon-based ‘fossil many common products such as polymers, JAMES YOUNG
fuels’ provide more than 1811–83
textiles and pharmaceuticals. Hydrocarbons in Scottish chemist known as
80 per cent of the world’s
energy – mainly as coal,
all physical forms find their way into our lives the father of the petrochemical
industry who first distilled
petroleum and natural every day – in gas (natural gas), liquid (petrol) paraffin, a saturated
hydrocarbon, from petroleum
gas. They are the most and solid (paraffin wax) forms. They are, in
convenient and economical
general, classified as ‘saturated’ (only single EDWIN L. DRAKE
sources of energy for most 1819–80
practical applications. covalent bonds are present), ‘unsaturated’ (at An American railroad conductor
least one double or triple covalent bond exists credited with drilling the first
However, hydrocarbons modern oil well, near Titusville,
are non-renewable, with between carbon atoms) or ‘aromatic’ (at least Pennsylvania
limited resources globally.
The search for alternative
one aromatic ring is present). Long chains of
and renewable sources hydrocarbons can form linear, cross-linked or 30-SECOND TEXT
of energy will reduce the cyclic structures, with the number of carbon Ali O. Sezer
global dependence on atoms ranging from one (methane) to thousands.
fossil fuels and help reduce
their adverse impact on the
Hydrocarbons have high potential energy, which
environment. can be released upon combustion – generating Petroleum is separated
energy convenient for applications such as into its hydrocarbon
transportation and heating. components due to
the differences in the
boiling points of those
106 g Organic Chemistry components.
50°C
120°C
250°C
350°C
ALCOHOLS
Isopropanol (C3H7OH), a popular
antiseptic known as rubbing alcohol, and
ethanol (C2H5OH), the intoxicating component
3-SECOND NUCLEUS of alcoholic drinks, belong to a very important RELATED TOPICS
Beyond being the class of organic compounds called alcohols. See also
intoxicating component of OPPOSITES ATTRACT
Alcohols contain the hydroxyl (–OH) functional
alcoholic drinks, alcohols page 36
have an important place in
group. The smaller alcohols are clear, volatile and
HYDROCARBONS
organic chemistry – with flammable liquids with a biting odour. The page 106
many applications alcohol family contains a homologous series
benefitting human life.
of compounds from hydrocarbons in which a
hydrogen atom is replaced by an –OH group. 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
JOHANN TOBIAS LOWITZ
3-MINUTE VALENCE Methanol, ethanol and propanol are the first 1757–1804
Polyalcohols, also known three members of this series. The –OH German-born Russian
as sugar alcohols, are chemist who first obtained
functional group is directly bonded to a carbon pure ethanol by filtering
alcohols with more than distilled ethanol through
one –OH group in their atom, which is also connected to one (primary activated carbon
molecular structure. These alcohol), two (secondary alcohol) or three
ARCHIBALD SCOTT COUPER
white, water-soluble solid (tertiary alcohol) other carbon atoms. Ethanol 1831–92
compounds are industrially Scottish chemist who first
and isopropanol are examples of primary and published the structural
important – they are used
as thickeners and secondary alcohols, respectively. The –OH group formula of ethanol, one of
the first structural formulas
sweeteners. Sorbitol, makes alcohols highly polar, and the smaller determined
erythritol, xylitol and ones are all miscible with water – meaning that
maltitol are popular
polyalcohols commonly
they form homogenous solutions with water
30-SECOND TEXT
used in hard candy and in all proportions. Water-solubility decreases Ali O. Sezer
artificial sweeteners. They noticeably as the number of carbon atoms
do not get completely (molecular mass) increases. Today alcohols find
absorbed into the
bloodstream so they are a wide range of uses, from perfume-making Alcohols are a common
incapable of rapidly raising through food and pharmaceutical products to family of organic
blood sugar. medical applications. compounds that
includes substances
such as ethanol (the
alcohol in alcoholic
108 g Organic Chemistry beverages).
ALDEHYDES,
KETONES & ESTERS
The pleasant odour and flavour
of fresh almonds and peppermint are mainly
due to benzaldehyde and menthone, two
3-SECOND NUCLEUS naturally occurring compounds whose molecule RELATED TOPICS
Aldehydes, ketones and contains the carbonyl functional group (–C=O). See also
esters are naturally ALCOHOLS
Benzaldehyde is an example of a family of
occurring organic page 108
compounds responsible for
organic compounds called aldehydes. In an
CARBOXYLIC ACIDS & AMINES
the pleasant odours and aldehyde, the –C=O group is at the end of a page 112
flavours of many natural carbon chain. Menthone is an example of a
and synthetic products.
family of organic compounds called ketones.
In a ketone, the carbonyl group is in the middle 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
LEOPOLD GMELIN
3-MINUTE VALENCE of the carbon chain. Another common family 1788–1853
Aldehydes, ketones of organic compounds is the ester family. In an German chemist who first
and esters are found introduced the terms ‘ester’
ester, an oxygen atom interrupts the bonding and ‘ketone’
abundantly in living
organisms. Humans and of the carbonyl group to the carbon chain JUSTUS VON LIEBIG
animals store energy as (–CO2C–). Benzyl acetate, a component in the 1803–73
German chemist considered the
esters known as fats and smell of strawberries, pears and jasmine, is an father of organic chemistry,
oils. Testosterone and who first used the term
ester. Small aldehydes and ketones (those with ‘aldehyde’
progesterone (the male
and female sex hormones, low molar masses), such as formaldehyde (an
respectively), aldosterone important industrial solvent) and acetone
(which regulates blood (nail-polish remover), have a strongly pungent 30-SECOND TEXT
sodium level) and Ali O. Sezer
pheromone (which is
odour. But aldehydes with increasing molar
released by animals to masses generally have more pleasant and fruity
trigger a social response) odours. Aldehydes, ketones and esters are
are all ketones. Retinal commonly found naturally and manufactured
(retinaldehyde) is an
aldehyde forming the basis industrially as odours and flavours in food and
of vision. Acetaldehyde pharmaceutical products. Many solvents used in Many of the odours you
causes the ‘hangover’ adhesives, paints, perfumes, plastics and fabrics smell every day come
feeling after alcohol is
also contain aldehydes, ketones and esters. from the naturally
metabolized in the liver.
occurring families of
aldehydes, ketones
110 g Organic Chemistry and esters.
OH CH
3 CH3 OH
CH3
O HO
CARBOXYLIC
ACIDS & AMINES
Carboxylic acids and amines are
important and familiar families of organic
compounds. Carboxylic acids are organic acids
3-SECOND NUCLEUS and can be identified by their –COOH functional RELATED TOPICS
Carboxylic acids and group. Like all acids, carboxylic acids taste sour. See also
amines are naturally ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
Acetic acid, the active component of vinegar, is
occurring acids and & VITALISM
bases, respectively.
a carboxylic acid. The word vinegar originates page 104
from the French for wine (vin) and sour (aigre). ALCOHOLS
When wine is left exposed to air, the ethanol page 108
3-MINUTE VALENCE oxidizes to form carboxylic acid, ruining the ALDEHYDES, KETONES
The reaction between a
carboxylic acid and an
wine. Citric acid is another carboxylic acid; it is & ESTERS
page 110
amine is an acid-base responsible for the sour taste of lemons and
reaction that links the limes. Amines are organic bases and contain a
two molecules together nitrogen atom bonded to one or more carbon 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHY
and forms water as a
byproduct. This reaction is
atoms. Many amines have an unpleasant odour. HERMANN KOLBE
1818–84
important in biochemistry When living things die, their proteins are broken German chemist who
because it is responsible down into amines, which evaporate into the air. greatly contributed to the
development of organic
for the linking of amino
For example, the smell of rotting fish is due to chemistry and was the first to
acids – which are molecules synthesize acetic acid
that have a carboxylic acid trimethylamine, and that of decaying animal
group on one side and an flesh to caderverine, both foul-smelling amines.
amine group on the other Some plant-based amines, known as alkaloids, 30-SECOND TEXT
– to form proteins, the Nivaldo Tro
workhorse molecules in
have the ability to alter sensory pathways.
living organisms. Caffeine, nicotine and cocaine are all alkaloids
that stimulate the central nervous system,
resulting in feelings of increased alertness and
energy. Other alkaloids, such as morphine and Acetic acid (top) is
codeine, have the opposite effect: they depress responsible for the
the central nervous system. Morphine is a smell of vinegar.
powerful depressant used to treat extreme pain. Trimethylamine
(bottom) is responsible
for the foul smell of
112 g Organic Chemistry rotten fish.
31 July 1800 1828 1854
Born in Eschersheim, Discovers how to make Elected foreign member
Germany urea synthetically in the of the Royal Society of
laboratory and isolates London
the elements beryllium
1823
and yttrium
Receives a medical degree 1855
from the University of Elected member of the
Heidelberg, Germany 1832 Royal Academy of Berlin
Starts working as a
chemistry professor
at the University of 1862
1827
Prepares the first pure Göttingen, Germany Produces calcium carbide
sample of aluminium from and acetylene gas
its compounds
1834
Elected foreign member 1872
of the Royal Swedish Awarded the Copley
Academy of Sciences Medal by the Royal
Society of London
23 September 1882
Dies in Göttingen,
Germany
114 g Organic Chemistry

