Amusing Ways for a Budding Alchemist

By V. Alwin George

A Fun Ride You Always Wished For

Have you ever wondered why you fear something? Chances are there. It is a matter worth thinking. Fear is the offspring of unawareness or ignorance. Once you learn driving well you will not fear the road. It is said fear diminishes with the accumulation of knowledge. A book like this should work on this basic principle and it does, I believe.

Chemistry is not a nightmare. Nor is it a monster that kills your confidence. It is just like any of your favourite subject, hobby or game. It is just FUN. To experience it you need to cross the bridge between fear and fun. You will get clues and keys to open every single door in any subject as if in a treasure hunt, if you search for them.

Before you flip through this cute little book you should know something. This is not a study guide which follows your textbook formulae. Instead, this is a fun-filled rollercoaster ride. Ride as you wish. This books sole aim is to make your chemistry study easy. Also it brings you back to your environment to show you that the real chemistry is there, not in the printed text of a book that you learn by heart. This tiny friend of yours will walk you through the unlimited instances and examples of chemistry in your day-to-day life. From the food we eat to the medicines we take chemistrys magic is visible. No more introductions. Lets start a fun packed tour across the wonder world of chemistry. Lets fasten our seat belts. Here we go. Hurray...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing India
• Release date: Jul 8, 2016
• ISBN: 9781482883435

V. Alwin George

V Alwin George is a journalist who has specialised in Science and Children’s literature. Besides, he is a trained and experienced teacher whose main focus is on science subjects, especially chemistry. The basic idea of this book came from the teaching experience he possesses. Children who find Chemistry difficult to deal with have some hurdles before them. Major one among them is ignorance of the basics. There is the lack of systematic study too. Students often feel it as an alien subject which has nothing to do with their life. To deal with these obstacles, we need to connect Chemistry with day-to-day life. That single, simple thought was the seed of this book.

Book preview

Copyright © 2015 V. Alwin George. All rights reserved.

ISBN

978-1-4828-8344-2 (sc)

978-1-4828-8343-5 (e)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

www.partridgepublishing.com/india

07/08/2016

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Twinkle twinkle little star, How I wonder what you are!!

Chapter 2 The Invisible Hero

Chapter 3 Hurray..! Electrons

Chapter 4 The Story of Molecule

Chapter 5 Table of Everything

Chapter 6 The Clustering Atoms!

Chapter 7 The Organic World

Chapter 8 The Mysterious Chemistry

Chapter 9 The Wonderful Chemistry Lab

Chapter 10 Funny Chemistry

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CHAPTER 1

Twinkle twinkle little star, How I wonder what you are!!

Yes, we often wonder how this universe came to be! Close your books. Shall we go for a journey? Let it be to the largest laboratory in the world. It is none other than nature itself. We can find a lot of wonder here. Look around. How many reactions are happening there in each moment! Nature is the vast world of chemistry. As in a kitchen where different foods are prepared, so many chemical reactions are taking place in the nature. We are all the members of that huge kitchen called nature. Let us see some of the chemical reactions taking place here and realize the presence of chemistry in our daily lives.

Sun, Earth and Life

How does life exist on the earth? Earth remains to be a life planet just because of sun. Sun rises in the early morning though nobody wakes him up. It is the energy source of the earth. Sun gives the energy in the form of heat and light. An enormous chemical reaction is behind this energy formation. It is called Nuclear Fusion. There is a large number of hydrogen atoms inside the sun. The hydrogen nuclei combine to form Helium atoms.

This is not a simple thing. As a result of this chemical reaction, huge amount of energy comes out. This energy is converted into light and heat and reaches the earth. Chemical reactions on the earth can be started only when the energy reaches here.

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Remember It!

If the hydrogen nuclei stop the nuclear fusion in the Sun, then it is the end of life on earth!

The wonders of nature

Now we will enter the nature. Trees, plants, grass, grasshopper, animals and humans. A lot of members are here. We will see what happens to each of them.

Air, water and food are essential to maintain life on earth. We need oxygen always. Every life on earth is breathing throughout the day. Do you know why oxygen doesn’t get over? Plants are the heroes here. Plants are the oxygen makers of earth. They absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the presence of sunlight and prepare their food in the leaves. This is called photosynthesis. It is a large chemical reaction. Oxygen never gets over just because of this magic of leaves. In short, life on earth would have been difficult, had the chemistry in the plant leaves were absent. Plants do their duty without anybody forcing them.

