CHEMISTRY: FORM ONE

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INTRODUCTION TO CHEMISTRY

By Defn: Chemistry is a science that deals with the composition, structure and

properties of matter

Where:

1. Matter is anything that has mass and occupies space. It includes the materials or substances of nature which make up our environment
2. The people who study Chemistry are called chemists. Those who studied Chemistry in ancient times are known as alchemists
3. Science is the scientific study of nature.

For example how cooling effect occurs

Scientific Subjects

In order the subject to be a science subject it should involves experiments and practical work. Chemists have to acquire certain skills in order to be successful. These skills include:

1. Careful and thorough observation
2. Accurate recording of what has been observed
3. Organizing the observed and recorded information
4. Repeating       tests to     make        sure observations are accurate
5. Forming conclusions from observations
6. Predicting possible outcomes of similar experiments

Application of Chemistry

Chemistry is an important subject that is applied in different fields such as agriculture, medicine, manufacturing, education, food and beverage industry, home care and cosmetics industry, among others. This means that Chemistry is applied in

1. Factories
2. Homes
3. Hospitals
4. Laboratories
5. Research centres
6. Universities

 

Products made by application of Chemistry

Field	product
Agriculture	Fertilizers, pesticides, weed killers, animal vaccines
Medicines	Drugs,         vaccines,     food supplements
Home           care and cosmetics industry	Detergents, beauty products, soaps, shoe polish, toothpaste, disinfectants, insecticides
Food           and beverage industry	Soft drinks, common salt, yeast, baking powder, canned food
Manufacturing industry	Paints, chemicals, varnishes, cement ,plastics
Textile industry	Closes, dyes
transport	Fuels, lubricants, oil, grease, coolants, tyres

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Importance of Chemistry

Chemistry is an important subject due to its application in our daily life. The follows is important of chemistry in various aspect 

1. Agriculture
2. Food and beverage industry
3. Medicine
4. The manufacturing industry v.Transport

1. Communication
2. Home care products
3. Beauty products

 

Agriculture

In a process of growing crops and animal keeping, farmers uses many products made by chemists to get better agricultural yields includes

1. Fertilizers – used to improve the quality and quantity of crops and yields

respectively

1. Weed killers – are chemical substances used to destroy unwanted plants which harm the crops
2. Pesticides – are chemical substances sprayed or sprinkled on crops to destroy pests that leads low or no yields. Also introduces in animal dips to treat animals from ticks etc
3. Animal vaccines – chemical substance used to protect animal from disease
4. Processed animal feeds – animal food which mixed with different nutrients

component to improve animal health

Food and beverage industry

1. Preservation of food especially those canned or bottled example bear, canned maize etc
2. Preparation of certain foods such as

bread, cakes and sweet

Medicine

In medicine field Vaccines (prevent illnesses) and medicines (treat diseases) are

Produced chemically

The manufacturing industry

In industry many material made chemically used to make product. Examples of product are cement, plastic container, textiles,

chemicals, rubber and paper

Transport

1. Fuels used on transport are produced chemically
2. The parts used on transport like car engine

and tyres are made chemically

Communication

1. Letters, newspaper and magazine are manufactured chemically
2. Telephones and computer rely heavily on

wires which made chemically

Home care products

Product used to make home and its environment which used to clean (soap and detergents), kill insect (disinfectants) and decoration (air fresh and paints) are made chemically

Beauty products

Product used to improve human physical appearance like nail varnish, creams, lotions, perfumes and deodorant are made

chemically

Chemistry  for careers (professional development)

The skills acquired in chemistry are very valuable in different careers like

1. Doctor
2. Pharmacist
3. Chemical engineers
4. Laboratory technician v.Nurse

vi.Researcher