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Why Chemistry: The Finished Product

The final draft of the paper I handed in to be marked by a grade 11 chemistry class.

Why chemistry? Good question. Had I not been sitting pretty much where you are 15 or so years ago, I would probably try to convince you that chemistry is important by listing a bunch of the trivia you might be expected to memorize by the end of the course — that the structure of a Buckyball is a geodesic dome, that there really is a compound called “megaphone”, or that dihydrogen oxide is lethal when inhaled in small quantities, but not when ingested — you know, things you’d really only find useful as a future contestant on Are you smarter than a former Canadian comedian? Maybe I’d rhyme off a list of glitzy, high-paying careers that require at least a basic understanding of chemicals and their interactions — forensic pathologist, pharmacist, high school science teacher. Perhaps I’d even try to lure you in with some sort of exciting, exploding demo — potassium in water, for example. As a final plea, I might even try to appeal to your inner hippie, and tell you how chemistry is all around you, that it makes you one with the universe — the Eggo you burned for breakfast, the Sun in the sky on your way to school, the Post-It you used to remind yourself to bring your gym clothes home for a wash, the bubbles in the beer you’re much too young to drink.

I am not going to do any of that.

No, instead I am going to tell you the short, simple truth. To be blunt, I think chemistry is awesome.

The universe is big. Really, really, really, mind-numbingly big. To even try to think about how immense it is could quite probably cause your head to explode. To figure it all out, we’ve had to cut it up into more managable, bite-sized pieces. The Biologists look at all the living things, many of which are pretty slimey; the physicists look at all of the non-living things, a lot of them way too far away to actually see; and the chemists... they get to see the really fun stuff. Chemists see the whole picture.

Chemists understand why your Eggo burns when it gets stuck in the toaster and someday, fingers crossed, will build a better, burn-resistant waffle. It was Chemists who figured out why the Sun’s rays damage your skin and a way to protect you from UV while still giving you that nice, healthy glow you want for March Break. If that weren’t enough, Chemists can always be counted on to come up with the coolest party tricks — google “how to freeze a beer in seconds” if you don’t believe me. See? Awesome. Oh, and we get to blow stuff up, too.

So, how does all this translate into why you should study chemistry? These are all reasons why chemistry is important to me, why I found it interesting, right? The real reason that I think you should study chemistry is not what you learn, but the way you learn it. Trends in the periodic table? You’ll probably never need to know those beyond your grade 12 final exam. But the skills that learning those trends taught you — problem solving, critical thinking, looking for patterns, making an educated guess about what’s going to happen next — those things will stick with you for a long time, even if you never take another chemistry class again. Those are the skills of successful people, whether they’re doctors, soldiers, plumbers, or even high school science teachers. And that, dear student, is what makes chemistry truly awesome.