Chemistry and its Applications
The rise of the science of chemistry traces its beginnings back to the 1740s with the emergence of gas chemistry, where reactions were explained in terms of elements and atoms. This set the stage for the Age of Chemistry or the Chemical Revolution in the latter half of the nineteenth century when three major breakthroughs were realized. First, valency and structure led to the periodic laws, which were exploited in the 1870s. The second act witnessed the science of physics and chemistry form the sub-discipline of physical chemistry, which rapidly grew in the 1880s. The third act uncovered the idea of affinity and chemical reactivity culminating in the discovery of the electron in 1897.
On this web page we reprise readers’ favorite topics and innovators in the evolving field of chemistry. We also extend the discussion of chemistry’s impact on society in the areas of inorganic and physical chemistry, organic chemistry and its role in biology, and industrial chemistry.
Sidebars will be regularly updated with Featured Elements, Featured Compounds, Historical Tidbits, and Environmental Issues of chemistry.
Life itself is a chemical reaction, but it takes solar energy for the process of photosynthesis to proceed. Visible light, with the exception of the green wavelength, acts as a catalyst for the life-giving production of oxygen to proceed.
The Science of Chemistry
Chemistry is the science that developed in fits and starts as its practioners made seminal contributions. Some of these scientists include Boyle (quantifying gases and adding them as the third important dimension of the chemical sciences), Lavoisier (developing a common language, a theory of acids, and redefining the elements) and Faraday (who introduced the science of electrochemistry and supported much of Davy’s work). It was during the time of Davy and Faraday when chemistry began to play a major role in civilizing the developing world.The early nineteenth century witnessed the rise of chemistry to become an integral part of industrial and economic progress. Sir Humphry Davy naturally felt that this progress depended upon him and his chemical researches.
Sir Humphry Davy
The uncovering or chemical knowledge aided the manufacture of porcelain and glass, improved dyeing and tanning processes, and enabled advances in medicine and agriculture. Because chemistry was in a state of rapid change in the 1810s, the value of those sorting out and contributing to chemical knowledge was high. Applying chemical laws and know-how to large scale manufacturing propelled the industrial revolution forward. Soap and glass were made from soda, which in turn was derived from a concoction of salt, limestone, and sulfuric acid. Soap was valued for its use in washing raw materials and products in an ever-increasing consuming society. Glass was becoming popular for windows in new building construction to capture daylight. Salt and sulfuric acid were also in demand to produce chlorine, a key agent in bleaching cloth in the textile industry.
In the first fifteen years of the nineteenth century, 13 of the 50 elements then known were discovered by Davy and J.J. Berzelius. They were palladium, cerium, osmium, rhodium, iridium, potassium, sodium, barium, strontium, calcium, maganese, boron, and iodine.
Newsletter Perspectives on Chemistry
Periodically a story is reprised based on a favorite of the readers of 'A World Perspective.'This months featured story is about the wonderful properties of water:
The Water Molecule – Magical or Practical?
Humanity has erected gods [1] throughout history to worship water and its life-giving force. The Christian faith makes use of the power of water in the New Testament. Jesus Christ validates the purity of water through the sacrament of baptism, used to wash away original sin and mark the child as God’s own. In fact, Jesus said that He is "living water" and the Book of John, Chapter 4 describes the Savior as the water from heaven that quenches the thirsty soul. Much water imagery is associated with divinity, purity, and life. On the other hand the Greek philosopher Democritus (460 – 370 BC) believed water, and for that matter, all materials were nothing more than a collection of minute atomic particles. In some ways, both viewpoints are correct. Water, from which all life on earth formed, has unique properties.
The Pacific Ocean – Life emerged from earth’s oceans
Physicists and chemists have studied this seemingly miraculous molecule, comprised of two hydrogen atoms connected to a single oxygen atom for centuries and continue to do so. Everyone knows the chemical formula for water as H2O. Everyone also knows how well water dissolves instant coffee and sugar crystals every morning to invigorate us with the attendant caffeine and energy jolts. From this we see how water’s unbalanced geometry makes it an excellent solvent. One side of the molecule is more positively charged than the other, enabling water to literally pull apart most things. Coffee and sugar is no match for the dissolving power of water. If these crystals didn’t dissolve, they would either rise to the top like plastic balls or sink to the bottom like lead ones. But water’s highly polar nature perseveres and makes the crystals fall apart into the solution without changing their composition – ahhh, nothing like a fresh cup of coffee in the morning.
