This book introduces in a non-traditional way the laws of physical chemistry and its history starting in the 16th century. It reveals to the reader how physical chemists try to understand chemical processes in terms of physical laws. Hydrogen is the main focus of the book as its simplicity makes the relevant laws of nature easy to explain and its role in energetics in the near future is clear. With the basics at hand, the importance of hydrogen as a raw material in the industry and as an energy carrier in the near future is made clear. Only simple chemical processes are discussed and very little mathematics is used. Both the pleasure and use of this field of research are revealed to the interested reader. The expected readership is made of high school students, non-chemistry major freshmen, and general audience with an interest in chemistry. The real aim of this book is to prompt the reader to wonder.
Author(s): Robert Schiller
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 200
City: Cham
Preface
Contents
About the Author
Toward Science
1 Farewell to Alchemy—Paracelsus
2 Fruitful Doubts—Boyle
3 The Birth of Physical Chemistry—Lavoisier
4 The Balloon
Further Reading
Between Chemistry and Physics
1 The Well-Chosen Unit of Mass
2 Atoms Counted and Weighed
3 The Ideal of a Gas
4 The Reality of Gases—From Gas to Liquid
5 The Science of Possibilities—Thermodynamics
6 Pressure and Temperature—Inside
7 Predictions on Molar Heat
8 New Physics?
9 Things Lost, Conserved and Born
10 Rule and Exception
11 On Molar Heat—Once More
12 The Hydrogen Atom—Is Something Revolving and Spinning?
13 Atoms—Electrons Are Unaccommodating
14 The Hydrogen Molecule—To Have Some Elbow Room
15 Different Kinds of the Hydrogen Molecule?
16 Different Kinds of the Hydrogen Atom?
17 Water
Further Reading
Which Way and How Fast
1 Hydrogen and Fertilizer
2 The Double Arrow—Chemical Equilibrium
3 Time Counts—Rates of the Changes
4 Real Processes Are Rarely Simple
5 How to Produce Ammonia
Further Reading
Chemistry of the Outer Space
Further Reading
Hydrogen and Energy
1 Some Questions About Near-Future Energetics
2 Direct Storage of Electric Energy
3 Hydrogen Energetics
4 Hydrogen Production in the Future Continuous Tense
4.1 Water Decomposition by Heat
4.2 Water Electrolysis
5 Sunlight and Hydrogen
5.1 Water Decomposition with Solar Heat
5.2 Water Decomposition with Sunshine
6 Hydrogen Storage in Solids
Further Reading
Conclusions
