CHEMICAL REACTIONS

If chemistry were compared to a sport, then the study of atomic and molecular properties, along with learning about the elements and how they relate on the periodic table, would be like going to practice. Learning about chemical reactions, which includes observing them and sometimes producing them in a laboratory situation, is like stepping out onto the field for the game itself. Just as every sport has its "vocabulary"—the concepts of offense and defense, as well as various rules and strategies—the study of chemical reactions involves a large set of terms. Some aspects of reactions may seem rather abstract, but the effects are not. Every day, we witness evidence of chemical reactions—for instance, when a fire burns, or metal rusts. To an even greater extent, we are surrounded by the products of chemical reactions: the colors in the clothes we wear, or artificial materials such as polymers, used in everything from nylon running jackets to plastic milk containers.