FRIEDRICH WÖHLER
Friedrich Wöhler is known not conducted ground-breaking research that won

only for his pioneering research in chemistry but him international fame. In 1827 he isolated pure
also for his model teaching laboratories that aluminium for the first time from its
revolutionized how experimental chemistry is compounds. The following year, he announced
taught around the world today. His interest in his second discovery in a famous letter to
chemistry and mineralogy developed in the Berzelius, where he explained how he had
early years of his education in Frankfurt, synthetically isolated urea in the laboratory
Germany. Although Wöhler went on to receive a without the need of a living kidney, and that
medical degree from the University of this compound had the same chemical
Heidelberg, his real interest was always in composition as another compound called
chemistry. Leopold Gmelin, one of the best- ammonium cyanate. This discovery was
known chemists of the nineteenth century, was significant, as researchers then believed that a
Wöhler’s instructor at Heidelberg. He quickly ‘vital force’ in living things was necessary to
realized that Wöhler was too advanced for his make organic compounds.
courses and sent him to study with Jons Jacob Two years after Wöhler’s letter, Berzelius
Berzelius, the world-famous Swedish chemist explained these discoveries and coined the term
who is considered to be one of the fathers of isomerism, a tremendously important concept
modern chemistry. in modern chemistry. From 1832 until his death
Wöhler spent a year studying mineralogy with in 1882, Wöhler served as a chemistry professor
Berzelius. He not only received the best at the University of Göttingen, where he
available education but also developed a developed, in parallel with Justus Freiherr von
life-long friendship with his tutor. Wöhler later Liebig at the University of Giessen, today’s
translated much of Berzelius’s work into widely adopted laboratory-based methods of
German, including his well-known Textbook of science teaching. Wöhler is also credited with
Chemistry. Wöhler himself wrote a number of having inaugurated the tradition of establishing
textbooks on organic and inorganic chemistry scientific research groups in which students can
later in his career, including Outlines of Organic also carry out research activities.
Chemistry in 1840.
Wöhler returned to Germany in 1825, and Ali O. Sezer
took a position at the newly founded Berlin
Gewerbeschule (trade school), where he
Friedrich WÖhler
Wohler g 115
CHEMISTRY
COPYING NATURE
The Pacific yew tree is rather
unremarkable. It grows in the Pacific Northwest
to heights of about 10–15 m (30–50 ft) and has
3-SECOND NUCLEUS flat, green needles and red berries. However, its RELATED TOPICS
Plants, animals and bark contains the miracle drug Taxol, now used See also
microbes are sources of ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
to treat ovarian, lung, breast and colon cancer.
valuable and often healing & VITALISM
chemical compounds.
The biological action of the yew tree has been page 104
known since Greek times, and Native Americans BIOTECH DRUG SYNTHESIS
used the tree for medicinal purposes. Because page 134
3-MINUTE VALENCE of this known history, researchers in the 1960s
Natural products
researchers scour living
included the tree in large-scale screening for
organisms for the useful cancer-fighting agents. The positive results MONROE ELIOT WALL
chemicals they might eventually led researchers to isolate the active 1916–2002
contain. For example, American chemist credited with
ingredient Taxol. But the amount of Taxol the co-discovery of Taxol
penicillin (an antibiotic)
was extracted from
needed to treat a single cancer patient required
MANSUKH C. WANI
microbes, and the early the harvesting of several trees that were around 1925–
form of aspirin was 100 years old, creating environmental problems. Indian American chemist
credited with the co-discovery
extracted from the bark
As often happens with natural products, of Taxol
of the willow tree. Often
chemists later find ways however, researchers came up with another
to synthesize these way to obtain the compound: Taxol is now 30-SECOND TEXT
compounds in the synthesized from a precursor found in the Nivaldo Tro
laboratory, but the myriad
of compounds in nature
needles of the European yew tree. Because the
often shows us the way. trees don’t have to be cut down to harvest the
needles, this route is sustainable. Today, millions
of cancer patients have benefitted from this
natural product. The story of Taxol is
representative of the field of natural products
research, an active area that produces many
novel and useful compounds.
The yew tree is the
source of the cancer-
116 g Organic Chemistry fighting agent Taxol.
POLYMERS
Polymers permeate most of
human life. It is hard to imagine society without
them, given the significant role natural and
3-SECOND NUCLEUS synthetic polymers play – from medicine to food RELATED TOPICS
Polymers, chain-like packaging, and from clothing to housewares. See also
macromolecules consisting THE LEWIS MODEL FOR
German chemist Hermann Staudinger first
of chemically linked CHEMICAL BONDING
repeating units
demonstrated the existence of macromolecules page 32
(monomers), play an (polymers) as large, chain-like molecules of HYDROCARBONS
unmatched role providing smaller repeating units called monomers. page 106
convenience in many
Humans have known natural polymers, such
aspects of human life.
as cotton and rubber, for thousands of years.
But their chemical structure was long subject HERMANN STAUDINGER
3-MINUTE VALENCE to debate until Staudinger proved the 1881–1965
Polymers are in general German chemist who won
macromolecular structure of natural rubber – the 1953 Nobel Prize in
known as electrical Chemistry for discovering
insulators. However,
a Nobel Prize-winning discovery in 1953. The the macromolecular structure
some organic polymers – term polymer is derived from the Greek poly of natural rubber
consisting of monomer meros, meaning many parts. Many molecules HIDEKI SHIRAKAWA
units linked by alternating 1936–
can act as monomers, making it possible to
single and double bonds Japanese chemist who won
in the carbon backbone – create a wide range of polymeric materials with the 2000 Nobel Prize in
Chemistry for co-discovering
exhibit a low, inherent desired characteristics. Polyethylene, for the existence of conductive
electrical conductivity, example – one of the most common plastic polymers
which can significantly be
materials found in packaging bags and bottles
improved by chemically
mixing in electron-donating – is a chain-like molecule consisting of an 30-SECOND TEXT
and/or -receiving agents, ethylene monomer backbone. Polymers can Ali O. Sezer
a process called doping. have high molecular mass as monomers can link
Doped polymers, such as
organic light emitting
in a variety of ways to grow into very large
diodes (OLED), have molecules. Some are light, hard, strong and
revolutionized the flexible; others exhibit unique chemical, thermal,
electronics industry.
electrical and optical characteristics. Polymers are chain-like
molecules that compose
a range of substances
118 g Organic Chemistry such as plastics.
g
BIOCHEMISTRY
BIOCHEMISTRY
GLOSSARY
acid group A functional group consisting cellulose A complex carbohydrate composed

