Safety tips and first aid

Vijayalakshmi Nandakumar The chemistry laboratory is a place where children can have lots of fun. It is also a place where the children and the teacher have to be extremely careful. The following safety tips to be observed in the Read More …

Resources

Compiled by Yasmin Jayathirtha Books Classic Chemistry Demonstrations Compiled by Ted Lister and published by Royal Society of Chemistry 1998 A collection of 100 demonstrations, categorised into entertainment, pre-16, post-16 and subject headings. Will be available at The British Library Read More …

Why those molecules matter

Chemistry is all about matter and the changes it undergoes. In actuality, the field of chemistry is so vast that there are numerous sub-divisions. But now because there are tremendous overlaps across branches of this discipline, students need to understand the breadth and the depth of the subject and its relationship to other areas of knowledge. A look at how chemistry not only governs science but also life in several minute ways.

My journey (and detours) through chemistry

When it comes to making a choice regarding the subjects one is interested in, it usually is a daunting task. Should one opt for the sciences or engineering? This question often crops up when it is decision time. A senior professor and vice-chancellor narrates his journey through the world of chemistry.

Subject of choice

Whether it is your intuition, your sense of smell, or mastering the colours, chemistry has a way of sharpening all your senses at one go. The author shares in this article her love for chemistry — from the coloured solutions in reagent bottles in a school laboratory to the current research in nano science —- the mystery continues to unfold.

Filling life with colour and taste

For a change, we feature a poem that tells us that chemistry is all over the place — from the ingredients in the kitchen to the perfumes, soaps and shampoos that we use everyday, there really is no space where chemistry does not find a place.

Ice cream: the inside story

A former student pays a small tribute to her chemistry teacher for inculcating in her a passion for the subject which ultimately helped her in making wise choices in her educational journey.

Colours, smells and sounds

Chemistry is a central science and connects several peripheral disciplines. In fact, it can be described as a giant banyan tree spreading its branches all around. A look at how chemistry touches everything from ‘salt to camphor’.

The chemical complexity of life

Is everything that has the tag of ‘chemical’ bad? Are there no good chemicals? The fact is nobody really knows — not the doctors, not the scientists. The problem is that the human body is very complex and its interaction with the environment impossible to clarify. People are exposed to a vast array of compounds and how they interact with each other and with the naturally present compounds in the body defies analysis. This article highlights the fact that the numbers are important and everything chemical is not necessarily bad.