Our favorite hot drink lasts longer because water molecules slowly absorb heat during the boiling process and they also hang on to it a lot longer. In addition to prolonging beverage enjoyment, ocean temperatures and mammalian body temperatures remain relatively stable because of the heat retention property of water. Water is viewed as the model of stability in the chemical and biological worlds.
Our favorite cold drink is made even better with solid water – ice, which floats as we add it to cool the drink. In fact, the early popularity of Coca-Cola, which was invented by an Atlanta pharmacist [2], was enhanced by the addition of ice cubes to the sweet syrupy formula we all know and love. Ice floats because water expands when it freezes, a phenomenon opposite to almost every other known substance. The hydrogen bonds hold the water molecules apart in a lattice, which makes ice nine-tenths as dense as water. This is a life-preserving property of water since floating ice acts as an insulating cover for lakes. Without an ice cover, fish would freeze to death. Many winter sport enthusiasts enjoy the prospect of drilling holes in their favorite patch of ice and settling back with a beer to wait for the fish to bite.
Ice Cubes – Water expands when frozen and the resulting ice will float in water.
Water is even more surprising in that it defies gravity. Water molecules ascend tall trees, carrying life-giving nutrients from the soil to the leaves. It is the unique sharing of electrons in the electron shells of the hydrogen and oxygen atoms that make water molecules bunch together and tend to follow each other, even skyward. Water’s high surface tension, which allows heavier objects to float, is responsible for capillary action too. Trees narrow channels within the bark take advantage of capillary action, a process that pulls water along. Large trees are able to transport several tons of water daily, as high as 300 feet to their treetops. At home you have probably witnessed this phenomenon when a paper towel partially falls into standing water in the sink. After a few minutes, the dry part of the paper towel will become wet too as water defies gravity and climbs the entire length of the paper towel because of capillary action.
The lone oxygen atom shares one electron each with the two hydrogen atoms, bonded at an angle of about 104 degrees, in what chemists call a covalent bond. Since there are four other oxygen electrons available to be shared, they reach out to fellow water molecules and form strong connections [3]. Consequently, if one molecule goes in one direction, the others tend to follow, and water easily flows. The other amazing aspect is that these connections or bonds are not quite so strong as to leave us with a sticky goo of a substance. Compared to syrup or molasses, water is nowhere near as viscous. The strong bonds between water molecules are temporary, enabling water to move, flow, break apart, and reform. Water makes for excellent transport at both the molecular level and the macroscopic level, staying in its watery state over an enormous temperature range, from 0 to 100 degrees Celsius.
As evidence that the temporary water molecule bonds, called hydrogen bonds, are indeed strong, let us look at what is required to turn the liquid into a gas, often called water vapor or steam. A lot of energy is required. In fact, to evaporate a given amount of water, 540 times as much heat energy is needed as it takes to raise water’s temperature just one degree Celsius. This latent heat of vaporization property is what makes you feel so cold when you exit the swimming pool on a hot sunny day. The remaining film of water evaporating from your skin pulls heat from your body more rapidly than the cold pool water did. Brrr…
Water’s Latent Heat of Vaporization property makes you feel really cold on a sunny day!
Water is a key component in agricultural. Farming and ranching are the world’s major industries since we all need food to survive. However, it may be the vegetarians who have uncovered the best way to significantly increase agricultural water productivity. It turns out that vastly different amounts of water are needed to produce different foods. It takes five times more water to supply protein from beef than it does from rice, twice as much for pork, and about one and a half times for poultry. Even better results are found if wheat, beans, and corn are consumed instead of rice. It seems we can consume less water by getting protein straight from plants rather than from animals that eat the plants.
But even with all of this knowledge of the characteristics of water, the structure of water still remains a mystery. At the very least, consensus on its structure appears to be a fair ways off into the future. Recent x-ray studies of water molecules are challenging the traditional view of water as an ocean of tetrahedrons [4] formed by a single water molecule connecting to four others. Instead, water molecules appear to form in a vast array of rings and chains with one molecule connecting with only two others through strong hydrogen bonds. It is Berkeley versus Stanford, a California battle over water structure, not over bottled water flavors.