of –COOH. of repeating glucose units. Cellulose is the
main structural material in plants.
adenosine triphosphate A biomolecule
with the formula C10H16N5O13P3 that is DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid, a biomolecule
used as a main vessel for energy transport composed of repeating units (called
in living organisms. nucleotides) responsible for carrying the
genetic information in all known living
alkanes Hydrocarbons with the general organisms.
formula CnH2n+2.
disaccharides A class of sugars composed
amine group In an amino acid, the -NH2 of two monosaccharides linked together.
group.
esters A class of organic compounds
amino acids The individual units that, consisting of a –COO– group sandwiched
when linked together in a specified order, between two or more carbon atoms.
form proteins. Amino acids have a central
carbon atom, an amine group, an acid flash photolysis A technique to study
group and a side chain (that varies in light-activated chemical reactions in which a
structure from one amino acid to another). flash of light is used to initiate the chemical
event which is then monitored as a function
base pair The two parts of nucleic acids of time.
that uniquely pair together to form the
double helix in DNA and allow precise genome The complete set of genetic material
copying. In DNA, adenine pairs with of an organism.
thymine and guanine pairs with cytosine.
glucose A carbohydrate with the formula
carboxylic acid group The –COOH group C6H12O6 that circulates in the blood of animals
in organic and biochemical compounds. and humans.
The group is polar and acidic.
122 g Biochemistry
hormones Biochemical compounds that recombinant DNA Synthetic DNA that
are transported in the blood to targets contains genetic material from different
where they stimulate and regulate sources.
biochemical processes.
ribonucleotide The monomer that, when
modular polymers Polymers that can be linked to other ribonucleotides, forms RNA.
built up one unit (or monomer) at a time.
sucrose A carbohydrate with the formula
monosaccharides A carbohydrate C12H22O11.
composed of three to eight carbon atoms
and one aldehyde or ketone group. triglyceride A type of fat that has a three-
carbon backbone with three fatty acids
nonpolar A substance composed of attached (one to each carbon atom).
molecules with uniform charge distribution.
Nonpolar substances generally do not mix
well with water.
nucleotide The individual unit that, when

linked with other nucleotides, forms a
nucleic acid (such as DNA). Each nucleotide
contains a phosphate group, a sugar and a
base.
polar A substance composed of molecules

with an asymmetric charge distribution.
polynucleotide A chain of nucleotides

bonded together found in hereditary
molecules such as DNA and RNA.
Glossary g 123
CARBOHYDRATES
Carbohydrates are so named
because their general formula is a multiple of
one carbon atom and one water molecule,
3-SECOND NUCLEUS (CH2O)n. Structurally, the carbon atoms are RELATED TOPICS
Carbohydrates are arranged in a ring (that can interconvert into a See also
multi-carbon aldehydes LIPIDS
straight chain) and have multiple hydroxyl (OH)
or ketones with many OH page 126
groups attached; they act
groups attached, making simple carbohydrates
AMINO ACIDS & PROTEINS
as short-term energy stores polar and therefore soluble in water. The ability page 128
and the main structural to dissolve in water is important to one of the
components of plants.
main functions of carbohydrates: storing and
transporting energy for living organisms. The 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
ANDREAS MARGGRAF
3-MINUTE VALENCE carbohydrate glucose (C6H12O6) is typical. It 1709–82
Carbohydrates are common must be easily transported in the blood to German chemist who first
isolated glucose from raisins
in the foods we eat. places in the body where energy is being used.
Monosaccharides can EMIL HERMANN FISCHER
pass directly through our
Carbohydrates such as glucose (which are also 1852–1919
intestinal wall and enter called monosaccharides, meaning one sugar) German chemist and winner
of the 1902 Nobel Prize in
the bloodstream as ready can link together to form disaccharides, such as Chemistry for his pioneering
sources of energy. work on sugars
sucrose (C12H22O11), which is table sugar. They
Disaccharides and complex
carbohydrates, however, can also link together to form long, chain-like
must be broken down into molecules called complex carbohydrates such 30-SECOND TEXT
monosaccharides before as starch, glycogen and cellulose. Starch (think Nivaldo Tro
they can pass into the
potatoes) is the main energy storage medium
bloodstream. Our bodies
can break down sugars and for plants, and glycogen is used by animals as
starches, but we lack the a compact way to store glucose in the muscles.
enzyme to break down Cellulose is the most common organic substance
cellulose (also known as
dietary fibre), which is why
on Earth. It is more rigid than the other complex
cellulose passes through carbohydrates and is the main structural Carbohydrates include
the digestive tract, giving component in plants. simple sugars such as
bulk to stools and
preventing constipation.
glucose (top) and
complex carbohydrates
such as cellulose
124 g Biochemistry (bottom).
LIPIDS
Lipids are the only biomolecule
defined by what they are not: lipids are not able
to dissolve in water. This insolubility enables
3-SECOND NUCLEUS lipids to form thin, oily membranes and to clump RELATED TOPICS
Lipids’ insolubility in together into oily droplets that serve as high- See also
water enables them to THE FORCES THAT HOLD
density stores of metabolic energy. In fact, many
form extended membranes MATTER TOGETHER
that enclose biological
lipids contain a large, burnable hydrocarbon page 42
solutions and to function group similar to the alkanes in gasoline. In fatty HYDROCARBONS
as particularly dense stores acids (a type of lipid), for instance, a long page 106
of metabolic energy.
hydrocarbon chain is attached to a single polar CARBOXYLIC ACIDS & AMINES
carboxylic acid group. In tryglycerides (another page 112
3-MINUTE VALENCE type of lipid) three long hydrocarbon chains are

Even though they cannot attached to a short three-carbon head. This
be built up into modular 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
highly nonpolar structure causes tryglycerides MICHEL CHEVREUL
polymers in the same way
to glob together into oily ‘fat’ droplets. Another 1786–1889
that other biomolecules French chemist who was
can, lipids perform many type of lipid has only two long hydrocarbon a pioneer in studying the
chemistry of soaps, fats
varied biological functions. chains attached to a more polar head (a three- and oils
Lipid membranes act as
carbon unit containing a phosphate group).
barriers between the CHARLES ERNEST OVERTON
insides and outsides of The result is a rod-like molecule with a charged 1865–1933
cells while triglyceride water-loving ‘head’ and oily tail. These form British biologist who first
proposed that lipids might act
‘fats’ function as long-term sheets with the tails lined up in oily sheets on as a cell membrane
energy stores in plants and
animals. Other lipids called
the one side and the ‘heads’ all facing to the
hormones act as biological other. To keep the oily surface of the tails out
30-SECOND TEXT
messengers, being of water, two sheets line up to give a bilayer Stephen Contakes
secreted by glands and membrane, with the tails on the inside and the
carried to target cells
where they trigger a heads forming the water-facing surfaces. These
physiological response. bilayer membranes are the fundamental barriers
that encapsulate living cells.
One of the many
functions of lipids is to
encapsulate cells by
126 g Biochemistry forming a bilayer.
AMINO ACIDS
& PROTEINS
Proteins are chain-like
biomolecules that carry out a bewildering
array of functions. Some, like the collagen in
3-SECOND NUCLEUS your skin, serve as structural supports. Others, RELATED TOPICS
Amino acids can be like the motor protein myosin, enable muscles See also
strung together into REACTION RATES &
to relax and contract. Others adopt compact
protein chains that fold CHEMICAL KINETICS
into a diverse array of
‘globular’ shapes and can store or transport page 70
shapes and carry out many smaller molecules around, control cellular CARBOXYLIC ACIDS & AMINES
biological functions. metabolism by speeding up particular chemical page 112
reactions or even recognize and bind other CHEMISTRY COPYING NATURE
3-MINUTE VALENCE
molecules. Some proteins, like insulin, act as page 116
When you take a breath intercellular signals, while others regulate bodily
the oxygen you breathe processes by chemically modifying other
becomes bound to a 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
proteins to adjust how they function. Yet GERARDUS JOHANNES
protein called haemoglobin
in your red blood cells,
proteins are comprised of only 20 basic building MULDER
1802–80
which transports the blocks called amino acids, so named because Dutch chemist who first
oxygen to your muscles they all contain a central carbon atom bonded to described the composition
of proteins
and other tissues where
an amine group and an acid group. The central
it is used to ‘burn’ fats JOHN KENDREW
and carbohydrates in carbon is also bonded to a third variable group & MAX PERUTZ
interconnected sequences called a side chain, which may be polar, nonpolar, 1917–97 & 1914–2002
of protein-catalyzed British biochemist and
small, large, acidic, or basic. Amino acids can Austrian-born molecular
reactions. These generate
the energy your body
string together to form long polymers whose biologist who determined the
first 3D structures of proteins
needs to move, synthesize properties can vary widely based on the exact
other biomolecules and sequence of these side chains. Interactions
produce the electrical between the side chains at different points 30-SECOND TEXT
signals needed for nerve Stephen Contakes
cells to function.
along the polymer with each other and with
surrounding water causes the protein to wriggle
and fold into specific shapes, which in turn Some proteins fold into
determine the functions they can perform. globular shapes
(centre), while others
have more linear
128 g Biochemistry structures (bottom).
23 December 1912 1960 1989
Born in Benton City, Receives the Citation of Co-authors a textbook
Missouri the University of Missouri with Edwin S. Weaver
College of Arts and entitled Chemistry: A
Sciences Search to Understand
1933
Receives a BA degree
in chemistry from the 1969 8 August 1998
University of Missouri- Receives the Dies in Holyoke,
Columbia Manufacturing Chemists Massachusetts
Association Award in
College Chemistry
1935 Teaching
Receives a BA degree in
education from the same
institution 1982
Receives the Chemical
Education Award from
1937 the American Chemical
Receives an MA degree in Society
chemistry, again from the
University of Missouri-
Columbia 1978
Becomes the first female
president of the American
1940 Chemical Society
Receives a PhD degree in
physical chemistry, once
again from the University 1983
of Missouri-Columbia Serves as the president
of the American
Association for the
1945 Advancement of Science
Joins the chemistry
department at Mount
Holyoke College in
Massachusetts
130 g Biochemistry
ANNA J. HARRISON
Anna Jane Harrison was an different molecular compounds. Her research