The main sources of food on earth are plants. The food chain starts from them. If there were no photosynthesis, we all would have died long ago.

Let’s come back to air. Organisms intake oxygen and leave out carbon dioxide when they breathe. When the air gets into the lungs there is a battalion waiting to separate oxygen from other gases. Then it is mixed with blood. Just imagine that the oxygen and carbon dioxide are human beings. Then you can learn these chemical reactions more easily. A vehicle called blood is waiting at the lungs to carry away the oxygen molecules. Haemoglobin, a part of the blood is responsible for taking the oxygen atoms.

Inside Haemoglobin, there is an iron atom that functions as a seat for oxygen. The moment oxygen sits on the seat, he will be locked. Suddenly the blood vehicle starts running towards the brain. When it reaches there, it unlocks the oxygen atoms and lets them free. Then it lets the carbon dioxide molecules to get in to the vehicle. The blood vehicle takes reverse and heads towards the lungs. At the lungs, it empties out the carbon dioxide and fills up with oxygen and returns. Blood supplies oxygen to the tissues in the human body. So easy to say, but respiration is a complex chemical reaction. It takes place inside our body, though we are not aware of it. The brain can give instructions to control each part of the body only if the oxygen reaches there. The reason for the uneasiness when the oxygen lessens in our body is also the same.

Carbon Monoxide - The Villain

Carbon monoxide is the little brother of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a nice guy. But, do you know about carbon monoxide? We will die the moment he gets inside our body. This is also an inner game of respiration. Haemoglobin likes carbon monoxide more than oxygen. Imagine a small amount of carbon monoxide also gets inside while breathing. Haemoglobin takes the carbon monoxide and delivers to the brain. The brain will get angry on seeing the carbon monoxide because it expects only oxygen. It strikes out the very moment. Then the brain stops its function completely. That causes the end of the person! This is how carbon monoxide causes death.

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Our body does various chemical reactions like digestion, respiration, growth etc according to the instructions from the brain. For the proper functioning of brain, oxygen is necessary. In this way, our body itself transforms into a large laboratory.

Amazing Water

Which is the most seen chemical compound on earth? Water! Though it doesn’t have any specific colour or smell, water is the pillar compound of life. When two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom fuse, one molecule of the compound called water is formed. The earth happens to be the life planet just because of water. You know, water can do wonders. Its chemistry is so different. That’s why while the other molecule hydrogen sulphide similar to water exists as gas, water remains in liquid form. This is because there is a special attractive force between each water molecule. Suppose water was also in gaseous state, no life would exist on earth.

You might be familiar with water cycle. When heated, water on the surface of earth change its phase to vapour and goes upward. The vapours get collected in the clouds. These clouds fall down as rain and again the water returns to the earth. The process repeats. This is a physical phenomenon. But there is chemistry behind this. After reaching the cloud, they remake the bond and falls down. Again they have to react as per the requirement of the living organisms to maintain life

Chemistry around us

We can see many curious things around us other than water and air. Look around, chemistry is found everywhere. In each and everything, we can find a lot of hidden chemical reactions. The bodies of plants and animals are really laboratories. We know that food, cloth and shelter are the primary needs of men. Food, whether it is vegetarian or non vegetarian, comes on our dining table after a lot of chemical steps. Most of the clothes we choose to wear are made out of artificial compounds made by chemical reactions. Cement, concrete, steel, paint: all building materials are products of chemistry.

If you look in to the reactions taking place in nature, you can understand how versatile it is. If you leave a nail in the open air, it will get rusted within days. We cover our nose in disgust when a garbage van passes by. You know why? The organic waste is transformed in to its decayed form through chemical reactions and the smell is generated. Vehicles run as a result of burning of fuel. This is another chemical reaction.

A reason for everything

Why all these reactions take place? If you try to find out the reason, you will get only one answer. It is an effort done by atoms to get stability. All reactions are a journey from an unstable state to a stable condition.

Our universe is a balanced system. Everywhere, we can see equilibrium. Everything in this universe is made up of 118 elements. Atoms of these elements come together to form compounds. An atom involves in a chemical reaction if it gets more stability than when it stands alone. When two or more atoms combine to form compounds, the energy is decreased and stability is increased.