Why study chemistry?
Chemistry is the study of the composition, structure, properties and interactions of matter. Chemistry arose from attempts by people to transform metals into gold, first by the Egyptians who wanted it for monetary purposes and secondly by the Chinese who believed gold is a medicine that could confer long life; an effort that became known as Alchemy. Modern chemistry was established as scientists began identifying and verifying through scientific experimentation the elemental processes and interactions that create gases, liquids and solids that compose our physical world.
As the field of chemistry advances, chemists learned how to create new substances that have many applications to human lives. They became more interested in the materials of which an object is made of (contents/active ingredients) than the quantity, size, shape or motion. Chemists began to ask questions like why a solution of salt conduct electricity but solution of sugar does not, what happened when food is said to be digested, what actually transpires during the process photosynthesis, why iron rusts, why iron rusts but tin does not, why some chemical changes proceeds rapidly while others are slow and so on. Chemists, while trying to provide answers to most of these questions arising from natural phenomena have learnt to duplicate and produce large quantities of many useful substances whose properties are quite unique.
The study of chemistry have been able to transform resources such as coal, petroleum, ores, plants, fossils and air into useful materials such as plastics and polymers, medicines and artificial implants, perfumes and flavors, metal alloys, fertilizers and insecticides etc. presently, cotton and wool have been replaced from its numerous uses by synthetic fibres and wool, the same applies to metal and glass whose alternative now is plastic. Often times, chemistry is being regarded as a mother and centre of all other sciences because of its wider applications. Chemistry in fact comes next to God almighty in providing solutions to humanity. If you have ever wondered critically on the applications of chemistry to human existence then you will definitely arrive at the same conclusion with other scientists that nothing, absolutely nothing existed without chemical reaction. Think of it, is it food, paper, textile, leather, ceramics, dyes, paint, gasoline, petroleum, ink, shoes, rubber, goggles, boots, agriculture, jewelries,magnet, adhesives, plastics, printing, detergent and soap, vitamins, cars, motorcycles, electronics, phones, medicines, management and maintenance of both clinical and quality control laboratories, even man himself and other living things are complex chemical factories in which precise and regulated chemical reactions occur. This is also in line with some processes that occur in our everyday life such as: photosynthesis, combustion, digestion, cooking, clothing, dyeing, washing and so on. Although, it is a well established fact that life itself cannot be worth living withoutchemistry.
Being a chemist means taking a certain view of the world, swimming in the aqua of molecules and their behaviours. More specifically, knowing the details of chemistry in day to day life can be simultaneously useful and annoying, since one can’t help seeing things in terms of molecules and their properties. At home for instance, it helps in working out what might be used to improve the scent of your perfume and makes it last longer, also what might be used to clean a stubborn stain. Sometimes when you hear people claiming they have magical mixture for stain removal then you begin to wonder if actually this mixture is outside the chemical reagents employed in chemistry laboratory. Seeing chemistry being abused by some novice who knew nothing about chemicals is quite worrisome. Secondly, a glance at advertisements for expensive bottled waters with their claims about pH, oxygen level and purity does not in any way sound strange to a chemist who can even stand to disproof all their claims.
However, whenever you see yourself as a chemist just like myself, be proud, beat your chest and say chemistry rules the world so as a chemist I rule the world; every other profession comes after me because I provide every material and equipment they need to function. Finally, I would like to conclude by borrowing from the words of a renowned chemistry scholar Babatunde Okesola who said ”Chemistry is all around us and the better we know chemistry, the better we know our world. The chemistry axiom – ‘what on earth is not chemistry?’ is a profound truth that triggered my unquenchable passion for chemistry”.
By
Comr. Nwaiwu Kingsley C.