GENERAL AND INORGANIC CHEMISTRY
CHAPTER 1 | INTRODUCTION TO CHEMISTRY
1.1 CHEMISTRY AND ITS IMPORTANCE
- chemistry has enabled us to
design all kinds of materials
such as metals, glass and
plastics, which are widely used
in our life.
- Using the knowledge of
chemistry, we have created
many useful processes. Even
the water that we drink would
not be safe without chemical
treatment.
HISTORY OF CHEMISTRY
- Chemistry already existed since
ancient times. Humans had
already known how to extract
metals such as copper and iron,
and how to make ceramics and
glasses. However, they did not
know the chemical processes
involved.
- The systematic study of
chemistry as a subject only
began about 1700 years ago. It
revolved around alchemy, an art
of transforming common metals
such as lead into precious
metals, such as gold or silver.
Even though no one ever
succeeded in doing so, a
number of important chemical
processes such as distillation
were discovered
- alchemy refers to both an early
form of the investigation of
nature and an early
philosophical and spiritual
discipline, both combining
elements of chemistry,
metallurgy
- In fact, the word `chemistry' is
believed to originate from
`al-kimiya', the Arabic word for
alchemy.
- Modern chemistry began to be
founded during the 17th century.
The works of scientists of that
time laid the foundation for
today's chemistry
(a) ANTOINE LAVOISIER
- a French chemist, is considered
the founder of modern
chemistry. He did many
experiments on combustion and
the composition of water.
(b) ROBERT BOYLE
- an English philosopher, is also
considered as one of the
founders of modern chemistry.
He separated chemistry from
alchemy and introduced
experimental methods and the
idea that elements are the basic
building blocks of matter.
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