Chemistry discoveries have played a huge impact in changing the way people live. Chemistry is a subject that contributes a lot to disciplines such as biology, agriculture, medicine, and engineering. These contributions have led to the transformation of how we communicate, eat and fight diseases. Therefore we must always recognize the work of chemists as the modern world would not be recognizable without them. Before we jump in and look at top chemistry discoveries, don’t forget to check out our chemistry homework help.
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Greatest Chemistry Discoveries :
Chemistry has brought a glimpse of change in the field of medicine by helping in the discovery of new medical treatments. Political and climatic changes usually stimulate the development of technology and science daily; moreover the world of chemistry changes during these times. Chemists have played an integral important role in changing the way we think and five throughout the centuries.
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Plastics
In the 1900s scientist, john Wesley Hyatt formulated and discovered celluloid plastics as a substitute for ivory in the manufacture of billiard balls. Celluloid is an important synthetic plastic that can be used as a substitute for expensive substances such as horn, amber, and ivory.
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Radioactivity
Radioactive materials were discovered and isolated in the 1890s by Pierre Curie and Marie. Marie after chemically extracting uranium from the uranium core noted that the residual material was more vibrant and active than the pure uranium .therefore Marie concluded that the ore contained new elements that were radioactive.; these led to the discovery of elements such as radium and polonium.
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Oxygen
Joseph Priestley discovered oxygen in the 1770s and later the scientists Antoine Lavoisier clarified the nature of the elements .joseph produced oxygen in his experiments and described its role in respiration and combustion. Afterward, he invented carbonated water after dissolving fixed air in the water. Antoine works with other scientists later to devise the chemical nomenclature of oxygen which now serves as the basis of the modern system.
4. Atomic Theory
The atomic theory states that the elements contain small particles called atoms. The theory was discovered by john Dalton in the year 1808; the scientist provided a way of linking invisible atoms into measurable quantities. John concluded that pure elements, therefore, have identical atoms that have the same mass.
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Chemical structure
Friedrich Kekule brought out the study of the molecular structure after discovering the chemical structure of benzene. after many years of studying the carbon-carbon bonds, scientists came up with the ring shape of the benzene molecule. The unusual structure solved the problem of how atoms can bond with up to four atoms at the same time.
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Periodic table of elements
In the 1860s Dmitry Mendeleyev realized that if all the 63 known elements are arranged in the order of their atomic weight, their properties are repeated based on a certain periodic cycle. Therefore the scientist formulated a periodic table and as well predicted the existence of elements that had not yet been known .during his lifetime Dmitry discovered the following elements; scandium germanium and gallium.
Chemical discoveries that’s are the most significant in the modern living
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Discoveries of medicinal chemistry
The discovery of penicillin- in 1980 a Scottish doctor and bacteriologist; Alexander Fleming discovered the most important medical discoveries .he discovered the use of penicillin in the treatment of bacterial infection.
Anesthetic –in the ninetieth century a dentist; William Morton discovered that animals passed out after inhaling sulphuric ether. the scientists discovered anesthesia that is now used in many hospitals to perform major and minor surgeries.
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Chemical interventions in food and farming
Pasteurization –Louis Pasteur linked heat with the destruction of bacteria. He discovered the process of pasteurization in 1864 after he heated wine. This process nowadays is commonly associated with milk.
Harbor –Bosch process –this is one of the most significant processes in the history of civilization. In the twentieth century many scientists were trying to find out artificial processes for extracting nitrogen; to help in the development of agriculture. The Haber Bosch process was discovered by Carl Bosch and it has allowed agriculture to increase its efficiency. It has also allowed the growth of the human population over the last century.