Chemistry: Animation, Video, and Laboratory Activity

Chemistry has evolved over thousands of years to become the sophisticated science it is today. As long ago as 3500 B.C., the early Egyptians were skilled in the production of wine and had discovered that certain metals such as copper and tin could be obtained by roasting metal ores in a fire with charcoal.
By about 1500 B.C., the Hittites discovered that when iron and charcoal are heated a much harder from of iron is produced. This material, which is today called steel, was used to produce a range of tools and weapons.
The Greek philosophers, including Democritus and Aristotle, were the first to attempt to understand the nature of matter. In fact, Democritus proposed the existence of atoms. He believed that the universe consisted of one kind of atom of varying sizes and shapes. About 350 B.C., Aristotle rejected the idea of atoms. He considered that the matter consisted of different proportions of four elements – earth, water, air and fire. Thisview of ma tter dominated Western scientific thought for about 2000 years until the development of modern chemistry.
In the period A.D. 500 – 1600 attention shifted from an interest in the nature of matter to more practical concerns. The ‘chemists’ of that time, better known as the alchemists, had two main aims. The first was to find a method of converting metals such as iron, zinc and copper into gold. The second aim was to discover an ‘elixir of life’ which would prolong life indefinitely. The alchemists relied heavily on experimentation but their activities were not guided by the development of scientific theories. As well, much of their work was done in secret and their findings were not subject to the opendebate which is characteristic of science today.
Despite the limitations of the alchemists’ approach, many important chemical substances were produced in this period. These included alcohol, arsenic, zinc, and hydrochloric, sulfuric and nitric acid.