Chemistry public understanding

Marijn R Meijer is a part time PhD student at the Freudenthal Institute for Science and Mathematics Education at Utrecht University, The Netherlands. The object of his research is macro-micro thinking using stracture-property relations. He took a MSc in Chemical Engineering Science and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education in Chemistry and The Science of Public Understanding at The University of Twente. He is a teacher in both subjects for 11 years in secondary (high) school. He participates in several innovative projects related to recent developments on the chemistry curriculum in The Netherlands. 

Documentation of Silicones for Chemistry Education and Public Understanding... 

Others contributed also to the transition from empiricism to science, but it was Iler s devotion to the field, systematic approach, inquisitive mind, and perception of overall harmony that made him the unquestionable leader of his time in inorganic colloidal chemistry. The understanding that followed the publication of his first book clearly transcended the silica system. The findings in silica were soon extended to other systems. 

As mentioned in the Preface , the main object of this monograph is to stimulate especially young students and scientists to focus on the broad field of organosilicon research. To this end, the final contribution to Organosilicon Chemistry VI, provided by M. W. Tausch in cooperation with Wacker-Chemie, deals with a comprehensive Documentation of Silicones for Chemistry Education and Public Understanding. 

The objectives of this book will have been met if improved communication on the subject of detection results. Such communication would be beneficial not only between the public and the technical community, but also within the technical community. As indicated in the overview chapter, the history of detection limits in analytical chemistry has been marked by an unfortunate degree of diversity in terminology and meaning and a lack of attention to the probabilities of both false negatives and false positives. At the same time, we should help the public understand that all detection limits must allow for these two types of error, and that zero detection limits cannot, in principle, be attained. 

Not surprisingly, there is a remarkable interest in modern experimental chemistry to understand computational methods and to apply these methods in the everyday research. In fact, the number of publications that contain both - experiment studies and theoretical calculations - was tremendously increased over the last years. It is not uncommon for purely experimental research groups to learn theoretical methods and facilitate mechanistic studies, especially in the fields where experimental capabilities alone are not sufficient to solve the problem. Rapid increase in the computational power of modern personal computers and easy availability of high performance CPUs even further stimulate this tendency. What is important nowadays, is to transfer the knowledge about state-of-the-art theoretical methods and fascinating opportunities they open in the studies of transition metal chemistry and catalysis. 

Ronald E. Hester is Professor of Chemistry in the University of York. He was for short periods a research fellow in Cambridge and an assistant professor at Cornell before being appointed to a lectureship in chemistry in York in 1965. He has been a full professor in York since 1983. His more than 300 publications are mainly in the area of vibrational spectroscopy, latterly focusing on time-resolved studies of photoreaction intermediates and on biomolecular systems in solution. He is active in environmental chemistry and is a founder member and former chairman of the Environment Group of the Royal Society of Chemistry and editor of Industry and the Environment in Perspective (RSC, 1983) and Understanding Our Environment (RSC, 1986). As a member of the Council of the UK Science and Engineering Research Council and several of its sub-committees, panels and boards, he has been heavily involved in national science policy and administration. He was, from 1991-93, a member of the UK Department of the Environment Advisory Committee on Hazardous Substances and is currently a member of the Publications and Information Board of the Royal Society of Chemistry. 

We live in a complex, rapidly changing, material world, major aspects of which require an understanding of the ideas of chemistiy. Education for scientific literacy in respect of the public - people of all ages - is now widely seen as a general goal for science education, whether pursued formally or informally. It seems appropriate to talk about chemical literacy - the contribution that chemistry can make to scientific literacy - and to amend the hitherto general discussions to focus on this particular aspect (Laugksch, 2000 Roberts, 2007). 

Correct explanations These are the conclusions so far reached by chemistry that are needed for the citizen to understand how the world-as-experienced works. This emphasis is valued by the general public and is otherwise called need-to-know chemistry (Aikenhead, 2006). An example is an understanding of the mechanism by which a painkiller acts. 

Initially, the number of scientific publications on combustion was very small. At that time combustion experiments were conducted at chemical laboratories. From the very beginning up to present times, chemistry has contributed a lot to the understanding of combustion at the molecular level. 

Consideration of the chemistry that implements non-electrochemical solution growth processes along with related mechanistic aspects may be useful to enhance the understanding of electrochemical deposition in similar baths. The chemical deposition of CdS has been chosen as a model for this discussion by reason of the wealth of related publications and the advanced level of knowledge existing for this system (e.g., [45]). 

In this chapter we describe strategies, tools and metrics that are currently and publicly available for advancing green chemical inventories in products and processes. The science of green chemistry will continue to advance as will the frameworks, strategies, tools and metrics that support understanding, implementation and reporting. 

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