“Why This Matters” is a brief portion of each lecture focusing on how the topic covered relates to important innovations (and sometimes unexpected consequences) in science and in life, demonstrating real world applications, and suggesting creative directions for research.
Chemistry is connected to the questions surrounding us. For example:
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why the Haber-Bosch Process helped world population to soar,
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how painting with electrons led to color television, how defects cause the same jewel to have different colors,
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just how efficient batteries really are,
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how automobiles became safer through tempered glass as well as less polluting through the catalytic converter,
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how graphene can help us obtain clean drinking water,
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why tires can’t be recycled,
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how nanotechnology requires an understanding of chemistry,
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why chlorofluorocarbons stopped being used in refrigeration, and
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what is happening to the oceans as they absorb excess carbon.
For more information about the origin and reason for the creation of the Why This Matters segments, see this description in the Instructor Insights.
Video Excerpts
- The Age of Atomic Design
- Haber-Bosch and Human Population
- Television Screens
- Refrigerators and CFCs
- Imaging with Electrons
- Quantum Domination
- Hemodialysis
- Danish Wind and Ions
- Cars and Carbon Dioxide
- Properties of Benzene
- The Shape of Smells
- Two Ways to Separate Pasta
- Drinking Water
- “Weak” Forces Are Strong
- Rejected Energy
- How to Make Blue LEDs
- Transistors & Semiconductors
- Wire Drawing
- Crystals
- Moseley’s Law
- Nature + Arrhenius
- Personal Energy Storage
- Grid-scale Energy Storage
- Materials Problems
- Utilizing Abundant Resources
- Catalytic Converters
- Carbon Dioxide Concentration
- Ocean Acidification
- Hard and Soft Water
- Polymer Strength
- The Battery Revolution
- High Tech Concrete