Water – Crystal clear water is the “stuff of life”
Whatever the outcome, water is the mystery fluid that is the “stuff of life.” Drink, worship, swim, and fish to your health!
[1] The Sumerians and Babylonians believed in Enki and Ea, their respective gods of water, usually pictured with two rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, flowing from his two shoulders or out of a vase he is holding. Ancient Egypt worshiped Osiris as a water god to ensure the regular overflowing of the Nile to produce bumper crops. Ancient Greece revered Triton, son of Poseidon, as the god of water, wielding his trident and conch shell. Afrikkans of Tuareg ethnicity believed in Bulane, the water god, to replenish their rivers and streams. Dylan Eil Ton is the Welsh god of the sea who caused the waves to form to mourn his loss after being killed by an uncle. Manannan mac Lir is the Irish god of the sea and weather, worshipped to protect seafarers and fishermen.
[2] Coca Cola was invented by Doctor John Pemberton, a pharmacist with a soda fountain at Jacob’s Pharmacy, in Atlanta, Georgia in 1886. The name was based on a suggestion made by John Pemberton's bookkeeper Frank Robinson. It was Frank Robinson’s excellent penmanship that led to the flowing Coca Cola letters serving as the company’s famous logo of today. The inclusion of ice and the notion of a cool and refreshing beverage became a big part of Coke’s twentieth century marketing campaigns.
[3] Within water, the hydrogen atoms are bound to the oxygen atom through intramolecular bonds. These are not broken during the vaporization process. Different water molecules bunch together because of the intermolecular bond. This hydrogen bond can be broken when enough energy is applied. Vaporization results. 40.7 kJ of energy will force water to become steam, while an incredible 920 kJ of energy are needed to break water into its constituent elements – an input energy more than 22 times greater.
[4] Tetrahedrons are akin to pyramids with triangular bases. According to Wolfram, a regular tetrahedron, often simply called "the" tetrahedron, is a Platonic solid with four polyhedron vertices, six polyhedron edges, and four equivalent equilateral triangular faces. The tetrahedron has 7 axes of symmetry: 4 axes connecting vertices with the centers of the opposite faces and 3 the axes connecting the midpoints of opposite sides.
The table below highlights stories about chemistry published in the Newsletter, 'A World Perspective.'
| Topic | Issue of AWP | Pages |
|---|---|---|
| Element 114 - ununquadium | | 1 |
| Ammonium Hydroxide | | 5 |
| Powdered Non-dairy Creamers | | 5 |
| Aluminum oxide | | 5 |
| Oil sands | February, 2104-3 | 2,4-5 2,4-5 |
| Water | | 4-5 |
| Copper | | 6 |
| Benzene | August, 2110-3 | 3, 5 5 |
| Stochiometry and Richter | | 3, 5 |
Inorganic and Physical Chemistry
Iodized Salt and Public HealthKazakhstan recently achieved a major public health success. Their campaign overcame widespread suspicion of iodization, even though putting iodine in salt is one of the simplest and most cost-effective health measures in the world. In 1999, only 29 percent of Kazakh households were using iodized salt. In 2006, 94 percent are using the product highlighted by specially marked packages. Each ton of salt needs about two ounces of potassium iodate, which only costs $1.15, a paltry amount to avoid mental retardation in newborns and lowered I.Q.s for the rest of the population.
Buckyballs and Buckypaper - A material 10 times lighter than steel and 250 times stronger!
There may well be just such a material, courtesy of the work being done by the Florida Advanced Center for Composite Technologies (FAC2T). Furthermore, this new material is highly conductive of heat and electricity, making it very useful in many potential new applications. The fruits of the emerging field of nano-materials science has led to the introduction of ‘buckypaper.’ * This material is finding uses in aerospace structures, armored vehicles, and body armor. Military funding is driving ongoing research to ensure manufacturing processes can be developed to mass produce ‘buckypaper.’ Carbon nanotubes, strong fibers only one fifty thousandth the diameter of a hair, comprise ‘buckypaper.’
Promising applications under active research include the following uses:
2. as heat sinks to dissipate heat generated in electronic devices
3. on airplanes to protect them from lightning strikes, and
4. by military aircraft to mask their electromagnetic signatures from being detected by radar.
