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Our world is determined by chemistry. Every object we encounter in our daily lives is a product of a chemical reaction, natural or man-made. This exciting book goes behind the scenes of day-to-day chemistry and digs deeply into the hearts of the atoms that govern chemical processes. It explores the reactions between atoms and shows how the characteristics of the reacting atoms determine the type of molecules produced. The book also probes the fascinating chemistry of simple substances such as salt and water. In clear language, it shows how the interactions between the two molecules are crucial to life on Earth and how those interactions are predestined by the atoms that make up the molecules.
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essential chemistry
essential chemistry Atoms, Molecules, and Compounds Chemical Reactions Metals The Periodic Table States of Matter
ESSENTIAL CHEMISTRY
PHILLIP MANNING
Atoms, Molecules, and Compounds Copyright © 2008 by Infobase Publishing 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 storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information contact: Chelsea House An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Manning, Phillip, 1936Atoms, molecules, and compounds / Phillip Manning. p. cm. — (Essential chemistry) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-7910-9534-8 (hardcover) ISBN-10: 0-7910-9534-7 (hardcover) 1. Atoms. 2. Molecules. 3. Matter—Constitution. 4. Chemical reactions. I. Title. II. Series. QC173.M335 2007 539.7—dc22 2007011403 Chelsea House 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 Chelsea House on the World Wide Web at http://www.chelseahouse.com Text design by Erik Lindstrom Cover design by Ben Peterson Printed in the United States of America Bang FOF 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is printed on acid-free paper. All links and Web addresses were checked and verified to be correct at the time of publication. Because of the dynamic nature of the Web, some addresses and links may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid.
Contents 1
Meet the Atom
2
The Quantum Model
15
3
The Nucleus
29
4
The Electrons
42
5
The Elements
58
6
Chemical Reactions: Making Molecules
71
7
Chemical Bonds
81
8
Common Compounds, Uncommon Results
102
Periodic Table of the Elements
110
Notes
116
Glossary
117
Bibliography
126
Further Reading
129
Index
131
1
1
Meet the Atom R
ichard Feynman loved to play the bongos. He also loved solving problems. He figured out the reason for the space shuttle Challenger’s 1986 explosion by showing that cold weather caused the rubber seals of the booster rocket to fail. Feynman was one of the twentieth century’s great theoretical physicists, a Nobel Prize winner who spent much of his career studying atoms. He knew as much about atoms as anyone in the world, and this is what he said about them in his book Six Easy Pieces: If, in some cataclysm, all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence passed on to the next generations of creatures, what statement would contain the most information in the fewest words? I