Chemistry Chapter-1

• Chemistry is a study of matter and the changes it undergoes.
• Matter is anything that has mass and occupies space.
• Chemistry is a science that touches our life every moment.
• There are four categories that classified chemistry on the time line.
• Prehistoric time to the beginning of Christian era (about 300 BC) is classified as black magic period.
• The ancients believed the world made of 'four elements', which are earth, air, water and fire.
• In 1661, Robert Boyle (1627-1691) developed the basic ideas about the behaviour of gases.
• The field of chemistry began to develop rapidly in the 1700's.
• Traditional chemistry period started by the end of 17th century up to the middle of 19th century.
• In 1774 Joseph Priestley discovered a gas, later named oxygen.
• From about 300 BC to the end of 17th century, the experimental roots of chemistry are planted in alchemy, a mystical chemistry that flourished in China and Europe.
• Alchemists were interested in turning base metals into gold or silver, but they also studied chemical reactions.
• The chemistry was introduced to the science in 1768 by French chemist Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794), who explained the law of conservation of matter based on the experimentation method.
• In 1803 John Dalton postulated Atomic Theory, which states that all matter is composed of atoms, which are small and indivisible.
• Amedeo Avogadro (1776-1856) laid the groundwork for a more quantitative approach to chemistry by calculating the number of particles in a given amount of a gas, which we used today as Avogadro's constant.
• Modern chemistry starts from the middle of 19th century to the present time.
• Important in modern chemistry are Synthesis, Separation techniques, Identification and assay, Materials, Polymers, Nanochemistry, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Green chemistry and Combinatorial chemistry.
• Chemistry is important because everything you do is chemistry.
• Chemical reaction occur when you breath, eat or just sit there reading.