Chemistry has been around for a very long time. Chemistry dates back to as far as the prehistoric times. If you put the amount of time chemistry takes up in a timeline, you would split it into four general categories. The four categories are: prehistoric times - beginning of the Christian era (black magic), beginning of the Christian era - end of 17th century (alchemy), end of 17th century - mid 19th century (traditional chemistry), and mid 19th century - present (modern chemistry).
It starts in the beginning of the Christian era (black magic). In 1700 BC, when known metals were first recorded and listed. In 430 BC, Democritus proclaimed the atom to be the simplest form of matter, which is composed of atoms. In 300 BC, Aristotle states that all matter is made up of fire, air, water, and earth.
The next era is also in the beginning of the Christian era, but at the end of the 17th Century, Alchemy. In 300 BC- 300 AD, Alchemists attempted to turn cheap metals into gold with the substance called the Philosopher’s Stone. In the 1200’s- 1400’s, transmutation of cheap metals to gold never happened within this time period. In 1520, Alchemists wanted to start converting metals to gold and, also wanted to find a chemical that enabled longer life and a cure for all ailments. At the end of the 17th century, the early form of chemistry was on the verge of being destroyed because some disapproved of Aristotle’s four- elements theory.
The next era is the end of the 17th century- mid 19th century also known as “traditional chemistry”. In the 1700’s, Johann J. Beecher discovered a substance called phlogiston. When substances burn, phlogiston is supposedly added from the air to flame the object that’s burning. Charles Coulcomb the ...
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... Curie and Frederic Joliot-Curie discovered that radioactive elements can be created artificially by the bombardment of alpha particles on certain elements. They were rewarded the 1935 Nobel Peace Prize. In the 1940’s, The Manhattan Project began. Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi warned the United States about Germany’s extensive research on atomic fission reaction. The United States developed the very first working nuclear fission reactor below the football field at the University of Chicago. The Manhattan Project was officially in the process.
Chemistry has evolved a lot over the years. The history of chemistry shapes what it is today. Just about everything you touch, wear, or even eat is related or affected by chemistry some kind of way. In the future, I think chemistry will continue to evolve even more, and will eventually become a more diverse field.
middle of paper ... ... The Web. 22 Feb. 2014. http://www.chemheritage.org/discover/online-resources/chemistry-in-history>.
In 1941, The United States began an atomic bomb program called the “Manhattan Project.” The main objective of the “Manhattan Project” was to research and build an atomic bomb before Germany could create and use one against the allied forces during World War II. German scientists had started a similar research program four years before the United States began so the scientists of the “Manhattan Project” felt a sense of urgency throughout their work (Wood “Men … Project”).
After being taken by the Germans convinced others that they still had the lead in developing a fission weapon. It all started with the “Hungarian conspiracy” that had everyone convinced that the creation of a nuclear bomb was possible, but that the German government was already doing research in this field of study on such a weapon. To the rest of the world, the thought of Adolf Hitler might be the first to gain control of a weapon this destructive would be terrifying to the United States. Right, then they decided that the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt must be warned about the dangers and that the United States must begin its research department. As the planned gave way, Einstein was to write a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt about the possibilities and dangers of the atomic weapons, and later was taken to the president.
In 1939, the scientific world had discovered that Germany was building an atomic bomb. Albert Einstein had fled german prosecution earlier in his life. Upon hearing of Germany’s knowledge of splitting an uranium atom, he felt he must inform President Roosevelt about this. Roosevelt didn’t see the need in the atomic bomb but agreed to it anying. The code name for the atomic bomb was The Manhattan Project. Columbia University, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Chicago started the research for the atomic bomb. Enrico Fermi led a group of physicists to create the first controlled nuclear chain reaction underneath Stagg Field. Stagg Field was the University of Chicago’s football field. Here is where the first controlled
“Early in 1939, The worlds scientific community discovered that German physicists had learned the secrets of splitting the uranium atom and word spread quickly and several countries began to duplicate the experiment.” Albert Einstein warned President Roosevelt that Germany may have already built an atomic bomb. Roosevelt did not see an urgency for such a project, but agreed to proceed slowly. In 1941, British scientists pushed America to develop an atomic weapon. America’s effort was slow until 1942 when Colonel Leslie Groves took over. He quickly chose personnel, production sites and set schedules to invent the atomic
It was Italian-born physicist and Nobel winner Enrico Fermi, and his colleagues at the University of Chicago who were responsible for this success (“Nuclear”).
