2012/01/25
化化學學
化化學學
年少時唸理科的朋友們可否記起唸化學課的情景...
... 努力balance chemical equation;
... 在實驗室將一支二支"溝來也溝去"， 記下顏色的轉變..
但這些化學元素對我們日常生活的影響卻了解得很少。
近日在家中正閱讀兩本關於化學的書籍，一本述說十七種影響世界的molecules. 書名為'Napoleon's button'. 而另一本是介紹不同elements的小故事, 名為'Disappearing spoon'. 兩本同樣精彩的書籍，讓我對化學多了認識。 如果當年學習時能聽到這些小故事， 我會更喜愛化學科!
現找來這兩本書的引子， 希望也讓畢業多年的你重拾學習化學的樂趣!
Napoleon's Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History
... 在實驗室將一支二支"溝來也溝去"， 記下顏色的轉變..
但這些化學元素對我們日常生活的影響卻了解得很少。
近日在家中正閱讀兩本關於化學的書籍，一本述說十七種影響世界的molecules. 書名為'Napoleon's button'. 而另一本是介紹不同elements的小故事, 名為'Disappearing spoon'. 兩本同樣精彩的書籍，讓我對化學多了認識。 如果當年學習時能聽到這些小故事， 我會更喜愛化學科!
現找來這兩本書的引子， 希望也讓畢業多年的你重拾學習化學的樂趣!
Napoleon's Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History
(http://www.amazon.com/Napoleons-Buttons-Molecules-Changed-History/dp/1585423319/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327464245&sr=8-1-spell)
... ... What caused the downfall of the greatest army Napoleon had led?
Why did Napoleon's soldiers, victorious in previous battles, falter int he Russian campaign?
One of the strangest theories to be advanced can be captured by paraphrasing an old nursery rhyme: "all for the want of a button."
Surprising as it may seem, the disintegration of Napoleon's army may be traceable to something as small as the distintegration of a button - a tin button ... ...
When temperatures drop, shiny metallic tin starts to change into a crumbly nonmetallic gray powder - still tin, but with a different structural form. Is this what happened to the tin buttons of Napoloeon's army?
At Borisov one observer described Napoleon's army as 'a mob of ghosts draped in women's cloaks, odd pieces of carpet or greatcoats burned full of holes." Were Napoleon's man, as the buttons on the uniforms fell apart, so weakened by the chilly cold they could no longer function as soldiers?
... It makes a good story, though, and chemists enjoy quoting it as a chemical reason for Napoleon's defeat.
... many other compounds that have changed the world, some of them well known and still vitally important to world economy or to human health, and others that have faded into obscurity.
All of these chemicals have been responsible for either a key event in history or for a series of events that altered society.
Disappearing spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements
(http://www.amazon.com/Disappearing-Spoon-Madness-Periodic-Elements/dp/0316051632/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327464278&sr=1-1)
... ... Stories about Gandhi and Godzilla and a eugencist who used germanium to steal a Nobel Price. About throwing blocks of explosive sodium into rivers and killing fish. About people suffocating, quite blissfully, on nitrogen gas in space shuttles.
... ... I latched onto those tales, and recently, while reminiscing about mercury over breakfast, I realized that there's a funny, or odd, or chilling tale attached to every element on the periodic table. At the same time, the table is one of the great intellectual achievements of humankind. It's both scientific accomplishment and a storybook.
... ...
We eat and breathe the periodic table; people bet and lose huge sums on it; philosophers use it to probe the meaning of science; it poisons people; it spawns wars. Between hydrogen at the top left and the man-made impossibilities lurking along the bottom, you can find bubbles, bombs, money, alchemy, petty politics, history, poison, crime and love. Even some science. ... ... I latched onto those tales, and recently, while reminiscing about mercury over breakfast, I realized that there's a funny, or odd, or chilling tale attached to every element on the periodic table. At the same time, the table is one of the great intellectual achievements of humankind. It's both scientific accomplishment and a storybook.
... ...
