According to renowned chemist
Gilbert Lewis "
Physical chemistry is anything interesting." As a combined science of
physics,
chemistry,
thermodynamics, and
quantum mechanics it functions to provide molecular-level interpretations of observed macroscopic phenomena. Typically, changes in temperature, pressure, volume, heat, and work of
systems in the solid, liquid, and or gas phase are correlated to microscopic atomic and molecular interactions.
Most cite
Willard Gibbs as the founder of physical chemistry as stemming from his 1876 paper:
“On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances”, wherein such cornerstones as
free energy,
chemical potential, and
phase rule were developed.
Modern physical chemistry is firmly grounded upon physics. Important areas of study include
chemical thermodynamics,
chemical kinetics,
quantum chemistry,
statistical mechanics,
electrochemistry,
surface and
solid state chemistry, and
spectroscopy. Physical chemistry is also fundamental to modern
materials science.
Physical chemistry.
The labs were fun, but the truth is that most of the reactants would be lost to the atmosphere in the course of a reaction. Poof, exposure would cause things to disappear. Sometimes, working in a thermos would help. The blue of an electron that would appear during the work with inorganics is not to be forgotten. You cannot find where and when mathematically to find an electron, but in the lab, the thing shows itself with the most obvious means of a blue color given off in a reaction. The color is a wonderful, obtainable, thing that can be found. Not uncertain in the least bit.
If you ever get the chance to see the blue of an electron, take it. You will be shown exactly what an electron looks like that has zero radius, balances the charge of the proton, and creates the likelihood of future in a world of uncertain now. The orbitals and energy levels that the electron makes possible show us how things happen, and how they cannot happen. And explains both. So it will not tell us where and when to find an electron, it will tell us what can be and what cannot be anywhere in the universe.
Matter is repulsed in many ways, unseen, and attracted in many ways, unseen. Repulsion is the subtle partner to attraction that sums up the possible and the impossible at the same time and presents one result. An atom in the universe. The universe being the sum total of all possible and impossible realities for an atom
You are carbon based, but it is the hydrogen that you determine exactly. The view of the electron is not determinable, has zero radius, and only makes the view of proton clearer. The zero radius tells us why look for something that is not there visually. Look past it and see the proton. Beyond hydrogen, add the neutron to the nucleus and see the world that is visually presented in our daily life. Protons and neutrons make up normal baryonic matter. It is what we see as matter. It is life. Chemistry extends to every star and planet and galaxy in the universe. The acceleration of the expansion is the galaxies moving away from one another, in a universe where all matter is attracted to all other matter. That means that there is a repulsion going on. Chemistry explains very well why something may not be attractive. Repulsion to a more favorable structure is a well accepted part of the universe.
Alchemy produced transitions of elements. Astronomy produced elements of transition. Somewhere in between, physical chemistry awaits.