Chemistry & The Scientific Revolution

Chemistry is a science that goes back to the ancient ages.

Early chemistry products include brewing of wine, glassmaking,
cheese making and early mettalurgy. Early European chemists
were called alchemists, who were severely obsessed with
researches for turning metals into gold. Although they never
succeeded in that, major advances in the field of chemistry
were achieved during the Scientific Revolution of Renaissance.
Chemistry became an important science during the sixteenth
and seventeeth centuries, but its wide application in industrial
settings was not until the Industrial Revolution of the nineteeth
century.

During the Industrial revolution, as the world moved

towards the first world war, Germany was the leading country in
chemistry. German compaines producing chemicals started to
cooperate with universities for new researches. They supplied
universities with materials and appliances needed to research
and produce new chemicals. In these new chemistry labs of the
universities, new chemical methods and chemcials were
developed with the help of industrial companies. These
companies then picked what they thought was good enough to
mass-product. They employed the graduates from universities
for this. Many advances were made in the field of chemisty.

In my honest opinion I think the most important chemical

advance at the time was the oil and the study of it during this
period. Oil became a very important source of energy as the
usage of the new internal combustion engine widened.
Chemists conducted researches and studied the components of
oil. Many oil based products are a result of these researches
such as lubricants, refined oils, parraffins and heavy oils.
Exctraction and refinement of oil is a chemical procedure and
major advances over petroleoum were made after the invention
of internal combustion engine which plays a big role in our lives
as well as in industrial settings.

Other daily uses of chemistry became wide in this period

such as dyes. In the ancient ages, the most expensive cloth was
purple cloth becouse the material required to produce purple
dye was so expensive that only kings and nobility wore it.
During the industrial revolution, a young english chemist called
Perkin discovered the artificial purple dye, which then would be
followed by other artifical dyes. Industries then employed this
method and started mass production of artifical and synthetic
dyes.

Research on phosphades during the industrial revolution

led to the founding of factories producing mineral-phosphades
which are used in agriculture. New fertilizers were researched
and mass produced, synthetic and artifical fertilizers started to
become widely used all over the world.

Rubber as we use today, was invented in 1839 by an

american, Charles Goodyear. He developed a process in
producing rubber and many uses in daily life and industry were
found for rubber.

Many medical chemicals were invented at this time, such

as anesthesics like chloroform. Invention and mass-production
of disinfectants and anti-septics, particularly bromines and
phenol came to being at this time. These medical chemicals
were used in injuries and diseases, to prevent against microbic
infections, a very important discovery for mankind. A
remarkable invention is one from a Bayer scientist: the
invention of acetyl compound of salicylic acid also known as
Aspirin today. It truly was a wonder drug with no serious side
effects, cheap to produce and effective. It was immediately
mass produced and its wide-usage began.

As you see, practical uses of chemistry were developed

during the Industrial Revolution. I think our chemical knowledge
and technological advance today is based upon the research
that was made during the Industrial Revolution.

Brief Response: Development of Steel:

Steel is the common name for an alloy of iron, which contains a
level of Carbon between %0.2 and %2.1 Different kinds of steel
can consist of alloys of different metals. By varying the amount
of alloys within the steel, it is possible to take create the
properties of alloys within to the steel. Distinctive features of
steel is its strenght and its resistance to rust. In the ancient
ages, steel was a precious and a legendary material. Steel
production furnaces date as early as 1000 years ago. A strong
fire burned in these furnaces, usually fueled by wood. Iron coke
was dumped into the furnaces and then air would be blown into
it to increase the heat and melt the iron. Molten metal then
would be taken from the furnace and shaped.

Ancient Furnaces with the same principle, but different in

appearance.
Today, steel is produced via enchanced methods
discovered during the Industrial revolution. In principal,
it is the same as it was produced in the ancient ages.
Difference is, it is more advanced, produces quality material
inexpensively and more efficently. Distinctive steel production
methods are using a blast furnace and the Bessemer process.