Question

chemistry:

One of the most important things about learning chemistry to make it accessible and fun is to connect it to your daily life. We are involved in chemical reactions daily, but often we may not realize it. Reactions involve almost every aspect of life. It is important to consider their impact on you and your impact on them.

Consider a chemical reaction that you are involved in either actively (you are controlling the reaction) OR passively (it is happening in your body, the Earth, your car, etc., like it or not) and write about it. Note: if it is happening in your body then you need to focus on the chemistry, and not the biology. One suggestion would be to focus one small aspect of the chemistry versus all of the chemistry involved in the process. You may not know exactly the chemicals involved, and that is ok- in fact, if you don't know it may be even easier. Look on-line and write an explanation of the phenomena from your research. Cite appropriately. Do not duplicate topics and must have one source other than Wikipedia.

Finally, I'd like to tie everything together by inviting you to share some "a-ha" moments you've had (or even regular, non-a-ha moments!) when thinking over this course material. For me, one of the most interesting aspects of chemistry is visualizing how everything is made of atoms and molecules. I couldn't help but ponder the "teeny-ness" of the atoms involved in bonding, and yet the really large implications bonding has on everything in our lives. I'm wondering where everyone is in terms of making these connections? If nothing else, I hope that these last few discussions have encouraged you to consider this course information outside of the bounds of your text and begin to think about how it is connected to your daily life, daily decisions, and daily being. Please give me an example thank you

Answer 1

A very common chemical phenomenon we experience daily is the source of the energy we receive from the sun. The sun is actually made up of superheated gases, which convert from one to another, and in the process, release a huge amount of energy in the form of sunlight which helps sustain life on earth. The reaction that takes place in the sun is termed as nuclear fusion and can release a huge amount of energy. In this reaction, two forms of hydrogen(called as isotopes, as they have the same atomic number but different atomic mass) known as Deuterium and Tritium combine and convert into a Helium atom. This process is known to expel a lot of energy which we use to sustain life on earth. The reaction looks as follows-

²H₁ + ³H₁ → ⁴He₂ + ¹n₀

For me, what i find most interesting and fascinating about chemistry is how it is so commonplace and connected to everything we do, yet we never realise it. Just thinking of this answer and typing it involved numerous complex chemical reactions in the brain. Something as simple as digestion contains many complex chemical reactions. Chemistry is complex, but has many applications.