What Has Chemistry Ever Done For Me

Chemistry is the branch of science that deals with the structure of organic and inorganic matter( any substance or organism which has a mass and occupies space), its properties and reactions; however chemistry is primarily the study of reactions that any given substance takes on when interacting with another substance. Chemistry is the main incentive for the life that we live today; it has provided modern society with facilities that make our day to day lives easier. Predominantly chemistry has allowed us to understand the composition of the world. In short this branch of science has enabled us to lead a better quality of life.

The first ever study of chemistry can be tracked back to the days of alchemy. Alchemy is an ancient and philosophical study of chemistry, the subject ranged from ancient Egypt to Islamic empires. Alchemists were the first researchers to discover elements, however today their work has been labelled as wrong, meaningless and inventions of the mind. It is an entrenched theory that alchemists believed that lead could be turned into gold and that earth was composed of only four elements, air, water, earth and fire. Alchemists were uneducated, and in simple fruitcakes, but this in fact would be to give a negative image. They did not have to ability than to investigate and speculate the hows and whys, and any chemical reaction was believed to be a magical phenomenon. Impractical as they were, alchemists were as curious as any other great scientist.

From the most simplistic items to the life saving drugs have been discovered through the study of chemistry. The first ever discovery of science was made be Democritus in 440 BC when he proposed the concept of an atom to describe the indiscrete particles that were thought to compose all types of matter. Henceforth the study of chemistry continued and up till this day it is still in progress.

A breakthrough discovery in the world of chemistry was the development of penicillin (an antibiotic used in the treatment of disease and infection), by Alexander Fleming in 1928. This miracle drug saved thousands of lives and as a result it began the pharmaceutical industry. The research was undertaken due to the alarming rate of deaths due to infection; even pricking your finger on a nail could lead to a fatal infection causing death. Prior to the discovery of penicillin, in 1909, scientists Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch produced ammonia through nitrogen and hydrogen, this compound aided farmers in agriculture, as well as in the food industry.

Another interesting discovery in chemistry is benzoyl peroxide. Benzoyl peroxide has aided many teenagers and adults in eradicating their skins problems; this is because benzoyl peroxide is an effective treatment of most forms of acne. It has been formulated into substances such as creams and gels and is applied over the affected area. It is not fully known how benzoyl peroxide helps fight against acne but it is a presumed fact that benzoyl peroxide is absorbed into the skin and destroys acne causing bacteria through oxidisation. Other uses for benzoyl peroxide are hair dying and teeth whitening.

Joseph Lister has been one of the most influential contributors to the world of chemistry. In 1965 another scientist Louis Pasteur claimed that wounds became infected from exposure to living organisms in the air, Lister realised that this had something to do with sepsis (The presence of pus-forming bacteria or their toxins in the blood or tissues), which was an undergoing research for Lister. Lister soon discovered that a substance known as carbolic acid was being used to treat pastures infected with parasite that caused diseases in cows. And so Joseph Lister began to dress wounds with carbolic acid to prevent decay and infection in the wound. Up too this day the method is still used to treat patients who otherwise would have been left to rot away with their injuries.

One of the most controversial and publicised invention of chemistry would have to be the atomic bomb. A devastating yet interesting creation, the atomic bomb was designed for warfare. The first ever uses of the bomb was during World War 2, when the USA dropped it on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bomb killed approximately 120,000 people. Since then the weapon has not been used. The atomic bomb is developed from a fusion of uranium (A heavy toxic silvery-white radioactive metallic element) and plutonium (A solid silvery grey radioactive transuranic element whose atoms can be split when bombarded with neutrons), both components of the basics of chemistry.

One of the most recent advancement made in science through chemistry has been the cloning of the sheep Dolly on 5 July 1996. The BBC reports that Dolly was the first ever mammal to be cloned from and adult cell, all previous clones were designed from embryo cells. The cloning of the sheep raised many moral enquiries and many believe that cloning would be the beginning of an end for humans. Speculations have been made by the media at whether an attempt has been made to clone humans. This had raised an even larger outcry from the public. In January 2002 Dolly had developed arthritis at an unusually young age; she also developed a lung disease. This further proved that cloning was not made for mammals and to do so was a crime against humanity. On February 14 2003 Dolly's death was announced. However authorities claimed that her death was not related to the cloning but was in fact a common sheep disease. After Dolly many other and larger animals have been cloned such as cows and bulls. Cloning offers the security of preservation; however its ethical issues are a consideration. If human cloning was to take place effectively, it would be one of the greatest advancement in human power. It would provide us with ready made organs for patients, the chance to study the human body more precisely.

The first ever mechanical heart has been installed into and American patient's body. The device is said to give patients a new but in no way certain life. The device has been said to bring hope to many other patients who are in need of a transplant. The combination of chemistry and technology is working well to bring society a new hope for life. Without chemistry the materials used to manufacture the heart would have been nonexistent, without chemistry doctors would not have been able to understand the functions of the human body. It has been proved again that chemistry is the basis for everything we have and do in our lifetimes.

Another such luxury that has been provided to us through the means of chemistry, are diamonds, they are largely made up of the element carbon. Without the study of chemistry it would have been difficult to decipher the composition of a diamond, but thanks to today's technology