American chemist and educator who believed in activities also included work carried out with
the importance of improving science education the A. J. Griner Company of Kansas City on field
and increasing public awareness of science. kits for the detection of toxic smoke for soldiers
Born to a family of farmers in Benton City, in the Second World War.
Missouri, Harrison took an interest in chemistry Harrison is perhaps better known today for
from as early as elementary school and by high her skills in science education. She is credited
school this had turned to fascination. She with helping change the chemistry profession
received all her advanced degrees from the from being a male-dominated profession to one
University of Missouri-Columbia, including two that is more welcoming of diversity in gender,
BA degrees (in chemistry and education) and a race and ethnicity. More than 100 years after its
PhD in physical chemistry. After five years of foundation, the American Chemical Society
teaching at the Sophie Newcomb College of elected Harrison as its first female president in
Tulane University in New Orleans, she took a 1978. Harrison had a natural talent for making
position as a chemistry professor at Mount complicated concepts clear and comprehensible
Holyoke College in Massachusetts, where she to her students. Her approach to education
taught until her retirement in 1979. She included helping students acquire better
continued to teach even after her retirement, at knowledge of how to make good public policy
the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. decisions related to science. In the 1970s,
At Mount Holyoke College, Harrison had a Harrison became an outspoken advocate of
chance to work with renowned chemistry improved communication of science to the
professor Emma Perry Carr on the spectroscopic public, particularly to public officials. She
study of molecular structure. She carried out served on many advisory boards including
research using a technique called flash the National Science Board, and travelled
photolysis to study chemical reactions by to different parts of the world sharing her
monitoring the dissociation and association of experience in public education of science.
Ali O. Sezer
Anna J. Harrison g 131

THE BIOLOGICAL
BLUEPRINT:
NUCLEIC ACIDS
DNA is a long, chain-like molecule
containing units called nucleotides. Each
nucleotide unit contains a negatively charged
3-SECOND NUCLEUS phosphate group attached to a carbohydrate RELATED TOPICS
Nucleic acids form chains ring, which is itself attached to a wedge-like See also
of alternating phosphates THE FORCES THAT HOLD
nitrogen-containing group called a base. Bases
and carbohydrates with MATTER TOGETHER
attached wedge-like
come in four varieties, all of which are flat and page 42
nitrogen-containing bases, nonpolar on top and bottom, but have specific CARBOXYLIC ACIDS & AMINES
the sequence of which patterns of polar nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen page 112
encodes biological
atoms along their edges. These patterns allow CARBOHYDRATES
information.
bases to recognize ‘complementary’ bases, page 124
namely those which have the right pattern of
3-MINUTE VALENCE polar groups to interact strongly, giving a base
Life’s information- 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
pair. Therefore, when deoxyribonucleic acids’ OSWALD AVERY
bearing molecule is
sugar-phosphate groups are linked together into 1877–1955
deoxyribonucleic acid or Canadian-born medical
DNA. DNA contains within long polynucleotide chains, the bases along the researcher who demonstrated
that DNA is genetic material
it the chemical code for chain can generate another polynucleotide
protein synthesis and is
strand with a sequence of bases complementary JAMES WATSON
passed from parent to & FRANCIS CRICK
offspring, which is why you to the first. Some base sequences in DNA 1928– & 1916–2004
have characteristics similar encode instructions for making proteins. These, American and British molecular
to your parents. In 2003, biologists who determined
along with nearby base sequences that tell the DNA’s double-helical structure
scientists successfully
mapped the entire human
cell’s machinery when to make those proteins,
genome, a chemical code make up the units of heredity called genes.
30-SECOND TEXT
containing about 3 billion However, nucleic acids aren’t only used to store Stephen Contakes
units (base pairs). and transmit genetic information. The cell’s
main energy currency, adenosine triphosphate
(ATP), is a ribonucleotide in which the phosphate
has been replaced by a chain of three linked DNA has a double
phosphate groups. helical structure in
which complementary
bases connect along
132 g Biochemistry the middle.
O– H OH A
–
O P O A T
O O CH
T
O A T 2
H2C
O
O
H O P O– T A
O– P O O
C
H
O
C G
H2C C G O CH
O 2
O
HO H O P
O–
O– G G C
BIOTECH DRUG
SYNTHESIS
Before 1922, diabetes was fatal.
Then a 14-year-old diabetes patient on the verge
of death was given insulin (a protein that
3-SECOND NUCLEUS regulates blood sugar) derived from animal RELATED TOPICS
Human proteins can be sources. The patient recovered – and survived. See also
synthesized by inserting AMINO ACIDS & PROTEINS
Soon insulin (harvested mostly from pigs)
the human gene for the page 128
desired protein into
became available for widespread use, changing
THE BIOLOGICAL BLUEPRINT:
bacterial, plant or animal diabetes into a manageable long-term disease. NUCLEIC ACIDS
cells. As these cells grow However, some patients did not tolerate pig page 132
and divide, they synthesize
insulin very well. In the 1980s a company called
the desired protein.
Genentech figured out a way to synthesize
human insulin by inserting the gene for human FREDERICK BANTING
3-MINUTE VALENCE insulin into the DNA of bacterial cells. When the 1891–1941
Genetic engineering – the Canadian physician who was
bacteria reproduced, they copied the human awarded the 1923 Nobel Prize
process of modifying an in Medicine for his discovery of
organism’s genome for
insulin gene and passed it on to their offspring. insulin
a particular purpose – Furthermore, as the genetically modified
FREDERICK SANGER
has been used, not only bacteria synthesized the proteins they needed 1918–2013
to produce life-saving
to survive and reproduce, they also synthesized British biochemist who was
medicines but also to awarded the Nobel Prize in
produce animals or human insulin. The insulin was harvested from Chemistry in 1958 for his
determination of the structure
plants with desirable the bacterial cultures, purified and administered of insulin
characteristics. Genetic to diabetics. Today diabetics take human insulin,
modification of soybeans, PAUL BERG
tomatoes and rice has
synthesized in this way. The DNA instructions 1926–
for making desired proteins can also be inserted American biochemist awarded
resulted in crops with the 1980 Nobel Prize in
more resilience and higher into the DNA of plants or animals. For example, Chemistry for his work on
nutritional value. In spite recombinant DNA technology
in 2015 the FDA approved a drug to treat
of rigorous scientific
testing, the controversy Wolman disease, a rare but fatal disease caused
surrounding some of these by a deficiency of an enzyme called LAL. The 30-SECOND TEXT
Nivaldo Tro
products has resulted in drug is harvested from the eggs of chickens that
increased scrutiny of
have been genetically modified to produce LAL. Human insulin is
their safety.
synthesized by the
genetic modification
134 g Biochemistry of bacteria.
g
NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY
NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY
GLOSSARY
2
alpha particle A type of particle given off Einstein’s equation E=mc An equation that
in one type of radioactive decay. An alpha relates mass to energy, which means that the
particle contains 2 protons and 2 neutrons two are interconvertible.
and is symbolized as 42 He.
electron A subatomic particle with a negative
amu A unit of mass used for subatomic charge and a mass of 0.00055 amu.
particles. 1 amu = 1.66 x 10-27 kg.
gamma ray A high energy photon given off
beta particle A type of particle given off in one type of radioactive decay and often in
in one type of radioactive decay. A beta conjunction with other types. A gamma ray
particle is an electron and is symbolized is symbolized as 00g.
as -10e.
gene A strand of DNA that codes for a single
chemical reaction A process in which the protein.
atoms in one or more substances (the
reactants) rearrange to form different isotope An atom that has the same number
substances (the products). of protons as another atom, but a different
number of neutrons.
critical mass In nuclear fission, the
minimum mass of fissile material needed to metabolism The process by which living
maintain a self-sustaining nuclear reaction. organisms convert certain compounds into
the energy needed to survive and reproduce.
138 g Nuclear Chemistry

