A Brief History of Chemistry
A Brief History of Chemistry
A Brief History of Chemistry
Chemistry is a branch of science that has been around for a long time. In fact, chemistry is known to date back to as far as the prehistoric times. Due to the amount of time chemistry takes up on the timeline, the science is split into four general chronological categories. The four categories are: prehistoric times - beginning of the Christian era (black magic),
beginning of the Christian era - end of 17th century (alchemy),
Time Intervals
Description Known metals were recorded and listed in conjunction with heavenly bodies. Democritus proclaims the atom to be the simplest unit of matter. All matter was composed of atoms. Aristotle declares the existence of only four elements: fire, air, water and earth. All matter is made up of these four elements and matter had four properties: hot, cold, dry and wet.
Prehistori c Times Beginnin 430 BC g of the Christian Era (Black Magic) http://tq 300 BC d.advanc ed.org/26 90/hist/b lack.html
300 BC 300 AD Beginning of the Christian Era -End of 17th Century (Alchemy) http://tqd.adv anced.org/2690 13th /hist/alchemy. Century html (1200's) 15th Century (1400's)
Influenced greatly by Aristotle's ideas, alchemists attempted to transmute cheap metals to gold. The substance used for this conversion was called the Philosopher's Stone.
Although Pope John XXII issued an edict against gold-making, the gold business continued. Despite the alchemists' efforts, transmutation of cheap metals to gold never happened within this time period.
The Goal of The Alchemist Separate the earth from the fire, The subtle from the gross,sweetly with gross industry...
You shall have the glory of the whole world and thereby all obscurity shall fly from you.
1520
Elixir of Life
Alchemists not only wanted to convert metals to gold, but they also wanted to find a chemical concoction that would enable people to live longer and cure all ailments. This elixir of life never happened either.
Death of Alchemy
The disproving of Aristotle's four-elements theory and the publishing of the book, The Skeptical Chemist (by Robert Boyle), combined to destroy this early form of chemistry.
1700's
Johann J. Beecher believed in a substance called phlogiston. When a substance is burned, phlogiston was supposedly added from the air to the flame of the burning object. In some substances, a product is produced. For example, calx of mercury plus phlogiston gives the product of mercury. Charles Coulomb discovered that given two particles separated by a certain distance, the force of attraction or repulsion is directly proportional to the product of the two charges and is inversely proportional to the distance between the two charges.
17741794
Joseph Priestley heated calx of mercury, collected the colorless gas and burned different substances in this colorless gas. Priestley called the gas "dephlogisticated air", but it was actually oxygen. It wasAntoine Lavoisier who disproved the Phlogiston Theory. He renamed the "dephlogisticated air" oxygen when he realized that the oxygen was the part of air that combines with substances as they burn. Because of Lavoisier's work, Lavoisier is now called the "Father of Modern Chemistry".
1803
John Dalton publishes his Atomic Theory which Dalton's Atomic states that all matter is composed of atoms, which Theory are small and indivisible.
1854
VACUUM TUBE
1879
Cathode Rays
William Crookes made headway in modern atomic theory when he used the vacuum tube made by Heinrich Geissler to discover cathode rays. Crookes created a glass vacuum tube which had a zinc sulfide coating on the inside of one end, a metal cathode imbedded in the other end and a metal anode in the shape of a cross in the middle of the tube.
Cathode ray
1895 X-RAYS
Wilhelm Roentgen accidentally discovered x-rays while researching the glow produced by cathode rays. Roentgen performed his research on cathode rays within a dark room and during his research, he noticed that a bottle of barium platinocyanide was glowing on a shelf. He discovered that the rays that were causing the fluorescence could also pass through glass, cardboard and walls. The rays were called x-rays.
1896 Pitchblend
Henri Becquerel was studying the fluorescence of pitchblend when he discovered a property of the pitchblend compound. Pitchblendgave a fluorescent light with or without the aid of sunlight.
1897
Radio Active Elements Marie Curie discovered uranium and thorium within pitchblend. She then continued to discover two previously unknown elements: radium and polonium. These two new elements were also found in pitchblend.
1909
1914 Protons within a nucleus Henry Moseley attempts to use x-rays to determine the number of protons in the nucleus of each atom. He was unsuccessful because the neutron had not been discovered yet.
1932 The Neutron James Chadwick discovers the neutron. *Neutron Bombardment and Nuclear Fission* Enrico Fermi bombards elements with neutrons and produces elements of the next highest atomic number. Nuclear fission occurred when Fermi bombarded uranium with neutrons. He received the 1938 Nobel Prize in physics.
1940s Manhattan Project Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi both warned the United States about Germany's extensive research on atomic fission reaction. Below the football field at the University of Chicago, the United States developed the very first working nuclear fission reactor. The Manhattan Project was in process.