Before 1600, people studied substances to figure out how to do things such as turn lead into

gold, but no one managed to do that. This was called alchemy. After 1600, using the scientific
method alchemists became chemists. Chemists separated the air into many parts and isolated
the noble gases from it. They also processed special minerals from a mine in Sweden to get rare
earth metals. Radioactivity was also discovered. Today chemists have discovered 118 different
elements. Some are very common, like oxygen. Many are very rare and expensive, like platinum.
Some cannot be found on earth and can only be made in labs, like rutherfordium.
Since the 1920s, the increased understanding of physics has changed
chemists' theories about chemical reactions. With smaller and faster computers, chemists have
built better tools for analyzing substances. These tools have been sent to study chemicals
on Mars. Police also use those tools to study evidence from crime scenes.

Types of chemistry[change | change source]

There are several types of chemistry. Analytical chemistry looks at which chemicals are in things.
For example, looking at how much arsenic is in food. Organic chemistry looks at things that
have carbon in them. For example, making acetylene. Inorganic chemistry looks at things that do
not have carbon in them. One example is making an integrated circuit.
A large area of chemistry is polymer chemistry. This looks at plastics. One example is
making nylon. Because plastics are made of carbon, polymer chemistry is part of organic
chemistry. Another area is biochemistry. This looks at the chemistry of living things. An example
would be seeing how arsenic poisons people. Biochemistry is also part of organic chemistry.
There are many other small branches of chemistry.

Concepts of chemistry[change | change source]

Basic concepts[change | change source]
The basic unit of an element is called an atom. An atom is the smallest building block that you
can cut an element into without the element breaking down (turning into a lighter element, for
example through nuclear fission or radioactive decay). A chemical compound is
a substance made up of two or more elements. In a compound, two or more atoms are joined
together to form a molecule. The tiniest speck of dust or drop of liquid, that one can see is made
up of many millions or billions of these molecules. Mixtures are substances where chemicals are
mixed but not reacted. An example would be mixing sand and salt. This can be undone again to
produce salt and sand separately. Chemical compounds are changed by a chemical reaction. An
example would be heating sodium bicarbonate, common baking soda. It will make water, carbon
dioxide, and sodium carbonate. This reaction cannot be undone.
One very important concept in chemistry is that different atoms interact with one another in very
specific proportions. For example, two hydrogen atoms interacting with one oxygen atom lead to
the water molecule, H2O. This relationship is known as the "Law of constant proportions" and
leads to the idea of "stoichiometry", a term that refers to the ratios of different atoms in chemical
compounds. For example, in water, there are always exactly 2 hydrogen atoms to 1 oxygen
atom. In carbon dioxide, there are exactly 2 oxygen atoms for 1 carbon atom. These
relationships are described using chemical formulas such as H2O (two hydrogen atoms and one
oxygen atom) and CO2 (one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms).

Mole[change | change source]

Because atoms of different elements react with one another in very specific proportions but
atoms of different elements have different weights, chemists often describe the amount of
different elements and compounds in terms of the number of "moles". A "mole" of any element
contains the same number of atoms: 602,214,150,000,000,000,000,000 atoms. The atomic
mass of an element can be used to see how much of the element makes a mole. For example,
the atomic mass of copper is about 63.55. That means about 63.55 grams of copper metal has a
mole of atoms. The atomic mass of chlorine is about 35.45. That means 35.45 grams of chlorine
has a mole of atoms in it.
Moles can be used to see how many molecules are in chemical compounds, too. Copper(II)
chloride is an example. CuCl2 is its chemical formula. There is one copper atom (63.55) and two
chlorine atoms (35.45 · 2 = 70.90). Add all the molar masses of the elements together to get the
molar mass of the chemical compound (63.55 + 70.90 = 134.45). That means in 134.45 grams of
copper(II) chloride, there is one mole of copper(II) chloride molecules. This concept is used to
calculate how much chemicals are needed in a chemical reaction if no reactants (chemicals that
are reacted) should be left. If too much reactant is used, there will be some reactants left in the
chemical reaction.

Acids and bases[change | change source]

Acids and bases are common chemicals. Acids release H+ ions when in water, and bases
release OH− ions when in water. Acids can react with bases. The H+ ion is taken from the acid by
the base. This makes water, H2O. A salt is also made when an acid and a base react together.
An example would be reacting hydrochloric acid (HCl) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH).
Hydrochloric acid releases H+ and Cl- ions in water. The base releases Na+ and OH- ions. The
H+ and the OH- react to make water. There is a solution of sodium chloride (NaCl) left. Sodium
chloride is a salt.

Usefulness[change | change source]

Chemistry is very useful in everyday life and makes up the foundation of many branches of
science. Most objects are made by chemists (people who do chemistry). Chemists are constantly
working to find new and useful substances. Chemists make new drugs and materials
like paints that we use every day.

Safety[change | change source]

This chemist is wearing safety glasses, a lab coat and gloves. He is looking at a rock from the moon.

Many chemicals are harmless, but there are some chemicals that are dangerous. For
example, mercury(II) chloride is very toxic. Chromates can cause cancer. Tin(II) chloride pollutes
water easily. Hydrochloric acid can cause bad burns. Some chemicals like hydrogen can explode
or catch fire. To stay safe, chemists experiment with chemicals in a chemical lab. They use
special equipment and clothing to do reactions and keep the chemicals contained. The chemicals
used in drugs and in things like bleach have been tested to make sure they are safe if used
correctly.
Related pages[change | change source]
Wikimedia Commons has
media related
to Chemistry.

 Periodic table
 List of common elements
 Common chemical apparatus
 Laboratory techniques
 Chemical techniques
 Glycerol
 Aerosol