Lecture Set 1
Key ideas in today’s chemistry
- 100 elements
- Elements made of atoms which consists of electrons and nucleus (protons +
neutrons)
- Electrons arrangement in atoms affect chemical properties (periodicity)
- Chemical bonds arise when atoms share electrons
- Arrangement of atoms to form molecules determine properties
- Chemical reactions change a molecule through rearrangement (bonds break/form)
of atoms
- Essential Physical Theories
o Thermodynamics: Conservation of energy
o Quantum mechanics: Wave nature
World history
Ancient Egypt: 3150BC to 300BC
- “Khem”: old name of Egypt
- Black land
Ancient China: Zhou dynasty & Warring states (400BC)
- Rise of Chinese alchemy
Ancient Greece: 500BC to 250BC
- Philosophers: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle
- 300BC Alexander the Great
Greco-Roman world: 500AD
- 500-1400AD: Europe lapse into ‘dark age’ intellectual heritage in hibernation
regained from Islamic civilisation
Islamic civilisation: 6th century
- Baghdad, Damascus, Alexandria, Cordoba
- Took over Greek-Roman classical knowledge and expanded on it
Ancient Theories
Ancient Greece: Greece, Western coast of Turkey, South Italy
- Monism (The universe is made up of one stuff: arche)
o Thales of Miletus (arche: Water 3 states)
o Anaximander (arche: boundless indeterminate substance)
o Anaximenes of Miletus (arche: Air)
- Atomos
o Leucippus & Democritus
▪ Indivisible, unchangeable, eternal (except for their motion)
▪ Infinite in number
▪ Various shapes
▪ Agglomeration: form new materials; materials change as agglomerations
of atoms break and form
- Four elements
, o Empedocles
o 4 elements: Water, Air, Earth, Fire
o 2 motive power: Love (unite), Strife (divide)
- Primary matter (hule)
o Aristotle
o 4 qualities (hotness, coldness, dryness, and wetness) can be impressed on prime
matter to give 4 elements: Water, Air, Earth, Fire
o Cosmos
▪ All materials made up of 4 elements, changeable and in a flux
▪ Constantly in motion, associating and dissociating with other elements to
give many materials that we see/sense
Ancient India: 16 Mahajanapadas
- Five elements
o Upanishads
o 5 elements: Water, Air, Earth, Fire, Space connected to 5 senses
- Atomic Theory
o Kanada Kashyapa/Nyaya School
▪ indivisible, eternal, not perceived, can only infer from its effect
▪ triads give rise to materials in the universe
Ancient China: Zhou dynasty, Warring States
- Atomic Theory
o Mo Zi
▪ Atom = Duan: Cutting materials to 0 thickness, arrive at basic material
(atom); no volume in between
o Counter: Zhuangzi tianxia
▪ No way to cut something into 0 thickness to arrive at atom
- Five elements (forces)
o Water, Fire, Wood, Metal, Earth
o Mixing of 5 elements gives rise to all things
- Monism-Dualism
o Heaven & Earth contains qi
▪ When qi comes about, all matter arises
▪ Concept of ‘yin’ and ‘yang’: Everything in the world can be described as
an opposition of these two forces.
Yang 阳: Male, Positive, Light, Heat, Sun.
Yin 阴: Female, Negative, Darkness, Cold, Moon
o Qi of the universe, united is one. Separated is yin and yang (dualism) 5
elements/4 seasons (monism)
, Alchemy
Transmutation
- Convert baser metal to gold
- Universal elixir Longevity, immortality
Ancient China
- Strong link between alchemy and medicine
- Quest for immortality
- Influenced by Taoist philosophy and religion
- The first ever theoretical treatise on alchemy: Zhouyi Cantongqi
- Wei Boyang, end of Eastern Han dynasty (~200 CE).
- Based on tenets (beliefs) of I-Ching (yin-yang), five elements and other Taoism
beliefs.
o ‘Elixirs’ were concocted to balance the ‘yin’ and ‘yang’ in one’s body to attain
perfect harmony with the universe and hence usually packaged with occult,
spirit, etc. found gunpowder
- Earliest alchemical activities: Converting Cinnabar to Gold Drink Longevity
- (Ge Hong) Believed cinnabar/Mercuric sulphide HgS (dansha) contained ingredients
for longevity (due to eternal nature of gold, mercury and HgS)
HgS + O2 -> Hg + SO2
Hg + 2S -> HgS (regeneration of cinnabar longevity)
Greco-Roman-Egyptian: 117AD
- Metallurgy is the belief that metals ‘grows’ from earth and may be accelerated
e.g., by replacing baser metals with ‘gold’ qualities to increase gold growth
- Fake gold: Lime, Sulphur, Vinegar, Urine of youth Heat
- (Zosimos of Panopolis)
o First alchemist
o Knew about distillation, sublimation, metallurgy, dyeing and other ‘chemical’
craft, and combined with ‘theory’
o Provided one of the first definitions of alchemy as the study of “the composition
of waters, movement, growth, embodying and disembodying, drawing the spirits
from bodies and bonding the spirits within bodies.”
