Elegant Solutions. Philip Ball

      

      Elegant Solutions

      Ten Beautiful Experiments in Chemistry

       Elegant Solutions

       Ten Beautiful Experiments in Chemistry

      Philip Ball

      Cover image: PhotoDisc

      ISBN 0-85404-674-7

      PDF eISBN: 978-1-84755-260-0

      EPUB eISBN: 978-1-78262-546-9

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2005

       All rights reserved

      Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of research for non-commercial purposes or for private study, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and the Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003, this publication may not be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of The Royal Society of Chemistry, or in the case of reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency in the UK, or in accordance with the terms of the licences issued by the appropriate Reproduction Rights Organization outside the UK. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the terms stated here should be sent to The Royal Society of Chemistry at the address printed on this page.

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       Contents

       Acknowledgments

       Introduction What is an Experiment? What is Beauty?

       Section 1 Asking Questions of Nature

       Chapter 1 How Does Your Garden Grow?

       Van Helmont’s Willow Tree and the Beauty of Quantification

       Chapter 2 An Element Compounded

       Cavendish’s Water and the Beauty of Detail

       Chapter 3 New Light

       The Curies’ Radium and the Beauty of Patience

       Chapter 4 Radiation Explained

       Rutherford’s Alpha Particles and the Beauty of Elegance

       Chapter 5 The Elements Came in One by One

       Seaborgium’s Chemistry: Small is Beautiful

       Divertissement 1 The Chemical Theatre

       Section 2 Posing New Questions

       Chapter 6 Molecules Take Shape

       Pasteur’s Crystals and the Beauty of Simplicity

       Divertissement 2 Myths and Romances

       Chapter 7 Life and How To Make It

       Urey and Miller’s Prebiotic Chemistry and the Beauty of Imagination

       Chapter 8 Not so Noble

       Bartlett’s Xenon Chemistry and the Beauty of Simplemindedness

       Section 3 The Art of Making Things

       Chapter 9 Nature Rebuilt

       Woodward, Vitamin B₁₂ and the Beauty of Economy

       Chapter 10 Plato’s Molecules

       Paquette’s Dodecahedrane and the Beauty of Design

       Coda Chemical Aesthetics

       Bibliography

       Subject Index

       Acknowledgements

      This book wasn’t my idea. Robert Eagling at the Royal Society of Chemistry proposed it to me, and I am grateful for the way he gently yet persistently encouraged me to take the project on. I, of course, bear full responsibility for the lacunae in the final choice of what the book contains. Tim Fishlock at the RSC helped the manuscript through its final stages.

      I feel obliged to add a word of warning. I have always tried to ensure that my books can be understood without a scientific training, and this one is no exception to that. But dissecting some of these classic chemistry experiments necessarily takes us deeply into the structures and behaviours of atoms and molecules, and, at the risk of insulting the intelligence of the reader, it is perhaps fair to say that there are a few sections of the book that call for rather more effort from a lay audience than I have asked previously. If you have never before set eyes on a molecular structure, for example, you may find your eyes glazing around pages 169–172, and you should feel no guilt at passing quietly over them.

      The immense generosity of several chemists has helped me to assemble the material and to iron out some of the most glaring errors. I am deeply grateful to Jeffrey Bada, Neil Bartlett, Albert Eschenmoser, Leo Paquette, Horst Prinzbach, Matthias Schädel and Claude Wintner for their assistance and comments.

      While writing the book, I have had a sense that Oliver Sacks’ inspiring enthusiasm for chemistry and its history has somehow been in the air, and in gratitude for his encouragement, support and friendship over the past several years I would like to dedicate this book to him.

      Philip