* Buckypaper owes its name to the elemental material discovered in the early 1990s - Carbon 60 - called Buckminsterfullerene and nicknamed “buckyballs.” Four U.S. patents are pending related to the buckypaper innovation. The Carbon 60 molecule, containing 60 pure carbon atoms, is unique in its spherical structure where the atomic bonds give it a property twice as hard as diamond. Sir Harold Kroto and two others received the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the Buckminsterfullerene discovery.
Miniature Car Rolls on Buckyball Wheels (June 2006 Update)
Rice University researchers have designed a nanocar, the size of a molecule, featuring a chasis, axles, and four buckyball wheels that spin freely and swivel independently of one another. The car measures about three by four nanometers in size, only slightly larger than a DNA strand. Propulsion is provided by photons energizing a motor molecule that undergoes a rotation in a direction parallel to the wheels’ axis. This motion is similar to that undergone by a paddlewheel boat. The width of a single strand of human hair could hold 20,000 such nanocars parked side by side. Applications for such miniature machines to shape useful materials and products out of any material is forthcoming.
Organic Chemistry and Biology
In order for the chemical industry to thrive, it had to distance itself from myth and superstition. Its major challenge was to obliterate the widely held nineteenth century theory that organic compounds found in animals and vegetables were driven by a ‘vital force’ distinct from the science of chemistry. It was taught that these special life forces could not be duplicated in the laboratory.The German chemist, Friedrich Wohler, begged to differ. He wrote in 1828 to a colleague, “I must tell you that I can make urea without the need of kidneys or of any animal whatever,” after his successful synthesis of salt and ammonium cyanate into urea. Urea is normally found in animal and human urine, and this synthesis of urea was the first production of an organic compound from inorganic materials. It was done in the laboratory yet.
A student of Wohler’s, Adolph W. H. Kolbe finally drove the use of vital force from the chemical lexicon for good when he successfully synthesized acetic acid from inorganic compounds. His synthesis produced the same substance as was generally obtained during the fermentation of wines gone awry or from the destructive distillation of wood. He showed that organic compounds could indeed be formed with inorganic ones.
The Wohler-Kolbe tandem ushered in the age of organic chemistry as scientists the world over isolated a variety of new compounds from plant and animal sources. Their manipulations produced substances never before found in nature.
One of the most popular substances to manipulate was coal-tar, a waste byproduct of the coal industry, which was originally plant matter compressed for ages under high pressure. Scientists discovered ways to transform this waste into valuable synthetic dyes such as aniline, explosives such as picric acid and TNT, perfumes, flavors such as vanilla, sugar substitutes like saccharin, sulfa drugs, and plastics. The world would never be the same, thanks to the rise of organic chemistry.
Industrial Chemistry
Ammonia and IndustryAmmonia is big business for the U.S. chemical industry. During the past decade, about twenty million metric tons were used each year. Ammonia used commercially is usually referred to as anhydrous ammonia. This redundant term emphasizes the absence of water within its molecular structure. An ammonia molecule is comprised of one nitrogen atom and three hydrogen atoms. NH3 boils at -33 Celsius, so, as a liquid, it must be stored under pressure and/or at low temperature. "Household ammonia" or "ammonium hydroxide" is a solution of NH3 dissolved in water, the compound featured in the June 2007 AWP Newsletter.
Although ammonia contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of the planet, the gas form of the substance is toxic to life. Consequently, it is transported from place to place by rail or pipeline in liquid form. I recently invested in a pipeline company, Magellan Midstream Partners, and discovered that they are one of two pipeline carriers of anhydrous ammonia in the U.S. Magellan operates an 1,100-mile pipeline to move this liquid product from production facilities in Texas and Oklahoma to terminals in the Midwest, primarily for use as a nitrogen fertilizer. The pipeline’s maximum annual delivery capacity is 0.9 million tons, almost 5 percent of that consumed by American industry.
Ammonia production in the U.S. during 2006 was done by 15 companies at 26 plants across 16 states. Two additional plants were held idle during the year. Fifty-six percent of the ammonia produced came from Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas, owing to their large reserves of natural gas, the primary feedstock for anhydrous ammonia. Even with two plants idled, ammonia production facilities only operated at 78 percent of capacity. However, the U.S. remains one of the world’s leading producers and consumers of ammonia. Products derived from this anhydrous ammonia include urea, ammonium nitrate, ammonium phosphates, nitric acid, and ammonium sulfate in order of importance. Ninety percent of ammonia consumption was for fertilizer. Other industrial uses include formation of plastics, synthetic fibers and resins, explosives, and a wide range of other chemical compounds. With all of these business applications, ammonia is the fifth most abundantly produced chemical in the U.S. while ranking second on the list of chemicals requiring the most energy to produce.
