Chapter 1, Section 1
Pure and Applied Chemistry
Some chemists enjoy doing research on fundamental aspects of chemistry. This type of research is sometimes called pure chemistry. Pure chemistry is the pursuit of chemical knowledge for its own sake. The chemist doesn’t expect that there will be any immediate practical use for the knowledge. Most chemists do research that is designed to answer a specific question. Applied chemistry is research that is directed toward a practical goal or application. In practice, pure chemistry and applied chemistry are often linked. Pure research can lead directly to an application, but an application can exist before research is done to explain how it works. Nylon and aspirin provide examples of these two approaches.
Nylon
For years, chemists didn’t fully understand the structure of materials such as cotton and silk. Hermann Staudinger, a German chemist, proposed that these materials contained small units joined together like links in a chain. In the early 1930s, Wallace Carothers did experiments to test Staudinger’s proposal. His results supported the proposal. During his research Carothers produced some materials that don’t exist in nature. One of these materials, nylon, can be drawn into long, thin, silk-like fibers, as shown in Figure 1.3. Because the supply of natural silk was limited, a team of scientists and engineers were eager to apply Carother’s research to the commercial production of nylon. By 1939, they had perfected a large-scale method for making nylon fibers.
Figure 1.3 Long, thin nylon fibers are woven into the fabric used in this backpack. Other objects that can be made from nylon are jackets, fishing lines, toothbrush bristles, and ropes.
Aspirin
Long before researchers figured out how aspirin works, people used it to relieve pain. By 1950, some doctors began to recommend a low daily dose of aspirin for patients who were at risk for a heart attack. Many heart attacks occur when blood clots block the flow of blood through arteries in the heart. Some researchers suspected that aspirin could keep blood clots from forming. In 1971, it was discovered that aspirin can block the production of a group of chemicals that cause pain. These same chemicals are also involved in the formation of blood clots.
Technology
The development of nylon and the use of aspirin to prevent heart attacks belong to a system of applied science called technology. Technology is the means by which a society provides its members with those things needed and desired. Technology allows humans to do some things more quickly or with less effort. It allows people to do things that would be impossible without technology, such as traveling to the moon. In any technology, scientific knowledge is used in ways that can benefit or harm people and the environment. Debates about how to use scientific knowledge are usually debates about the risks and benefits of technology.
For: Links on Applied Chemistry
Visit: www.SciLinks.org
Web Code: cdn-1011
