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Essay on Organic Chemistry

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Chemistry has been called the science of what things are. Its intent is the exploration of the nature of the materials that fabricate our physical environment, why they hold the different properties that depict them, how their atomic structure may be fathomed, and how they may be manipulated and changed.
Although organic reactions have been conducted by man since the discovery of fire, the science of Organic chemistry did not develop until the turn of the eighteenth century, mainly in France at first, then in Germany, later on in England. By far the largest variety of materials that bombard us are made up of organic elements. The beginning of the Ninetieth century was also the dawn of chemistry, all organic substances were understood …show more content…

At almost the same point in time, Kekule in Germany, and Couper of Scotland suggested that atoms in molecules are fused together by bonds. Their theory was that every atom is distinguished by having the same number of bond availability or valence number, where ever that particular atom appears in any compound. The main notability of organic compounds is having strong carbon to carbon bonds. This was recognized in the theory, and was used to help understand large molecules, possessing many bonded carbon atoms. Carbon is the cement that holds their molecules together. So far, this theory has gone through rigorous testing, and has not been proven inadequate to this day, as of now it is a law. Kekule and Couper’s theory was not all without fault; it is suprising that they did not recognize atoms as three-dimensional objects if they were to be understood as true particles of matter in space. It was not until 1875 when van’t Hoff and LeBel proposed their hypothesis of compounds and atoms taking up space. Their hypothesis went as follows: Four bonds of carbon were located at equal angles to each other in space, this would be a rectangular tetrahedron. Immense amounts of proof have been supplied to support this theory, but is not universally accepted. It is believed today that this hypothesis is pure nonsense, proving that van’t Hoff and LeBel were misdirected. It goes to show science is not

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