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Chemistry - What's It All About?

Dateline: 09/20/97

What is Chemistry?

Chemistry is the study of materials, their composition or structure, and how they change. Chemists study and work with materials to understand their structure, make-up, and ways in which they change.

What Do Chemists Do?

Chemists help to keep milk pure, develop new foods, and find new ways to keep food fresh longer. They discover and create new materials for us to use. Some of the things which have been developed by chemists are plastics, batteries, compact discs and recording tapes. The materials used in the discs had to have certain properties so the electrical experts could use them to store information.

People use chemicals to clean, paint, fertilize, or fumigate in and around their homes. Chemists developed all of these helpful products. The medicines you take when you are feeling sick and the vitamins you take to remain healthy were also made by chemists.

Some famous chemists are Michael Faraday, Robert Boyle and Rosalind Franklin.

Things to do at School

• Bring chemical containers and discuss the chemistry of the products. Learn about the safety of the product, poisons, and what you can do to be safe.
• Invite an expert to come and talk about chemistry.
• Visit chemistry labs in a local high school or college. Maybe the chemistry teacher will show you an exciting experiment!

  More About Chemistry
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  Chemical Reactions
  Chemical reactions occur every day all around us. A chemical reaction is a process where one type of substance is chemically converted to another substance. Try the steel wool generating heat experiment to learn more.
  
  Ooblech
  Combined in just the right proportions, a mixture of corn starch and water makes a slimy-yet-firm goo.
  
  A Comic Book Periodic Table
  Where science and comics interact.

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  Check the resource directory for more homework helper hyperlinks!

  Chemistry ideas were inspired from the book More Mudpies to Magnets. Publishers Gryphon House, Inc. were nice enough to let me share their articles with you. Please visit their website. They have some great books for kids!
  
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