Review of Molecular Machinery - The Principles and Powers of Chemistry
-By Andrew Scott (Aidan Simcock)
After reading both the “Prelude” and “Chapter 11 - Carbon”, the author manages to balance both scientific knowledge with analogies that easily explain his theories for those who might be less inclined to understand the complexities that the subject matter holds.
Firstly, the prelude begins with a character lying in bed with his eyes closed thinking to himself about the sheer amount of uses chemistry has in our day to day life. He describes himself as a “Chemical Machine” to further emphasise the intricacies of each individual chemical reaction and the vital role they play, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant. The detail in Scott’s writing even before the character opens his eyes mirrors his message that he wants to get across to the reader, that all a human is, is a constant sequence of chemical reactions that is constantly working to stay alive even though the body appears lifeless at this stage. Scott’s idea behind the prelude was to introduce the reader to many of the different sub-topics he will go on to discuss, from genetics to the structure of the atom.
Furthermore, throughout the prelude, he shows a constant recognition of how far these basic chemical reactions have taken our species from discovering the simple principles of fire many centuries ago, to the modern day aeroplane or car and it’s clear that he takes pride in how far our scientific has developed from start to it's current state
Next, “Chapter 11 - Carbon”, describes how carbon is a unique element in that it is the basic component of both Diamond and Graphite. Scott describes the bonding of Diamond, that being four carbon bonds. Since carbon is able to be bonded to 4 other atoms, by being bonded to carbons it forms a giant lattice structure with strong covalent bonds resulting in it having a high melting point, thus it is used for drill heads. Alternatively, Scott describes Graphite to be soft and used as a form of lubricant. He states that this is due to the atoms only being bonded to three others resulting in a layer like structure where these layers can easily slide allowing for it to be used as easily slide and due to this, graphite is used as a replacement for the lead in most pencil’s. Scott also describes in detail about how Graphite can conduct electricity as it has free electrons in the orbitals of carbon atoms as these orbitals have “hybridised”.
Finally, so Scott doesn’t leave the reader totally confused, he backs up his ideas by using diagrams which clearly show his arguments in a different view for those who would rather a visual prompt to help understand the sometimes quite confusing description of how the orbital system of carbon works in terms of it’s hybridisation.