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Unit 8: Chemistry Page 11
Textbook Reading
Matter What is stuff made of?
Let’s find out by using a thought
Why study
experiment (Einstein called these
chemistry? Baking
“gedanken experiments” – he
is chemistry. Cars
really hated to do experiments,
use chemistry to zip down the
and would rather just think about
street. Your body converts food
them instead).
into energy using chemistry.
Everything you see, touch, taste, Suppose we have a drop of water.
and smell is a chemical. If we look at it very closely, we’ll
see a drop of water, nice and
Studying chemistry is like peeking smooth. If we grab a microscope
under the hood of a racecar – you and magnify it roughly 2,000 times
know you put gas in and it goes, (the drop is now 40 feet across,
but that’s all you can tell from the the size of a large classroom) and
outside. Chemistry gets you into look very closely, we’ll still see
the inner workings on the relatively smooth water, but there
molecular level. are wiggly things floating around
(paramecia). We could stop here
Soon you’ll be able to explain and study these interesting little
everyday things, like why baking critters, but then we’d sidetrack
soda and vinegar bubble, why only ourselves into biology. So let’s
certain chemicals grow crystals, focus more on the water.
what fire really is made of, how to
Let’s magnify the water 2,000
transform copper into gold, and
times again, so it’s roughly 15
how to make cold light. Once you
miles across. When we look at it
wrap your head around these basic
very closely now, we see what
chemistry ideas (like acids,
looks like a teeming mob of Super
polymers, and kinetics), you can
Bowl fans making their way to the
make better choices about the
nearest exit. There’s lots and lots
products you use everyday like
of movement, but it’s still fuzzy
pain relievers, cold compresses,
and hard to make out. Now we’ll
and getting a loaf of bread to rise.
magnify it another 250 times (total
magnification of 1 billion times),
and we’ll see two kinds of “blobs”:
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