This research continued throughout World War Two. After discovering how to get this reaction to work and bring the theory to life, the
What is chemistry? According to the American Chemical Society, chemistry can be described as “the study of matter and the changes it can undergo.” This science has been improved by many amazing scientists, and, because of them, our world have never been more advanced. Rosalind Franklin was one of those scientists, and she most definitely contributed to the science of chemistry.
The Manhattan Project was the code name for a science project conducted during World War II by the United States with the partial support of the United Kingdom and Canada. The ultimate goal of the project was the development of the first atomic bomb before Nazi Germany. The scientific research was directed by physicist Julius Robert Oppenheimer while security and military operations were carried out by General Leslie Richard Groves. The project was carried out in many research centers being the most important of them the Manhattan Engineer District located on the site now known as Los Alamos Manhattan Project was the code name for a science project conducted during World National Laboratory. The project brought together a wealth of scientific luminaries as Robert Oppenheimer, Niels Bohr, Enrico Fermi, Ernest Lawrence, etc. . . . Since, after experiments in Germany before the war, it was known that atomic fission was possible and that the Nazis were already working on its own nuclear program, several bright minds met. Many Jewish ex...
Chemistry is a branch of natural science that deals principally with the properties of substances, the changes they undergo, and the natural laws that describe these changes. (University of Idaho, 2014) Molecules, as small as they seem, is in the food that we eat and present in our daily lives. Today, scientists would likely know about the history of chemistry but not how chemistry has impacted history. Many would not wonder if these molecules go beyond the chemistry concepts that they have learned. For example, would the world have been different if piperine (molecule) present in pepper had not led to the discovery of the United States? The interesting fact is that molecules have and will continue to shape the world today. In this book, the authors explain in detail how 17 specific molecules had a significant impact on the history of the world. On a whole, this book is very intriguing and very suitable for chemistry lovers as well as the general public.
In 1939 rumor came to the U.S. that Germans had split the atom. The threat of the Nazis developing a nuclear weapon prompted President Roosevelt to establish The Manhattan Project. Oppenheimer set up a research lab in Los Alamos, New Mexico and brought the best minds in physics to work on the problem of creating a nuclear weapon. Although most the research and development was done in Los Alamos, there were over 30 other research locations throughout the project. After watching the first nuclear bomb test Oppenheimer was quoted as saying simply “It works.”.
The first theory to do with the atom was by Democritus and Leucippus who first proposed the idea of the atom as an invisible particle that all matter is made of. However, the first real discovery of an element, besides those like Gold and Silver etc. (which people had been aware of before written history) was phosphorus, which was discovered by Henning Brand in 1649. In 1787, a French chemist called Antoine Lavoisier, made a list of all 33 known elements of the time. Between 1649 and 1869, the Periodic table was added to and in 1869 a total of 63 elements had been discovered. In 1864, John Newlands made a huge advancement in the arranging of these elements, as he was able to sort them in order of atomic weights and was also able to observe similar properties between elements. The creation of the Periodic table, however is considered to be done by Russian scientist Dimitri Mendeleev who proposed a table as a classification system for all of the elements that had been discovered and he even left spaces for elements that had not yet been discovered, but he predicted they would. The Periodic table contin...
Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev created his first Periodic Table in 1869. Dmitri left gaps in his table for he predicted elements to be found later on in time. “He is a Russian chemist who developed the periodic classification of the elements. Mendeleyev found that, when all the known chemical elements were arranged in order of increasing atomic weight, the resulting table displayed a recurring pattern, or periodicity, of properties within groups of elements.”(Bensuade). The Periodic Table is a chart like structure of the elements. Everything in the world is made of the one hundred elements in the table. “He even predicted the likely properties of three of the potential elements. The subsequent proof of many of his predictions within his lifetime brought fame to Mend...
Geography greatly influenced the practices of alchemists. All over the world people were exploring the natural world and its chemical and physical properties.
The writings of some Greek philosophers may be considered to be among the very first chemical theories, such as the theory that all things are composed of air, earth, fire, and water. Each of these were represented by different elements, such as sulfur, salt, mercury, and, ideally, gold. Other ideas held by alchemists were that each of the known elements were represented by heavenly bodies. Gold was earth's representation of the sun, silver for the moon, mercury for the planet Mercury, copper for Venus, iron for Mars, tin for Jupiter, and lead for Saturn.