o Metals are composed of 2 parts: non-volatile (body) [same for all metals] and
volatile (spirit) [give metal its colour] Used fire to separate spirit from body,
then join the spirit to other bodies to cause transmutation
Islam: Baghdad, Damascus, Alexandria, Cordoba
- Took Greek-Roman classical knowledge and expanded on it in 6th century
- The empire covers Spain, North Africa, Middle East to Central Asia from 7th century
- Continental Europe went into the dark ages; most classical knowledge was lost
Key ideas in today’s chemistry
- 100 elements
- Elements made of atoms which consists of electrons and nucleus (protons +
neutrons)
- Electrons arrangement in atoms affect chemical properties (periodicity)
- Chemical bonds arise when atoms share electrons
- Arrangement of atoms to form molecules determine properties
- Chemical reactions change a molecule through rearrangement (bonds break/form)
of atoms
- Essential Physical Theories
o Thermodynamics: Conservation of energy
o Quantum mechanics: Wave nature
World history
Ancient Egypt: 3150BC to 300BC
- “Khem”: old name of Egypt
- Black land
Ancient China: Zhou dynasty & Warring states (400BC)
- Rise of Chinese alchemy
Ancient Greece: 500BC to 250BC
- Philosophers: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle
- 300BC Alexander the Great
Greco-Roman world: 500AD
- 500-1400AD: Europe lapse into ‘dark age’ intellectual heritage in hibernation
regained from Islamic civilisation
Islamic civilisation: 6th century
- Baghdad, Damascus, Alexandria, Cordoba
- Took over Greek-Roman classical knowledge and expanded on it
Ancient Theories
Ancient Greece: Greece, Western coast of Turkey, South Italy
- Monism (The universe is made up of one stuff: arche)
o Thales of Miletus (arche: Water 3 states)
o Anaximander (arche: boundless indeterminate substance)
o Anaximenes of Miletus (arche: Air)
- Atomos
o Leucippus & Democritus
▪ Indivisible, unchangeable, eternal (except for their motion)
▪ Infinite in number
▪ Various shapes
▪ Agglomeration: form new materials; materials change as agglomerations
of atoms break and form
- Four elements
, o Empedocles
o 4 elements: Water, Air, Earth, Fire
o 2 motive power: Love (unite), Strife (divide)
- Primary matter (hule)
o Aristotle
o 4 qualities (hotness, coldness, dryness, and wetness) can be impressed on prime
matter to give 4 elements: Water, Air, Earth, Fire
o Cosmos
▪ All materials made up of 4 elements, changeable and in a flux
▪ Constantly in motion, associating and dissociating with other elements to
give many materials that we see/sense
Ancient India: 16 Mahajanapadas
- Five elements
o Upanishads
o 5 elements: Water, Air, Earth, Fire, Space connected to 5 senses
- Atomic Theory
o Kanada Kashyapa/Nyaya School
▪ indivisible, eternal, not perceived, can only infer from its effect
▪ triads give rise to materials in the universe
Ancient China: Zhou dynasty, Warring States
- Atomic Theory
o Mo Zi
▪ Atom = Duan: Cutting materials to 0 thickness, arrive at basic material
(atom); no volume in between
o Counter: Zhuangzi tianxia
▪ No way to cut something into 0 thickness to arrive at atom
- Five elements (forces)
o Water, Fire, Wood, Metal, Earth
o Mixing of 5 elements gives rise to all things
- Monism-Dualism
o Heaven & Earth contains qi
▪ When qi comes about, all matter arises
▪ Concept of ‘yin’ and ‘yang’: Everything in the world can be described as
an opposition of these two forces.
Yang 阳: Male, Positive, Light, Heat, Sun.
Yin 阴: Female, Negative, Darkness, Cold, Moon
o Qi of the universe, united is one. Separated is yin and yang (dualism) 5
elements/4 seasons (monism)
, Alchemy
Transmutation
- Convert baser metal to gold
- Universal elixir Longevity, immortality
Ancient China
- Strong link between alchemy and medicine
- Quest for immortality
- Influenced by Taoist philosophy and religion
- The first ever theoretical treatise on alchemy: Zhouyi Cantongqi
- Wei Boyang, end of Eastern Han dynasty (~200 CE).
- Based on tenets (beliefs) of I-Ching (yin-yang), five elements and other Taoism
beliefs.
o ‘Elixirs’ were concocted to balance the ‘yin’ and ‘yang’ in one’s body to attain
perfect harmony with the universe and hence usually packaged with occult,
spirit, etc. found gunpowder
- Earliest alchemical activities: Converting Cinnabar to Gold Drink Longevity
- (Ge Hong) Believed cinnabar/Mercuric sulphide HgS (dansha) contained ingredients
for longevity (due to eternal nature of gold, mercury and HgS)
HgS + O2 -> Hg + SO2
Hg + 2S -> HgS (regeneration of cinnabar longevity)
Greco-Roman-Egyptian: 117AD
- Metallurgy is the belief that metals ‘grows’ from earth and may be accelerated
e.g., by replacing baser metals with ‘gold’ qualities to increase gold growth
- Fake gold: Lime, Sulphur, Vinegar, Urine of youth Heat
- (Zosimos of Panopolis)
o First alchemist
o Knew about distillation, sublimation, metallurgy, dyeing and other ‘chemical’
craft, and combined with ‘theory’
o Provided one of the first definitions of alchemy as the study of “the composition
of waters, movement, growth, embodying and disembodying, drawing the spirits
from bodies and bonding the spirits within bodies.”
o Metals are composed of 2 parts: non-volatile (body) [same for all metals] and
volatile (spirit) [give metal its colour] Used fire to separate spirit from body,
then join the spirit to other bodies to cause transmutation
Islam: Baghdad, Damascus, Alexandria, Cordoba
- Took Greek-Roman classical knowledge and expanded on it in 6th century
- The empire covers Spain, North Africa, Middle East to Central Asia from 7th century
- Continental Europe went into the dark ages; most classical knowledge was lost
