Questions below are based on the following passage on Chemistry: I really enjoy chemistry. It’s far more than a simple collection of facts and a body of knowledge. I was a physics major when I entered college, but I was hooked when I took my first chemistry course. It seemed so interesting, so logical. I think it’s fascinating to watch chemical changes take place, to figure out unknowns, to use instruments, to extend my senses, and to make predictions and figure out why they were right or wrong. The whole field of chemistry starts here — with the basics — so consider this chapter your... Show more

Questions below are based on the following passage on Chemistry:

I really enjoy chemistry. It’s far more than a simple collection of facts and a body of knowledge. I was a physics major when I entered college, but I was hooked when I took my first chemistry course. It seemed so interesting, so logical. I think it’s fascinating to watch chemical changes take place, to figure out unknowns, to use instruments, to extend my senses, and to make predictions and figure out why they were right or wrong. The whole field of chemistry starts here — with the basics — so consider this chapter your jumping-off point. Welcome to the interesting world of chemistry.    
This whole branch of science is all about matter, which is anything that has mass and occupies space. Chemistry is the study of the composition and properties of matter and the changes it undergoes, including energy changes.    
Science used to be divided into very clearly defined areas: If it was alive, it was biology. If it was a rock, it was geology. If it smelled, it was chemistry. If it didn’t work, it was physics. In today’s world, however, those clear divisions are no longer present. You can find biochemists, chemical physicists, geochemists, and so on. But chemistry still focuses on matter and energy and their changes.    
A lot of chemistry comes into play with that last part — the changes matter undergoes. Matter is made up of either pure substances or mixtures of pure substances. The change from one substance into another is what chemists call a chemical change, or chemical reaction, and it’s a big deal because when it occurs, a brand-new substance is created.    
So what are compounds and elements? Just more of the anatomy of matter. Matter is pure substances or mixtures of pure substances, and substances themselves are made up of either elements or compounds. (Chapter 3 dissects the anatomy of matter. And, as with all matters of dissection, it’s best to be prepared — with a nose plug and an empty stomach.)    
Science is far more than a collection of facts, figures, graphs, and tables. Science is a method for examining the physical universe. It’s a way of asking and answering questions. However, in order for it to be called science, it must be testable. Being testable is what makes science different from faith.    
For example, you may believe in UFOs, but can you test for their existence? How about matters of love? Does she love me? How much does she love me? Can I design a test to test and quantify that love? I think not. I have to accept that love on faith. It’s not based in science, which is okay. Mankind has struggled with many great questions that science can’t answer. Science is a tool that is useful in examining certain questions, but not all. You wouldn’t use a front-end loader to eat a piece of pie, nor would you dig a ditch with a fork. Those are inappropriate tools for the task, just as science is an inappropriate tool for areas of faith.    
Science is best described by the attitudes of scientists themselves: They’re skeptical. They simply won’t take another person’s word for a phenomenon — it must be testable. And they hold onto the results of their experiments tentatively, waiting for another scientist to disprove them. Scientists wonder, they question, they strive to find out why, and they experiment — they have exactly the same attitudes that most small children have before they grow up. Maybe this is a good definition of scientists — they are adults who’ve never lost that wonder of nature and the desire to know.    
Technology, the use of knowledge toward a very specific goal, actually developed before science. Ancient peoples cooked food, smelted ores, made beer and wine by fermentation, and made drugs and dyes from plant material. Technology initially existed without much science. There were few theories and few true experiments. Reasoning was left to the philosophers. Eventually alchemy arose and gave chemistry its experimental basis. Alchemists searched for ways to turn other metals into gold and, in doing so, discovered many new chemical substances and processes, such as distillation. However, it wasn’t until the 17th century that experimentation replaced serendipity.

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