Transcript The History of Chemistry

Chemistry:
A Brief History
The First Chemistry
Metallurgy:
The purification of metals
• The Bronze Age: c. 3500 – 1100 BC
– Copper and Tin isolated by heating ores
(rocks)
– Combined to make the alloy Bronze
• The Iron Age: 1200 – 550 BC
– Iron: higher melting pt. than Cu or Sn
– Steel: stronger than bronze
Atomism
• Democritus: ca. 460 – ca. 370
BC
– Matter is composed of indivisible
units, called “atoma”
– Unable to prove his theory
scientifically
Alchemy:
Mystical Chemistry
• Goals:
Middle Ages – 1800’s
– Turn less valuable
metals into Gold and
Silver
– Find “elixir of life”
(eternal youth)
• Primitive form of
Chemistry
– No Scientific Method
– Combines Philosophy,
Mysticism, Chemistry
Modern Chemistry:
The Beginning
1700s
• Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794)
–
–
–
–
Law of Conservation of Mass
Recognized and Named Oxygen
Combustion (burning with O2)
Respiration of animals
• Similar to Combustion
Organic Chemistry:
Making the Molecules of Life
• 1828: Friedrich Wohler
– Makes Urea
– Shows that an organic
molecule can be made
outside an organism
• 1853: Charles Frederic
Gerhardt
– Makes Aspirin
• 1800s: Organic Dyes:
– Mauve, Magenta
Atomic Theory
• John Dalton: 1766- 1844
– elements composed of atoms of
a single type, which combine to
form molecules
• 1897: J.J. Thompson
– Discovers the electron
• 1909: Ernest Rutherford
– Discovers the Nucleus
• The Quantum Model: 1900s
– Particles behave like waves
Nuclear Chemistry:
1940s
Fission: nuclei are split apart
Fusion: nuclei are fused together
Biotech Industry:
Chemistry Improving Health
• Use Chemistry
to:
– Make
medicines
– Study genetics,
human disease