Have you ever read a research journal in Chemistry? Whether we realize it or not, our lives cannot be separated from everything related to chemistry. Chemicals are everywhere.
In fact, we would not exist without chemicals because our bodies are made of chemicals. All around us, chemicals are found easily.
Starting from vehicle fuel, chain cleaners, food, cosmetics, and drugs. In short, we cannot live without chemicals.
This happens because Chemistry is closely related to other branches of science, such as Physics, Biology, Materials Science, Nanotechnology, Pharmacy, Medicine, Bioinformatics, and Geology.
With the advancement and development of chemistry, its use can be maximized to all other branches of science which ultimately affects all aspects of human life.
History of Chemistry
According to linguists, chemistry comes from Arabic, Al-Kimiya, which means 'change of matter'.
In Chemistry, you will find terminology from Arabic roots, such as al-kana, al-kena, alkyne, aldehyde, alkanal, and alcohol.
This is not surprising because thanks to the services of medieval Muslim scientists, the science of chemistry developed rapidly.
Call it scientist figures, such as Jabir Bin Hayyan, Khalid Ibn Yazeed, Al Jabbar, Algorithm, and Arithmetic.
The scientist who is considered the father of modern chemistry is the Irish scientist Robert Boyle (January 25, 1627 to December 30, 1691).
For the first time, he introduced controlled experiments to test the correctness of his analysis, in stark contrast to previous chemical methods.
Definition of Chemistry
There are several definitions of Chemistry, including the following:
- The science that studies chemicals.
- The study of the composition, structure, properties, changes and energy that accompanies changes in a material. Matter is anything that occupies space and has mass.
- The science that studies the composition and properties of matter or matter on an atomic to molecular scale and their changes or transformations and their interactions to form matter found in everyday life.
From some of these definitions, it can be concluded that Chemistry is a science that studies chemicals which includes the composition, structure, properties, changes and energy that accompanies chemical changes, studies the understanding of physical properties and atomic interactions, and then applies them at a macroscopic level.
The physical properties of matter are largely determined by its structure at the atomic level and the forces between atoms.
Chemistry from Time to Time
The fire that has been successfully "created" is used to change one substance into another substance, leading humans to the discovery of iron and glass in the next period, namely the Iron Age and Bronze Age.
After humans became acquainted with iron and bronze, they began to recognize other metals, such as gold.
The discovery of gold stimulated people to find various ways to make, engineer, and change gold with other metals, so that human civilization at that time was familiar with the use of chemistry.
However, chemistry as a science is still mixed with things that are metaphysical, considering the changes in chemical reactions that accompany it cannot be explained scientifically.
That is called protoscience. Science that has been practiced by various human civilizations throughout history is often mixed with philosophy and metaphysics.
In the enlightenment period of the Islamic world, slowly mysticism and philosophy were removed from protoscience.
Its characters, such as Jabir bin Hayyan, have developed a more systematic and scientific approach. Now, Chemistry has been used in various fields of life, such as health, environment, medicine. In fact, the military.
In the Middle Ages, better known as the Renaissance, Chemistry entered a new phase with a series of experiments conducted by Robert Hooke, Robert Boyle, and L. Antoine Lavoisier.
They have not only succeeded in making important discoveries, but have succeeded in laying the basic principles of the scientific method in each of their discoveries.
At the same time, more and more chemical elements were discovered so that various theories and postulates were developed, such as atomic theory, the law of conservation of energy, and the law of ideal gas pressure.
In 1869, a scientist from Russia, Dmitri Mendeleev, succeeded in perfecting the periodic table of elements that had been pioneered by previous scientists. Thus, the science of chemistry is growing rapidly.
Entering the middle of the 20th century, when the Nobel Prize was introduced, scientists were increasingly motivated to continue to develop the science of Chemistry.
Many important discoveries in the last 100 years in the fields of quantum mechanics, genetic engineering, molecular physics, to computational chemistry.
No wonder Chemistry research journals are constantly produced by researchers and scientists.