What is Chemistry?

Before we start our further lessons about Chemistry. 

Lets us first discuss ... What is Chemistry?

CHEMISTRY

       It is the study of matter - all things that occupy space and have mass. Some of these you can see, some you cannot; some are found in nature, some are man-made or synthetic; some are edible, others are poisonous. In chemistry we study the composition, properties and structure of matter. We also study the changes that matter undergoes and the energy involved in these changes.

              Also, some of the properties of matter can be perceived by our senses but others may require special instruments to observe and measure. The study of the structure of matter is concerned with the building blocks of matter, the atoms and molecules.

OBJECTIVES:

• Explain why a knowledge of chemistry is central to many human activities
• Cite the relevance of chemistry in a variety of careers or occupations
• Discuss recent technological applications of chemistry
• Name some Filipino heroes in Chemistry
• Identify the SI units of measurement and convert from one unit to another
• Calculate the corresponding temperature in °F or K given the temperature in °C and vice versa
• Differentiate precision from accuracy
• Determine the number of significant figures in given measurements
• Express measurements in scientific notations
• Use conversion factors in solving problem.

Examples of Filipino Heroes in Chemistry

JULIAN A. BANZON

Dr. Julian A. Banzon is the grand man of chemistry in the Philippines. His research on fuels using coconut as a renewable source of chemicals and fuels was a breakthrough because our usual source of energy is crude oil. He used coconut as a source of liquid fuel and showed that coconut diesel can be a substitute for diesel oil. He studied the use of gasonol, gastaria, pure kerosene, and mixture of pure kerosene and crude oil as fuels. 

ALFREDO C. SANTOS

Dr. Alfredo C. Santos is the father of natural products research. He extracted alkaloids from Philippine plants. Alkaloids are bitter components found in the roots, leaves, fruits, seeds and barks of plants. They are usually poisonous but some of them have been found to be therapeutic.

Measurements

THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM OF UNITS

Scientific Notation

    

            Many numbers used in chemistry are either very large or very small that the number of zeros becomes difficult to handle. For accuracy and convenience, these numbers are written in scientific notation. A number in scientific notation has two parts. The first part is a number between 1 and 10 (N). The second part is a power of 10^{y as shown below}

 N x 10^y

The exponent y can be a positive or a negative integer.

             To write numbers in scientific notation, move the decimal point such that you have a number between 1 and 10. Determine the correct exponent by counting the number of times the decimal point is moved. When the decimal point is moved to the right, the exponent is written as a negative number. When the decimal point is moved to the left, the exponent is written as a positive number.

Example:
1.)    0.00567 ----- 5.67 x 10 ^-3
2.)      456000 ----- 4.56 x 10 ^5\

Okay. So this is just the Introduction of what Chemistry is all about.

Stay tuned to our lessons here. You'll learn a lot. Trust me :)

P.S.

Did you know according to some teenage kids ...

Chemistry is ... :)