Chemistry for SG O Level
What is Chemistry?
At one time it was
easy to define chemistry. The traditional definition goes something like this:
Chemistry is the study of the nature, properties, and composition of matter,
and how these undergo changes. That served as a perfectly adequate definition as
late as the 1930s, when natural science (the systematic knowledge of nature)
seemed quite clearly divisible into the physical and biological sciences, with
the former being comprised of physics, chemistry, geology and astronomy and the
latter consisting of botany and zoology. This classification is still used, but
the emergence of important important fields to study such as oceanography,
paleobotany, meteorology, pharmacy and biochemistry, for example, have made it
increasingly clear that the dividing lines between the sciences are no longer
at all sharp. Chemistry, for instance, now overlaps so much with geology (thus
we have geochemistry), astronomy (astrochemistry), and physics (physical and
analytical chemistry) that it is probably impossible to devise a really good
modern definition of chemistry, except, perhaps, to fall back on the
operational definition: Chemistry is what chemists do!
Chemistry plays an important
part in all of the other natural sciences, basic and applied. Plant growth and
metabolism, the formation of igneous rocks, the role played by ozone in the
atmosphere, the degradation of environmental pollutants, the properties of
lunar soil, the medical action of drugs, establishment of forensic evidence:
none of these can be understood without the knowledge and perspective provided
by chemistry. Indeed, many people study chemistry so that they can apply it to
their own particular field of interest. Of course, chemistry itself is the
field of interest for many people, too. Many study chemistry not to apply it to
another field, but simply to learn more about the physical world and the behavior of matter from a chemical viewpoint. Some simply like "what
chemists do" and so decide to "do it" themselves. Read more . . . .
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