neutron A subatomic particle with no radiopharmaceutical Pharmaceutical agents
charge and a mass of 1 amu. that are radioactive and used in the diagnosis
and treatment of disease.
nuclear fission A nuclear reaction in which
a large nucleus splits into smaller tracers A chemical compound where one
fragments and releases energy. or more atoms have been replaced with a
radioactive isotope that allows a scientist
plutonium A synthetic chemical element to trace where the atom goes in a particular
with atomic number 94 used in nuclear process.
chemistry, especially nuclear power and
atomic bombs. uranium A radioactive chemical element with
atomic number 92 used in nuclear chemistry,
proton A subatomic particle with a positive especially nuclear power and atomic bombs.
charge and a mass of 1 amu.
X-rays A form of electromagnetic radiation
radioactivity The emission of small with wavelengths slightly longer than gamma
energetic particles from the nuclei of rays and used to image bones and organs.
certain unstable isotopes.
radiocarbon dating A method of

determining the age of previously living
material by measuring the C-14 content
in the material.
Glossary g 139
RADIOACTIVITY
As a scientific poet once wrote
‘Atoms … fly to bits with utmost facility’.
Counterintuitively, some atoms spontaneously
3-SECOND NUCLEUS fall apart to produce rays and particles that can RELATED TOPICS
Some atoms spontaneously penetrate through various materials, including See also
‘decay’, producing alpha MATTER IS MADE
metals and our own bodies. Antoine Becquerel
and beta particles and OF PARTICLES
gamma rays that can
and Pierre and Marie Curie, working in Paris in page 14
penetrate through various the last decade of the nineteenth century, were THE STRUCTURE OF
materials. This is called the first to recognize this phenomenon in THE ATOM
radioactivity. page 16
uranium minerals. Madame Curie called this
‘radioactivity’ (from the Latin radius, meaning SPLITTING THE ATOM
page 142
3-MINUTE VALENCE ‘ray’) and soon found two mysterious, previously
Radioactive elements unknown elements (‘radium’ and ‘polonium’)
can be used as ‘tracers’ that emitted more intense ‘radiation’ than 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHY
to follow the pathway
of a chemical reaction or
uranium itself. Initially radioactivity was thought WILLIAM RAMSAY
1852–1916
monitor concentrations to exist in two types, designated logically Scottish chemist who wrote
of elements in research, enough by Ernest Rutherford as alpha and beta. the 1902 poem ‘The Death
Knell of an Atom’, which
environmental, agricultural
(Gamma rays were discovered several years contains the following stanza
and medical settings. ‘So the atoms, in turn, we now
Radioactive elements are later.) Positively charged alpha particles, soon clearly discern,/Fly to bits with
the utmost facility;/
also used to establish the found to be energetic helium nuclei, He2+, had They wend on their way, and in
ages of various objects less ability to penetrate various substances. splitting, display/An absolute
including once-living lack of stability.’
Negatively charged beta particles, soon found
systems (carbon-14), early
humanoids (potassium-40) to be energetic electrons, were much lighter and
and the Moon, Earth and able to penetrate a variety of materials well. 30-SECOND TEXT
various rocks and minerals Glen E. Rodgers
Gamma rays, the most penetrating of all, were
(uranium and thorium
isotopes).
high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most
remarkably, it is now clear that certain types of
atoms spontaneously ‘decay’ and spit out tiny
charged particles and highly intense radiation.
When atoms emit
radiation they change
140 g Nuclear Chemistry their identity.
SPLITTING
THE ATOM
In 1938 Otto Hahn shot neutrons
at uranium atoms and was amazed to discover
that they appeared to split roughly in half. He
3-SECOND NUCLEUS had discovered nuclear fission, whereby a large RELATED TOPICS
Firing neutrons into nucleus splits to form two smaller nuclei and See also
critical masses of THE STRUCTURE OF
several more neutrons. If a ‘critical mass’
fissionable materials splits THE ATOM
the atoms apart and
of a sufficiently pure isotope of uranium or page 16
produces additional plutonium is present, these additional neutrons INSIDE THE ATOM
neutrons; the resulting can go on to hit other fissionable nuclei and page 18
chain reaction releases
cause a chain reaction which, as calculated using OTTO HAHN
large amounts of energy.
Einstein’s equation E=mc2, releases inordinate page 148
amounts of energy, far in excess of that obtained
3-MINUTE VALENCE from conventional chemical reactions. This
Why don’t atomic nuclei, 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
energy can be harnessed to create electricity MARIE CURIE
particularly those 1867–1934
containing dozens of
(nuclear energy) or to create explosions (nuclear
Polish-born French chemist
positively charged and bombs). The uranium-based bomb dropped on who developed the theory
of radioactivity
therefore mutually Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, was called
repulsive protons, just
‘Little Boy’. In this ‘gun-type’ assembly, the OTTO HAHN
burst apart? It turns out 1879–1968
that some do. Large nuclei critical mass was obtained by firing a uranium German winner of the 1944
of certain types of atoms ‘bullet’ into a hollow cylinder of uranium. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry, who
discovered nuclear fission
of uranium or plutonium plutonium-based bomb dropped on Nagasaki,
atoms act like wobbly
drops of liquid tenuously
Japan, on August 9, 1945, was called ‘Fat Man’.
held together by a nuclear In this implosion-type assembly, the critical mass 30-SECOND TEXT
Glen E. Rodgers
surface tension that can was obtained using a lens assembly that fired
be easily disrupted. small bits of plutonium all towards the centre
of the bomb.
In nuclear fission, a
neutron causes an
unstable nucleus to
split, releasing large
142 g Nuclear Chemistry amounts of energy.
NUCLEAR
WEIGHT LOSS
When an atom splits, either in a
nuclear power plant or during the detonation of
a nuclear weapon, a tremendous amount of
3-SECOND NUCLEUS energy is released. Where does all of this energy RELATED TOPICS
Protons and neutrons come from? The answer lies in Einstein’s See also
each lose a tiny bit of INSIDE THE ATOM
remarkably simple equation that relates energy
mass when nuclear fission page 18
occurs. This mass is
and matter: E=mc2 – energy equals mass times
RADIOACTIVITY
converted into energy. the speed of light squared. This equation states page 140
that energy and matter are really two different
SPLITTING THE ATOM
forms of the same thing. In other words, if page 142
3-MINUTE VALENCE
If matter and energy are
energy is being released (created), then matter
two sides of the same coin, must disappear. That’s exactly what happens
then is it appropriate to during nuclear fission. A large nucleus splits into 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
LISE MEITNER
imagine protons and two smaller ones, a little bit of the total mass 1878–1968
neutrons as hard spheres?
Is it better to think of them
is destroyed – and lots of energy is produced. Austrian physicist who
performed the first mass/
as little balls of energy? Does this mean one or two protons or neutrons energy calculations on
nuclear fission
Because matter and energy get vaporized? No, the fascinating part of this is
are interconvertible, ALBERT EINSTEIN
that all of the protons and neutrons lose a little
perhaps it doesn’t really 1879–1955
matter. This is another bit of their mass. However remarkable it may German-born physicist
who provided mathematical
indication that the seem, this means that protons and neutrons do equivalence to mass and energy
subatomic universe is not always have the same mass. A proton in a
a very strange place.
uranium nucleus weighs more than a proton in
an iron nucleus. After splitting, the same total 30-SECOND TEXT
Jeff C. Bryan
number of protons and neutrons exist; they all
weigh just a bit less. This is not a recommended
weight loss programme for humans.
When an atom splits

