Primrose Kitten

Reactions: The private life of atoms.

When you think about the way the world works, it is inevitable to feel mindblown. There are so many elements, so many components co-existing and living together, but somehow they all manage to work, to survive together… And you know how this happens? Thanks to chemistry.

If it wasn’t for chemistry, we wouldn’t be able to know how many things work (like why waterfalls down the sky) and wouldn’t be able to have developed so many incredibly gadgets and devices. It all is thanks to chemistry.

In Reactions: The private life of atoms, author and worldwide famous Peter Atkins takes us on a trip to understand how atoms work and react depending on the substance and different circumstances. And it does so by showing us the most popular chemical formulas in the world.

Of course, the book starts by talking about water and its chemical formula, one almost everyone in the world knows about. At first sight, it might seem as the formula is straightforward and relatively easy to learn and understand, but soon enough, Peter proves us wrong.

He begins to talk all about how water, being one of the simplest elements in the world and having such a smooth, chemical formula, it is one of the most complex and flexible elements in the whole world, being vital to make other chemical formulas work.

It is this way that we begin our great journey towards understanding how atoms work and react between each other, using the knowledge of chemistry and by the hand of such a worldwide genius, understanding such topics starts to become easier… And interesting.

The books shifts from talking about chemical formulas, how they work, why are they so important and the elements involved in them, to talk about necessary chemical process that is pretty much vital to our existence on earth.

Here is where the question “How does waterfall from the sky?” comes in handy, and the answer is: Through precipitation, a chemical process that happens naturally on earth. But it isn’t the only one; there’s also combustion, corrosion, reduction and so much more.

The book is full of captivating images that give us an insight into what these chemical reactions are all about. The book offers us a captivating look into a side of the world we usually don’t get to see, but it is exciting nonetheless.