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27. Natural Reality / F. Chemistry / 1. Chemistry

[general ideas about behaviour of molecules]

20 ideas
In chemistry every substance pushes, and thus creates new substances [Nietzsche]
Chemical atoms have two powers: to enter certain combinations, and to emit a particular spectrum [Harré/Madden]
Chemistry is not purely structural; CO2 is not the same as SO2 [Harré/Madden]
An acid is just a proton donor [Rosen]
The shape of molecules is important, as well as the atoms and their bonds [Watson]
Water continuously changes, with new groupings of molecules [Hendry]
Compounds can differ with the same collection of atoms, so structure matters too [Hendry]
How can poisonous elements survive in the nutritious compound they compose? [Scerri]
Periodicity and bonding are the two big ideas in chemistry [Scerri]
Chemistry does not work from general principles, but by careful induction from large amounts of data [Scerri]
The electron is the main source of chemical properties [Scerri]
Does radioactivity show that only physics can explain chemistry? [Scerri]
A big chemistry idea is that covalent bonds are shared electrons, not transfer of electrons [Scerri]
Over 100,000,000 compounds have been discovered or synthesised [Weisberg/Needham/Hendry]
'H2O' just gives the element proportions, not the microstructure [Weisberg/Needham/Hendry]
Water molecules dissociate, and form large polymers, explaining its properties [Weisberg/Needham/Hendry]
It is unlikely that chemistry will ever be reduced to physics [Weisberg/Needham/Hendry]
Quantum theory won't tell us which structure a set of atoms will form [Weisberg/Needham/Hendry]
For temperature to be mean kinetic energy, a state of equilibrium is also required [Weisberg/Needham/Hendry]
We are halfway to synthesising any molecule we want [New Sci.]