Chemistry for beginners

Chapter 23: ASTRO-PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY

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About This Book

A concise introduction traces chemistry's development from ancient Greek and alchemical ideas through medieval practice to modern atomic theory and the periodic law. It explains elements, atomic weights, valency, analysis and synthesis, and differentiates organic and inorganic chemistry, including catalysis, enzymes, and hormones. Practical topics include spectroscopic methods, industrial chemistry, instruments, and ocean salinity. Later chapters address radioactivity, intra-atomic energy, electrons, astrophysical applications, and discussions on the origin of life and the philosophical implications connecting chemical theory with metaphysical questions.

ASTRO-PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY

In this manner, about forty terrestrial elements have been shown to exist in the sun. Carbon, oxygen, iron, silicon, nickel, etc., exist in the sun just as they do on our earth. On the other hand, many elements, such as mercury, nitrogen, sulphur, and boron do not appear, although they are found in abundance on the earth. Yet several elements were shown to exist in the sun which up to that time had not been discovered here. Helium is an example. (From the Greek, Helios, the Sun). And yet, when attention was directed to this element, it was soon found in our earth, and is today so common that helium gas is employed to inflate balloons, in preference to hydrogen, on account of its non-combustibility.