chemistry
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This unit is designed to set the stage for further education in Chemistry. Students should learn what chemistry is as a central discipline, how a chemist or chemistry student works & thinks and some basic concepts and historical ideas.
Chemistry is the central science because it is based on physics, applied to the transformation of on one substance into another at a molecular level. Chemistry of materials and compounds is the main path through which physics is applied, for example, semiconductors, metals and ceramics. It is defined as a subject as it is the basis for modern biology at a sub-cellular level and organic chemistry is the basis for most of modern medicine and biology. Thus it is the central science.
A chemist is a philosopher who studies substances both natural and artificial and works out how they can be of use (though not always positively) to society. Chemists like Haber (synthesis of ammonia and hence bulk chemical fertilisers, dyes and explosives) invented processes which have been used to drive all the wars of the last century, and yet have been essential to the development of modern society. Has the price of development been worth it? Most would say yes, despite the rise of means of mass destruction brought about by chemical research...