Chemistry:A Brief History

The First Chemistry

Wood (CxHy) + O2 CO2 + H2O

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

Middle Ages – 1800’s• Goals:

– 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