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Some of the most exciting scientific developments in recent years have come not from theoretical physicists, astronomers, or molecular biologists but instead from the chemistry lab. Chemists have created superconducting ceramics for brain scanners, designed liquid crystal flat screens for televisions and watch displays, and made fabrics that change color while you wear them. They have fashioned metals from plastics, drugs from crude oil, and have pinpointed the chemical pollutants affecting our atmosphere and are now searching for remedies for the imperiled planet. Philip Ball, an editor for the prestigious magazine Nature, lets the lay reader into the world of modern chemistry. Here, for example, chemists find new uses for the improbable buckminsterfullerene molecules--60-atom carbon soccerballs, dubbed "buckyballs"--which seem to have applications for everything from lubrication to medicine to electronics.
The book is not intended as an introduction to chemistry, but as an accessible survey of recent developments throughout many of the major fields allied with chemistry: from research in traditional areas such as crystallography and spectroscopy to entirely new fields of study such as molecular electronics, artificial enzymes, and "smart" polymer gels. Ball's grand tour along the leading edge of scientific discovery will appeal to all curious readers, with or without any scientific training, to chemistry students looking for future careers, and to practicing chemical researchers looking for information on other specialties within their discipline.
List of contents
Acknowledgements Ch. 1How It All Fits Together: The architecture of molecules Ch. 2Bringing Down the Barriers: Getting chemical reactions to go Ch. 3Caught in the Act: Watching atoms dance Ch. 4Impossible Order: When atoms meet geometry Ch. 5Perfect Hosts and Welcome Guests: Molecules that recognize each other and build themselves Ch. 6Metals from Molecules: Electronics goes organic Ch. 7A Soft and Sticky World: The self-organizing magic of colloid chemistry Ch. 8Chemical Beginnings: How chemistry came to life Ch. 9Far from Stable: Fractals, chaos, and complexity in chemistry Ch. 10Transforming the Globe: The crises of atmospheric chemistry Bibliography Index
About the author
Philip Ball
Summary
Chemists have created superconducting ceramics for brain scanners, designed liquid crystal flat screens for televisions and watch displays, and made fabrics that change color while you wear them. This book lets the lay reader into the world of modern chemistry.
Additional text
"It covers almost every possible recent development in chemistry in just the right amount of detail.... The old disciplines of organic, inorganic and physical chemistry of the stuffy textbooks are ploughed over and a new patchwork of fields created to fill their place."---David Bradley, New Scientist