through nuclear fission,
some of its mass is
144 g Nuclear Chemistry converted into energy.
THE EFFECT OF
RADIATION ON LIFE
The types of radiation discussed
in this chapter are rather unusual in that they
have the power to knock electrons loose from
3-SECOND NUCLEUS atoms and molecules. As the radiation travels RELATED TOPICS
Radiation can break through matter, it transfers some of its energy See also
chemical bonds in living BONDING ATOMS TOGETHER
to the molecules it passes by, much like a
things, possibly leading page 28
to cell death or cancer.
bullet fired into a pile of pea gravel. Since
THE BIOLOGICAL BLUEPRINT:
electrons bind atoms together in molecules, NUCLEIC ACIDS
this subatomic violence can lead to broken page 132
3-MINUTE VALENCE chemical bonds. If enough radiation damage
Radiation damage to
DNA typically takes place
occurs in a single cell, a large number of
indirectly. The most molecules get broken and the cell could die. If HERMANN J. MÜLLER
common chemical in living it’s less damaged, it can repair itself. However, if 1890–1967
things is water, making it American biologist and winner
the cell’s DNA is damaged, the cell could change of the 1946 Nobel Prize in
the odds-on favourite to Medicine who first observed
have one of its electrons
(or mutate) in ways that cause it to grow changes in genes after
knocked loose. This forms abnormally (because DNA directs how cells exposure to X-rays
H2O+, which falls apart into grow). These mutations and abnormal cell L. HAROLD GRAY
H+ and HO·. HO· is known 1905–65
growth can lead to cancer. This sounds bad,
as hydroxyl radical, and is English physicist and
very reactive. If it bumps especially since humans, like all living things and radiobiologist who pioneered
studies of radiation effects on
into a DNA molecule, it will the planet, are naturally radioactive. Fortunately, living things
likely disrupt a chemical we’ve evolved with rather efficient cell repair
bond in the DNA.
mechanisms. It appears that below a certain
30-SECOND TEXT
threshold, radiation produces no negative Jeff C. Bryan
health effects. Some set this threshold at 100
mSv (millisieverts, a unit of dose). For reference,
the global average annual dose for natural and
anthropogenic radiation is 2.8 mSv.
DNA can be damaged

146 g Nuclear Chemistry by ionizing radiation.
8 March 1879 1904–5 1918
Born in Frankfurt, Works with William Discovers protactinium
Germany Ramsay at University and nuclear isomerism
College, London with Lise Meitner
1901
Earns a doctorate in 1905–6 1928
organic chemistry at the Works with Ernest Appointed director of the
University of Marburg Rutherford at McGill Kaiser Wilhelm Institute
University in Montreal,
Canada
1938
Observes nuclear fission,
1907 with Fritz Strassmann
Qualifies as a university
lecturer at the University
of Berlin 1944
Awarded the Nobel Prize
in Chemistry for the
1914–18 discovery of fission
Serves as a chemical
warfare specialist in
the German army 1966
Shares the Enrico Fermi
Award with Lise Meitner
and Fritz Strassmann for
the discovery of fission
28 July 1968
Dies in Göttingen, West
Germany
148 g Nuclear Chemistry

OTTO HAHN
Otto Hahn was often ill as a needed more depth in this new field. After a
child, managing to survive both diphtheria and year in London, he went to Montreal to spend a
severe pneumonia. He never regarded himself year working with Ernest Rutherford.
as a good student, but both his health and Ramsay then helped Hahn get a position at
grades improved dramatically in his early teens. the University of Berlin; arriving shortly after
At about the same time, he and a friend started Hahn, was Austrian physicist Lise Meitner.
performing simple chemical reactions with Hahn and Meitner worked together for more
materials they could find around the house. than 30 years and were immensely productive in
This interest intensified when he took an identifying many of the decay products of
evening course on the chemistry of dyes. He uranium and thorium, including the element
went on to study chemistry at the universities protactinium. Meitner had to leave Germany in
of Marburg and Munich. 1938, and shortly after that Hahn, working with
After earning his PhD, and a year of military Fritz Strassmann, observed nuclear fission. They
service, Hahn returned to Marburg for a didn’t understand what they were seeing, so
position assisting with lectures. Hahn was they wrote to Meitner about it. Meitner and her
interested in working in Germany’s chemical nephew Otto Frisch figured out it was nuclear
industry, and learned of a position that involved fission. Hahn and Strassmann published their
international travel. His potential employer observations in January 1939, and Meitner and
wanted Hahn to spend some time in England Frisch their interpretation a month later.
before they would consider him, so Hahn’s This discovery shook the scientific
advisor arranged for him to work with William community, and eventually led to the
Ramsay in London. Manhattan Project (the research project in the
Ramsay gave Hahn a couple of radioactivity United States that produced the first nuclear
puzzles to research, and, although they were weapons) as well as the development of nuclear
outside of Hahn’s area of expertise (organic power plants. During the Second World War,
chemistry), he excelled in solving both. Ramsay Hahn continued his work identifying the many
was so impressed that he convinced Hahn he products of fission. After the war, he
should pursue an academic career in nuclear discontinued his research and served as
science. Hahn was interested, but felt he president of the Max Planck Society until 1960.
Jeff C. Bryan
Otto Hahn g 149

NUCLEAR MEDICINE
Nuclear medicine involves
the injection of a radioactive material
(a radiopharmaceutical) into a patient to
3-SECOND NUCLEUS diagnose or treat a disease. An example is RELATED TOPICS
Nuclear medicine uses 18
F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG), a radioactive See also
radiopharmaceuticals to CHEMISTRY COPYING NATURE
sugar molecule. In our bodies, sugars tend
examine physiology and page 116
to treat diseases.
to go to sites of metabolism. They also collect
RADIOACTIVITY
in cancerous tumours, because cancer is a sugar page 142
hog. Once the radiopharmaceutical is allowed to
3-MINUTE VALENCE localize, radiation detectors can be positioned
As we gain a better 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
understanding of
around the patient to generate three-
GEORGE DE HEVESY
human physiology, dimensional images of the organs where the 1885–1966
radiopharmaceuticals are radiopharmaceutical has accumulated. The data Hungarian-born winner of the
1943 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
becoming so sophisticated collected from a nuclear medicine scan typically who first recognized that
they can generate images radioactive isotopes could be
and perform therapy at the
tells us more about how well the organ is used to study complex
functioning (physiology) than what it looks like chemical processes such as
cellular and molecular level. metabolism
Imagine being able to kill (anatomy). By changing the chemical nature
cancer when it is so small HAL ANGER
(size, shape, charge) of the radiopharmaceutical, 1920–2005
that it can’t even be
located by conventional we can obtain images from any organ in the American electrical engineer
and biophysicist who invented
means. We may soon be body and determine how well it’s working. the cameras that are still
able to detect and treat widely used in nuclear medicine
Nuclear medicine scans make patients more
cancer before any outward
symptoms are apparent.
radioactive. But remember that we are all
naturally radioactive; nuclear medicine simply 30-SECOND TEXT
adds more that concentrates in part of the body. Jeff C. Bryan
The radiation dose is typically low enough not to

have any measurable adverse effects, and the
benefits of diagnosing or treating a disease you
already have outweighs any nearly negligible risk
that the radiation might pose.
Radioactive substances
can be used to image
150 g Nuclear Chemistry internal organs.
g
ENJOYMENT OF WINE
RESOURCES
BOOKS
Cathedrals of Science: The Personalities Inorganic Chemistry

and Rivalries that Made Modern Chemistry Gary Miessler, Paul Fischer and Donald Tarr
Patrick Coffey (Pearson, ed. 5, 2013)
(Oxford University Press, 2008)
Napoleon’s Buttons: 17 Molecules that Changed
Chemistry: A Molecular Approach History
Nivaldo J. Tro Penny Le Couteur and Jay Burreson
(Pearson, ed. 4, 2017) (Penguin, 2003)
Chemistry in Focus: A Molecular View Organic Chemistry

of our World Paula Yurkanis Bruice
Nivaldo J. Tro (Pearson, ed. 8, 2016)
(Cengage, ed. 6, 2016)
The Periodic Table: Its Story and Its Significance
Chemistry: Structure and Properties Eric Scerri
Nivaldo J. Tro (Oxford University Press, 2007)
(Pearson, ed. 2, 2018)
Physical Chemistry
The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Peter Atkins and Julio de Paula
Tales of Madness, Love, and the History (Oxford University Press, ed. 9, 2010)
of the World from the Periodic Table of
the Elements Stuff Matters
Sam Kean Mark Miodownik
(Little, Brown and Co, 2010) (Penguin, 2013)
The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical

