The Importance of the Science of Chemistry

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 and expanding minds scientists have been able to inherit the formation of diamonds for their own knowledge, they are able to study its properties and are even able to discover plant Earths mysteries through them. Since the earliest days diamonds have been the most valued and craved rocks by mankind, the represent power, glamour and above all beauty. Diamonds are known as women's best friends, although in fact it has been proven that men and women both ravish in the presence of diamonds. The diamonds that we where may as well be up to 3 billion years. Diamonds are most commonly found in meteorite rocks, under high pressure of an impact. Although chemistry has provided our society with many useful things, it has not always been a beneficiary, for instance carbon monoxide has always been one of the most dangerous poisoning gases developed. Carbon monoxide is an odourless, colourless, toxic gas. Symptoms of exposure to carbon monoxide include flu, headaches, nausea, dizziness, and disorientation. No matter where we go some traces of carbon monoxide will trace to us, this is because carbon monoxide is ever present in many of the day to day household equipment we use, such as: gas heaters, tobacco smoke, generators, gas stove, cars, buses, and other vehicles. Carbon monoxide can be fatal to humans if overly exposed, on moderate levels it can cause angina, blindness and reduced function of the brain. Allan McKinley, chair of discipline in chemistry at the University of Western Australia accurately states that: "Without chemistry we wouldn't have the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the house we live in, the car we drive, nor all the other trappings of our modern lifestyles, such as consumer electronics". He also believes that in the earlier days of chemistry, scientists were quite lenient in respects to environmental effects that their studies would have on our world. He gave examples such as DDT (a common form of pesticide). Although DDT was developed to kill mosquitoes causing malaria, it had harmful affects on the environment. In 962, and American scientist Rachel Carson wrote a book claiming that this product caused cancer and interrupted in the reproduction system of birds. This allegation led to the abrogation of DDT in agriculture uses. Hitherto scientists have paid careful attention to what effects their experiments and products have on the environment. However research is being conducted to solve this problem. Biochemist Glenn King, from the University of Connecticut in America, is trying to develop an alternative to chemical pesticide. His research involve the Blue Mountain funnel web spider, this species largely inhabit the Blue Mountains in Australia. The venom of this spider is fatal to humans and insects. King is studying the venom of the spider to understand the system of the poison. King has the idea that the poison from the spider could be used to make an environmentally friendly pesticide, he also suspects that insects do will not be able to have immunity against the poison because it has been derived from a funnel web spider and has not been crafted with chemicals. Another method is to programme the spider venom DNA into viruses that directly effect insects, the improved virus would be able to sufficiently wipe out harmful insects such as the cotton bollworms. The Blue Mountain funnel-web is not the only spider that will be able to aid Glenn King in his experiment; several more species are yet to be identified. There are so many things that we can trace back to chemistry, like: X-rays, vehicles, clean water, cleaning products, and the list is endless. The basis of everything we do and make is derived from chemistry, for example a hairdresser perming a customer's hair is performing a chemical reaction that conjoin the protein molecules in our hair to give them a different shape. "We're all chemists one way or the other" says a spokesperson for the Beckman Centre for the History of Chemistry. Who knows where we will be in the future with the technology advancing so rapidly and chemistry related research undertaking every minute. All that is positive is that chemistry is all around us, it's in our bodies, our minds, our possessions, and we cannot escape it. It has provided us with unbelievable luxuries that would not have been thought possible by earlier scientists.                                                               BIBLIOGRAPHY Internet: • BBC News (2003) URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/22/newsid_4245000/4245877.stm [accessed February 15th] • BBC News. 2000 URL:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolly_the_sheep [accessed February 15th] • Environmental Protection Agency (2006) URL: http://www.epa.gov/iaq/co.html [accessed February 15th] • University of Connecticut, Author: Johnson, Dan (2005) URL: http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=100676&org=NSF [accessed February 15th] • BBC News (2001) URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1420737.stm • Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) 2005 URL: http://velocity.ansto.gov.au/velocity/ans0009/article_01.asp [accessed February 15th]