Nitrogen in the form of fertilizer, derived from ammonia, is a major environmental concern. Over-fertilization to maximize crop yields and the subsequent runoff of excess fertilizer contributes to nitrogen accumulation in watersheds. This phenomenon is a cause of the hypoxic zone that forms each summer in the Gulf of Mexico. Such patches of oxygen-free water are deadly to marine life.
Fertilizers and livestock waste are a primary cause of the vast dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, where nothing but algae can live.
Besides environmentalists, ammonia has also become a target for thieves seeking to produce illegal drugs - methamphetamines. Drug dealers have targeted farm storage tanks as an ammonia source. A relatively small amount is required to produce a lot of illegal drugs relative to the total volume of the storage tank. Consequently, farmers are often unaware that a theft has even occurred. Five to six gallons of stolen anhydrous ammonia are sufficient to produce a large quantity of methamphetamine or ‘ice’ for the illicit street trade. Telltale signs of theft include items left near the tank such as duct tape, garden hoses or plastic tubing, and bicycle inner tubes or coolers, all used to extract the ammonia.
Recently researchers at Iowa State University developed a calcium nitrate inhibitor to be mixed with ammonia to decrease the effective yield from 42 percent to 2 percent in methamphetamine production. Researchers claim that calcium nitrate has been tested for its non-toxicicty and safety for food supplies. It has no negative effect on the environment or farm equipment either and it has been verified that calcium nitrate-treated ammonia reduces the purity of the produced methamphetamine.
Fiber Optics and Chemistry
A company called Ocean Optics has developed new sensor systems by introducing low-cost, portable chemical-sensing devices incorporating fiber optic technology. Innovations in chemical-sensing complexes featuring fluorescing properties have led to new Fiber Optic Oxygen Sensor products. These devices provide viable alternatives to traditional chemical-sensing devices such as electrodes. The use of optical-sensing methods reduces reliance on established electrochemical technologies that have dominated the field of oxygen sensing to date.
These new Fiber Optic Oxygen Sensors use the fluorescence of a chemical complex to determine the partial pressure of oxygen. A pulsed blue LED sends 475 nm light to an optical fiber, which transports the light to a probe. The light from the LED excites the formulation complex at the probe tip, emitting fluorescing energy at ~600 nm. If an oxygen molecule is encountered, energy is transferred to the oxygen molecule, decreasing or quenching the fluorescence signal. The degree of quenching is related to the oxygen partial pressure in the film, which is in dynamic equilibrium with oxygen in the sample. Energy collected by the probe is carried through the optical fiber to the spectrometer and the data is then displayed.
Chemist of the Month
Each month a chemist is recognized for his or her outstanding achievement or contribution to the field. Their impact on society is also broached.This months featured chemist is Friedrich Kekule:
- carbon atoms can combine with one another to form complex chains,
- the valence of carbon is always four, and,
- the study of reaction products reveals information about molecular structure.
Kekulé did not go beyond this to develop his molecular structure theory. Kekule cautioned, “Let us learn to dream gentlemen, but let us also beware of publishing our dreams until they have been examined by the wakened mind.” It has been said that that three-fourths of modern organic chemistry is directly or indirectly the product of Kekule’s benzene structural theory. Further, without this understanding, the dye-making industry and development of artificial therapeutic agents would have been inconceivable. Kekule’s "closed-chain" or "ring" theory for benzene has been called the most amazing bit of prediction found across the whole range of organic chemistry.
The table below highlights coverage provided for some of these great chemists and/or doctors in the Newsletter, 'A World Perspective.'
| Month | Chemist | Century |
|---|---|---|
| October 2007 | 20th | |
| January 2007 | 20th | |
| December 2006 | | 19th |
| May 2006 | | 17th |
| September 2005 | | 17th |
| January 2005 | | 18th |
| December 2004 | | 18th |
| November 2004 | | 19th |
Even though Michael Faraday is best known for his electrical researches and work in physics, he spent the first third of his career with Sir Humphrey Davy in the field of chemistry.
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