Known Atom in the Universe Boyhood
Theodore Gray Oliver Sacks
(Black Dog and Leventhal, 2009) (Alfred A. Knopf, 2001)
154 g Resources
WEBSITES
Mark Winter, WebElementsTM,

https://www.webelements.com/
Nobelprize.org, All Nobel Prizes in Chemistry,

https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/
chemistry/laureates/
Name g
Resources g 155
155
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
EDITOR CONTRIBUTORS
Nivaldo Tro is a Professor of Chemistry Jeff C. Bryan earned an A.B. in Chemistry
at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, from the University of California, Berkeley
California. He received his B.S. in Chemistry and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University
from Westmont College and his Ph.D. in of Washington. He is a Professor in the
Chemistry from Stanford University. He Chemistry faculty of the University of
then went on to the University of California Wisconsin–La Crosse, where he teaches
at Berkeley, where he did postdoctoral nuclear and general chemistry courses, and
research on ultrafast reaction dynamics in his scholarship focuses on making nuclear
solution. Professor Tro has authored over science more accessible to students with
20 journal articles and has been awarded limited science and maths backgrounds. He
grants from the American Chemical Society, has written a textbook titled Introduction
the Petroleum Research Fund, Research to Nuclear Science, and co-authored a lab
Corporation, and the National Science manual titled Experiments in Nuclear Science.
Foundation to study the dynamics of
various processes occurring in thin adlayer Stephen Contakes is Associate Professor
films adsorbed on dielectric surfaces. of Chemistry at Westmont College in Santa
He has been honoured as Westmont’s Barbara, California, where he teaches
outstanding teacher of the year three courses in inorganic, analytical, and physical
times and has also received the college’s chemistry. With a background in synthetic
outstanding researcher of the year organometallic and bioinorganic chemistry, his
award. Professor Tro is best known for his research interests involve the preparation of
chemistry textbooks, which are used at redox-active hydrogen bonded assemblies and
more than 600 colleges and universities photoactive nanoparticle catalysts for use in
around the world. About one third of all pollutant remediation.
college students taking chemistry today
use a textbook written by Professor Tro. Dr. Glen E. Rodgers is a Professor emeritus of
Chemistry at Allegheny College in Meadville,
Pennsylvania. Educated at Tufts University
and Cornell University, he taught for five
years at Muskingum College in Ohio and 30
years at Allegheny. He taught introductory
chemistry on several levels, plus inorganic
156 g Notes on Contributors

chemistry, and numerous interdisciplinary include nanoelectronics, graphene electronics,
courses with colleagues in other faculties. green carbon research for enhanced oil
He is the author of the third edition (2012) recovery and environmentally friendly oil and
of the popular sophomore-level textbook gas extraction, carbon supercapacitors and
Descriptive Inorganic, Coordination, and synthesis of single-molecule nanomachines
Solid-State Chemistry (Cengage Learning, which includes molecular motors and
International Edition 2011). Dr. Rodgers nanocars. He has also developed strategies
and his wife have led science travel tours for retarding chemical terrorist attacks.
around the world, taking students to key For pre-college education, Tour developed
locations in the history of science. the NanoKids concept for K–12 education in
nanoscale science. Tour has over 600 research
Ali O. Sezer is a Professor of Physical publications and over 120 patents.
Chemistry at California University of
Pennsylvania. After graduating from Yildiz Dr. John B. Vincent received a B.S. in
Technical University in Istanbul, Turkey, Chemistry and Mathematics from Murray
Sezer went to the U.S.A. to pursue an State University and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from
advanced degree in chemical and materials Indiana University. He was a NIH postdoctoral
engineering. Dr. Sezer’s research interests fellow at The University of Virginia before
are in the area of conducting polymers; joining the faculty of The University of
particularly nano composites of these Alabama, where he is currently Professor
polymers with transition metal oxides for of Chemistry. His research interests are in
electronics, optical, medical, bio-sensing bioinorganic chemistry, with a particular
and corrosion protection applications. focus on the nutritional biochemistry of
He believes in ‘hands-on’ undergraduate chromium(III). Dr. Vincent is author or co-
teaching, especially involving students in author of over 130 peer-reviewed publications,
cutting edge research activities. over 15 book chapters, 8 books, and 9
patents. Dr. Vincent is currently co-editor-in-
James M. Tour is a Professor of Chemistry, chief of Biological Trace Element Research.
Professor of Computer Science and
Professor of Materials Science and
NanoEngineering at Rice University in
Texas. Tour’s scientific research areas
Notes on Contributors g 157

