A Philatelic Ramble through Chemistry

Contents



1 . The Beginnings                                                                                       (E.H.)                                                                           1
   1.1. Greek Chemistry.....................................................................                                                                                      1
   1.2. Chinese Chemistry and Alchemy.............................................................................................................................................4


2. Alchemy, the Chemistry of the Middle Ages (F.A.M.)                                                                                                                                   11
   2 .1.   Overview................................................................................................................................................^                       11
   2.2.    A Brief History of Alchemy .....................................................................................................................................................12
   2.3.    Our Alchemical Inheritance ....................................                                                                                                                 16
   2.4.    Alchemists in Literature and Art............................................................................................................................................. 16
   2.5.    Named Alchemists on Stamps..............................................................................................................^                                       17


3. Inorganic Chemistry and the Discovery of the Elements (F.A.M),....................................... 27
   3 .1. The Development of Inorganic Chemistry ............................................................................................................................... 27
         3 .1.1. Introductory Remarks
         3.1.2. Pneumatic Chemistry
         3.1.3. Antoine Lavoisier
         3.1.4. Jöns Jakob Berzelius
         3.1.5. Isomerism
         3.1.6. Inorganic Chemistry in the Mid-1800s
         3.1.7. Werner's Coordination Theory
         3.1.8 Modern Inorganic Chemistry
   3.2. The Discovery and Naming of the Elements: Filling the Periodic Table ................................................................................ 36
         3 .2.1. Introductory Comments
         3.2.2. Elements Konwn to the Ancients
         3.2.3. Other Elements Known before 1600 A.D.
         3.2.4. Elements Discovered 1600-1800
         3.2.5. Elements Discovered via Electrolysis
         3.2.6. The Contributions of Spectroscopy
         3.2.7. The Lanthanides or Rare Earth Elements
         3.2.8. The Discovery of the Noble Gases
         3.2.9. Natural Radioactivity
         3.2.10. Artificial Radioactivity
         3.2.11. Other Elements, 1920-1940
         3.2.12. Man-made Elements
Organic Chemistry (E.H.)                                                                                                                                                   57
4 .1. Introductory Remarks                                                ,                                                                                                57
4.2. The Emergence of 'Organic Chemistry'                                                                                                                                  59
4.3. Benzene and the Aromatic Compounds                                                       ......                                                                       65
4.4. Chirality...........................                                                                                                                                  74
4.5. Organic Chemistry after 1880                                                                                                                                          80
      4 .5.1. Two Preliminary Remarks
      4.5.2. Synthetic Chemistry
      4.5.3. Natural-Product Chemistry
4.6. Polymer Chemistry .......................................................................................................................^
4.7. Biochemistry .......................................................................................
      4 .7.1. Enzymes
      4.7.2. Insulin
      4.7.3 Miscellaneous Research


Physical and Theoretical Chemistry (E.H.)                                                                                                                                 107
5 .1.   Introductory Remarks ........................................................
5.2.    Early Thermochemistry: Temperature and Heat Capacities                                                                                                            108
5.3.    Chemical Equilibria and Chemical Kinetics ......................                                                                                                  112
5.4.    Thermodynamics ......................................................._                                                                                           116
5.5.    Properties of Gases ......................................................................................................................^                       121
5.6.    Electrochemistry .........................                                                                                                                        126
5.7.    Theoretical Chemistry: A Comment                                                                                                                                  134


Spectroscopy                                                                                      (F.A.M.)                                                                143
6 .1. The Experimental Techniques ........................................................................................................................^
      6 .1.1. Early Observations
      6.1.2. Contributions of Bunsen and Kirchhoff
      6.1.3. New Light Sources and Detectors
      6.1.4. Other Experimental Advances
      6.1.5. Some Uses of Optical Spectroscopy
6.2. Understanding the Electomagnetic Spectrum and Its Interaction with Matter..................................................................... 154
6.3. Other Types of Optical Spectroscopy ...........................................................................................                        159
6.4. Mass Spectrometry.................................... .......................................................                                          159


X-Ray Structure Analysis (E.H.)                                                                                                                                           161

7 .1.   Crystals..............................................................................................
7.2     X-Rays and Their Diffraction by Crystals .....................................................................................................................^   166
7.3.    X-Ray Structure Analysis .........................                                                                                                                169
7.4.    Examples of X-Ray Structure Determinations                                                                                                                        171
7.5.    Electron Diffraction .........................................................
8. Technical Chemistry {E.H.)                                                                                                                                        175
     8.1     Some Preliminary Comments .........................................................................................                                      175
     8.2.    Beer.....................................
     8.3.    Sugar........................................................................................................
     8.4.    Cosmetics and Pharmaceuticals                                                                                                                            181
     8.5.    Polymers..............................                                                                                                                   184
     8.6.    Paper..........................................................................................................
     8.7.    Minerals ...............................................................................................................
     8.8.    Petroleum                                                                                                                                                188
     8.9.    Metals.                                                                                                                                                  192
     8.10.   Glass.............................................._
     8.11.   Photography ...............................................................................................................


9. Miscellaneous Topics (E.H. and F.A.M.)                                                                                                                            207
     9 .1. Chemical Education ..............................................................................................
     9.2. The Anonymous Chemist..................................................
     9.3. Tools of the Chemist.............................................................................................................
           9.3.1. Chemical Glassware
           9.3.2. Scales and Balances
           9.3.3. Other Instruments
     9.4. Elemental Symbols and Chemical Formulae.......................................................................................................................212
     9.5. Chemical Societies and Meetings.....                                                                                                                          214
     9.6. Chomical Errors on Chemical Stamps                                                                                                                            219
           9.6.1. Preliminary Remarks
           9.6.2. Faulty Chemical Formulae
           9.6.3. Faulty Stereochemistry
           9.6.4. Wrong Reactions
           9.6.5. Wrong Names, Dates, and Other Information
           9.6.6. Assorted Nonsense

S tamp Identification List...............................................................................                                                            2 31

N ame Index...............................................................................................................                                           2 53

S ubject Index ..............................................................................................................                                        2 61




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