The basic building blocks of the world around us (and inside us).
Despite my original intentions of this being a mostly Science/Chemistry blog I haven’t wanted to write about it due to looking at the subject all week.
However, this is my first article about something Chemistry related!
I’m assuming some people reading will know little or nothing about chemistry so be patient if you know all of this. I plan on building on it in subsequent posts.
The Atom.
The world around us is made of atoms which can be found in various states and combinations.
An atom is the smallest 'piece' that an element can come in.
Elements you might have heard of will probably include carbon, oxygen, lead, copper and many others which can all be found on the Periodic Table.
As stated, these elements can be found in a variety of combinations which give us everything from the air we breathe to the device you are reading this post on.
The result of these combinations of atoms are what we call molecules. The makeup of these combinations are denoted in a chemical formula which tells us how many of each of the atoms in the molecule but not necessarily how they are arranged (what order they are in)
Take for example ethanol (this is the alcohol people drink when they have a beer/wine etc).
It is composed of 2 carbon atoms, 6 hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen atom arranged as shown below.
The chemical formula for ethanol is C2H6O
An ethanol molecule
Water is one we all know. I’m sure most people will recognize the molecular formula for water, which is H2O.
This tells us that it is formed of 2 Hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen atom.
A water molecule
Another more simple example is the combination in which we find oxygen in the air that we breathe. It is simply 2 oxygen atoms (O2) which are bound together as shown below.
An oxygen molecule
What seems like a small difference of adding one more oxygen changes the chemical significantly. When we add another oxygen to it we get Ozone (O3)
An ozone molecule
You may have heard of the Ozone Layer with is a blanket of ozone that exists in the stratosphere which interacts with a specific type of light radiation from the sun called Ultraviolet (UV) light. This is important as it shields the organisms (living things) on the Earth’s surface from some of the damage associated with this type of radiation.
However, ozone in the troposphere (where we live) can cause problems to health of plants and animals.
(As a side note, did you know the air we breathe is only made up of around 21% oxygen (O2)? The most common gas we breathe is actually Nitrogen (N2) at 78%. Other gasses like Argon and Carbon Dioxide (CO2) make up the rest However, the ratio is important, too much of either can cause problems and breathing pure Nitrogen would be fatal)
As we can see, slight differences in the combinations of atoms can change the effects and properties of a chemical very easily!
The elements are combined and arranged to make up matter (solid, liquid and gas) that we see (or don’t see), touch or smell and Chemistry is the study of this matter and energy, the properties of them and how they interact with themselves and each other.
I will be posting more topics of this type so if you like or dislike it let me know. The intent is to keep them a bit less “Sciencey” and more relevant to the world around us so it won’t be too theory heavy.
If anyone has any comments, suggestions or questions about this post or its topics leave them below!