INDEX
A C diamond 42, 96 graphite 96

acids 64, 102, 112, 122, 128, 132 calcium 72, 73, 90 dipole force 40, 42 greenhouse gas 62
alcohol 36, 108, 110 calcium chloride 54 disaccharide 124 CFCs 84, 94, 95
aldehyde 102, 110 cancer 8, 9, 116, 146, 150 dispersion force 40, 42
alkali metals 12 carbohydrates 124, 132 DNA 8, 122, 132, 146 H
alkaloids 112 carbon 20, 86, 96, 102, 106, 108, haemoglobin 128
allotrope 84, 96 110, 112, 118, 124 E Hahn, Otto 142, 148–149
aluminium 86, 114, 115 fullerenes 84, 96 Earth 26, 62, 86, 90, 95, Harrison, Anna J. 130–131
amines 102, 112 graphene 84 104, 140 heat 80
amino acids 128 carbon dioxide 60, 62, 86 Einstein, Albert 138, 142, 144 Heisenberg, Werner 22
antacid 64 carbon monoxide 90 E=mc2 138, 142, 144 Heisenberg’s Uncertainty
antibiotics 116 carboxylic acid 102, 112, 122 electricity 68, 84, 98 Principle 12, 22
antimony 86 cars 60, 68, 70, 74 electrolysis 73 helium 13, 18, 20, 86, 140
arsenic 86 nanocars 98 electrolyte 58 Hooke, Robert 50, 51
atomic number 12, 18, 26 catalyst 58, 70, 84, 92, 96 electromagnetism 44 hydrocarbon 62, 106, 126
atomic theory 12, 14, 30, 31 catalytic cycle 92 electron 12, 16, 18, 22, 24, 28, 32, hydrochloric acid 64
atomic weights 31 cell growth 146 34, 36, 42, 68, 85, 88, 90, 92, hydrogen 20, 28, 32, 36, 64, 86,
atoms 6, 7, 9, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, cellulose 124 138, 146 98, 103, 106, 132
20, 22, 24, 28, 31, 32, 34, 36, centromere 40 electron cloud 13 hydroxide 64
40, 42, 44, 51, 52, 60, 66, 78, cesium 12 electronics 96
84, 86, 88, 90, 98, 102, 108, CFCs 84, 94, 95 elements 7, 12, 18, 20, 26, 31, 36, 51, I
118, 138, 142, 146 chemical reactions 9, 31, 86, 96, 140 insulin 128, 134
92, 138 energy 74, 76, 92, 96, 106, ions 6, 12, 28, 42, 64, 66, 84,
B chloride 66, 90 124, 126 85, 90
barium 72, 73 chlorine 28, 86, 90, 95 entropy 58, 76, 78, 80 iron 20, 80, 90, 92, 144
bases 64, 102, 112, 132 chromium 92 enzyme 58, 134 iron oxide 80
batteries 68, 72, 76 chromosome 40, 41 ester 102, 110, 122 isomerism 103, 115
big bang, the 20 Clausius, Rudolf 74, 76 isotope 12, 18, 138, 142
blood 8, 108, 110, 124, 128, 134 coal 62, 106 F
bonds, bonding 7, 9, 12, 13, 14, coal miner’s safety lamp 72, 73 Faraday, Michael 68, 72, 73 K
24, 28, 32, 34, 36, 40, 41, 42, cobalt 92 fluorine 86 kelvin scale 74, 78
52, 84, 85, 86, 90, 92, 102, codeine 112 fossil fuels 62, 98, 106 ketones 103, 110
103, 106, 108, 110, 112, 118, collagen 128 coal 62, 106 kinetic energy 44, 58, 74
128, 146 colour 30, 31, 84, 85, 88 gasoline 106 kinetic molecular theory 44
covalent bonds and bonding colour wheel 84 paraffin wax 106 kinetochore 40
12, 28, 40, 42, 52, 102, 106 complementary colours 84 krypton 13
crystal field theory 84 compounds 7, 9, 28 G
ionic bonds and bonding crystal 40, 52, 78 gases 8, 9, 31, 36, 41, 42, 44, 70, L
12, 28, 40, 42, 52 crystalline structure 40, 48 102, 106 Lavoisier, Antoine 60, 62, 72
polar bond 36, 41, 108, 124 crystal field theory 84 genes 132 lead 68, 86
valence bond 34, 85 Curie, Marie 140, 142 genetic engineering 134 Lewis, Gilbert N. 32
boron 86 Curie, Pierre 140 genome, genomic instability 40, Lewis model 32, 34
Boyle, Robert 44, 50–51, 60 122, 132, 134 ligands 84, 88, 92
Boyle’s law 44, 50 D germanium 86 light 84, 88, 92
Sceptical Chymist (1661) Dalton, John 14, 30–31 Gmelin, Leopold 110, 115 ‘like dissolves like’ principle 41, 54
50, 51 Davy, Humphry 72–73, 92 gold 16 liquids 9, 36, 42, 44, 46
brain 8, 88 diabetes 134 graphene 8, 84, 96 lithium 12
158 g Index
M 2000 Hideki Shirakawa 118 solute 41, 54 glucose 124
magnesium 68, 72, 73 in Medicine pollution 70 sucrose 124
magnet 34, 36, 42 1923 Frederick Banting 134 polonium 140 sulfur 86, 90, 103
Manhattan Project 149 1946 Hermann J. Muller 146 polymers 102, 106, 118, 122, 126, 128 Sun 22, 24, 95
mass number 12, 18 Peace Prize porcelain 52 sunlight 90, 98
mass of the atom 12, 18, 31 1962 Linus Pauling 66 positive charge 13, 16, 28, 36, 40, supernova 20
matter particulate model 6,7 in Physics 42, 138, 140, 142
Meitner, Lise 144, 148, 149 1915 Bragg, William potassium 12, 72, 73 T
metals 13, 26, 90 Lawrence 48 potential energy 58, 62, 74, 106 tellurium 86
alkali metals 26 1926 Jean Perrin 14 precipitation 66 telomere 41
molecular compound 12 1965 Richard Feynman 98 probability 22, 24 testosterone 110
molecules 6, 7, 8, 9, 28, 31, 34, noble gases 13, 26 progesterone 110 thermodynamics
36, 42, 44, 46, 51, 62, 66, 70, 78, nonpolar 36, 41, 122, 126, 128, 132 proteins 90, 122, 128, 132, 134 first law 74
80, 84, 85, 90, 92, 98, 102, 118, nuclear bomb 142, 144, 149 proton 12, 13, 16, 18, 138, 142, 144 second law 76, 80
131, 132, 146 nuclear fission 138, 142, 144, 148, third law 78
Molina, Mario 94–95 149 Q thorium 140
monosaccharides 122, 124 nuclear fusion 13, 20 quantum mechanics 13, 22, 24, 34 tin 86
morphine 112 nuclear model 13, 16 transition metals 58, 70, 84, 88,
myosin 128 nucleic acids 132 R 90, 92
nucleosynthesis 13, 20 radioactivity 13, 140
N nuclei 13, 16, 18, 22, 24, 140, 142, radium 140 U
negative charge 12, 16, 28, 36, 40, 144 radon 13 uranium 20, 140, 142, 144
42, 85, 132, 138, 140 Ramsay, William 140, 148, 149 urea 104, 114, 115
neon 13 O redox reactions 68
neutralization 64 orbital theory 34 reduction 68 V
neutrons 12, 13, 16, 18, 138, 142, 144 osmotic pressure 41 Royal Society 30, 50, 114 vacuum 51
nicotine 112 oxidation 68, 84 rubber 118 valence electrons 13, 32, 85, 86
nitrogen 70, 86, 102, 103, 112, 132 oxides 58, 62, 64, 70, 73, 80 rubidium 12 valence bond 34
nitrous oxide 72 oxygen 20, 28, 32, 34, 36, 60, 62, Rutherford, Ernest 16, 140, 148 149 van der Waals, Johannes Diderik
Nobel Prize 70, 80, 86, 90, 92, 98, 103, 110, 36, 42
in Chemistry 128, 132 S velocity 13, 22
1901 van’t Hoff, Jacobus salt 28, 42, 48, 54, 104 Volta, Alessandro 726, 48, 52, 54,
Henricus 70 P Schrödinger, Erwin 13, 22, 24 60, 62, 64, 66
1902 Emil Hermann Fischer 124 particle 7, 9, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, Schrödinger’s Cat thought
1913 Alfred Werner 88 20, 22, 31, 42, 44, 54 experiment 13, 22 W
1920 Walther Hermann Pauling, Linus 28, 34, 36, 48, 66 selenium 86 water, (also ice) 14, 28, 32, 36, 42,
Nernst 78 penicillin 116 silicon 52, 86 4, 78, 80, 90, 98, 108, 124, 126,
1943 George de Hevesy 150 periodic table 18, 19, 26, 27, 86, 87 silver 66 128, 146
1944 Otto Hahn 142, 148 phosphorus 51, 86 sodium 12, 18, 28, 72, 73 Wöhler, Frederich 104, 114–115
1953 Hermann Staudinger 118 photosynthesis 90 sodium chloride 54
1954 Linus Pauling 48, 66 plastics 48, 92, 95, 110 sodium chlorine 28 X
1958 Frederick Sanger 134 platinum 92 solids 9, 26, 40, 42, 44, 48, 66 X-rays 96, 146
1980 Paul Berg 134 plutonium 142 solution 54, 66 xenon 13
1983 Henry Taube 70 polar stars 20, 96
1995 Mario J. Molina 94, 95 bond 36, 41, 108, 124 Strassmann, Fritz 148, 149 Z
1996 Harry Kroto, Richard molecule 36, 40, 41, 123, sugars 28, 104, 124, 150 zinc 68
Smalley 96, 98 128, 132 artificial sweeteners 108 Zintl ions 85
Index g 159
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30-Second Chemistry

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30-SECOND

First published in hardback in 2017

The core idea of chemistry is that the whole can be

How far can chemistry go in its explanations? We still don’t really

alkali metals The column of metals Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle The

12 g Atoms, Molecules & Compounds

particles that compose it do. Water boils at

89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103

3-MINUTE VALENCE baseball’s path. An electron behaves differently

89 90 91 92 93 99 100 101 102 103

30 g Atoms, Molecules & Compounds

The shared electrons (those between two

3-MINUTE VALENCE because the positive end of one molecule is

polar solute A solute (component of a

single liquid phase A liquid mixture with

solute The minority component of a

solvent The majority component of a

vapour pressure The pressure of the

The molecules that

Robert Boyle, born in a castle in a ‘pneumatic engine’ or vacuum pump that

The structure and bonding

acid A substance that produces H+ ions in electrolyte A substance that produces an

58 g Chemical Reactions & Energetics

potential energy The energy associated

precipitation A reaction between two

isolated by filtration. sometimes see if you bathe in hard water is due

Batteries use chemical

impregnated with solid reactions. The rates of slow reactions are

72 g Chemical Reactions & Energetics

Humphry Davy, ‘full of mischief, In 1801, Davy was invited to be a lecturer at

Such is the second law – when it comes to

complex (transition metal complex) A graphite A form of carbon composed of

concatenated atoms Atoms that have

89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103

3-MINUTE VALENCE other substrates. The new molecules and

Born to a Mexican family of and France strengthening his engineering and

aldehydes A family of organic compounds cross-linked structure A common structure

102 g Organic Chemistry

hydroxyl group An –OH group monomer Repeating unit in a polymer.

114 g Organic Chemistry

Friedrich Wöhler is known not conducted ground-breaking research that won

acid group A functional group consisting cellulose A complex carbohydrate composed

nucleotide The individual unit that, when

polar A substance composed of molecules

polynucleotide A chain of nucleotides

3-MINUTE VALENCE type of lipid) three long hydrocarbon chains are

Anna Jane Harrison was an different molecular compounds. Her research

Anna J. Harrison g 131

138 g Nuclear Chemistry

radiocarbon dating A method of

When an atom splits

DNA can be damaged

148 g Nuclear Chemistry

Otto Hahn g 149

The radiation dose is typically low enough not to

Cathedrals of Science: The Personalities Inorganic Chemistry

Chemistry in Focus: A Molecular View Organic Chemistry

The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical

Mark Winter, WebElementsTM,

Nobelprize.org, All Nobel Prizes in Chemistry,