Encyclopedia of Chemistry - Internet Archive

[Pages:353]ENCYCLOPEDIA OF

chemistry

don rittner

and

ronald A. Bailey, Ph.D.

To Nancy, Christopher, Kevin, Jackson, Jennifer, and Jason

Encyclopedia of Chemistry

Copyright ? 2005 by Don Rittner

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information stor-

age or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information contact:

Facts On File, Inc. 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Rittner, Don.

Encyclopedia of chemistry / Don Rittner and Ronald A. Bailey.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-8160-4894-0

1. Chemistry--Encyclopedias. I. Bailey, R. A. (Ronald Albert), 1933 ?

II. Title.

QD4.R57 2005

540.3--dc22

2004011242

Facts On File books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please call our Special Sales Department in

New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755.

You can find Facts On File on the World Wide Web at .

Text design by Joan M. Toro Cover design by Cathy Rincon Illustrations by Richard Garratt

Printed in the United States of America

VB Hermitage 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments v

Preface vii

Introduction ix

A-to-Z Entries 1

Feature Essays:

"The Power of Chemistry: Natural versus Synthetic Compounds" by Theresa Beaty, Ph.D.

57

"What a Crime Lab Does, It Does with Chemistry" by Harry K. Garber

81

"Molecular Modeling" by Karl F. Moschner, Ph.D.

183

"The Role of Chemistry" by Karl F. Moschner, Ph.D.

248

Appendixes: Appendix I Bibliography

289

Appendix II Chemistry-Related Web Sites

311

Appendix III Chemistry Software Sources

313

Appendix IV Nobel Laureates Relating to Chemistry

315

Appendix V Periodic Table of Elements

321

Appendix VI Chemical Reaction Types

323

Appendix VII Metals and Alloys

325

Index 326

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank the following for their generosity in helping to make this book as complete as possible, especially in the use of images, biographies, definitions, essays, and encouragement: Kristina Fallenias, Nobel Foundation; Fabienne Meyers, International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; Daryl Leja, NHGRI, and National Institutes of Health; essayists Harry K. Garber, Karl F. Moschner, and Theresa Beaty; the many chemistry Webmasters; and Nancy, Chris, Kevin, Jack, Jennifer, and Jason.

I also wish to thank Frank K. Darmstadt, executive editor, Sara Hov and Melissa Cullen-DuPont, editorial assistants, and the rest of the staff at Facts On File, Inc., and my colleague Ron Bailey. I apologize to anyone left out due to error.

v

PREFACE

Students beginning their study of chemistry are faced with understanding many terms that are puzzling and unrelated to contexts that make them understandable. Others may seem familiar, but in chemistry they have meanings that are not quite the same as when used in popular discourse. In science, terms need to have definite and specific meanings. One of the purposes of the Encyclopedia of Chemistry is to provide definitions for many of these terms in a manner and at a level that will make their meanings clear to those with limited backgrounds in chemistry, and to those in other fields who need to deal with chemistry. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), an international organization of chemists and national chemistry societies, makes the final determination of terminology and nomenclature in chemistry. Among other things, this organization decides the names for new elements and sets up systematic rules for naming compounds so that a given structure can be defined uniquely. Compounds are frequently called by common or trade names, often because their IUPAC names may be long and complex, but the IUPAC name permits a chemist to know the structure of any compound based on the rules of the terminology, while the common name requires remembering what structure goes with what name.

Chemistry has been called "the central science" because it relates to and bridges all of the physical and biological sciences. For example, biology, as it focuses more and more on processes at the cellular and molecular level, depends heavily on chemistry. There is great overlap within the fields in biochemistry, the study of the chemical processes that take place in biological systems, and in chemical biology, the latter term being used to describe the broader area of the application of chemical techniques and principles to biology-related problems. Because of this overlap, this encyclopedia has many entries that relate to biological sciences as well as to chemistry. Similarly, there is overlap with geology, some areas of physics, and any field related to the environment, among others.

While we can define chemistry, it is more difficult to describe what a chemist actually does. The comic book image of a chemist as someone in a white coat surrounded by test tubes and beakers, if it ever had any basis in reality, is far from accurate now. Nowadays, while the white coat may still be in style, a chemist is more likely to be surrounded by complicated instruments such as spectrometers and chromatographs. The type of work

vii

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download