Introduction to Chemistry

Lesson 1.1 – What is Chemistry?

Imagine this🤔 ... You come home from school and find your mother cooking nshima. The pot is steaming, the mealie-meal is slowly thickening, and the smell of relish fills the air. But have you ever wondered — what exactly is happening inside that pot? Why does the water turn to steam, and the flour turn into a sticky lump?

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That’s where chemistry comes in. Chemistry is the study of matter (everything that takes up space and has mass) and how it changes. Matter includes the water you drink, the chair you sit on, the air you breathe.

When charcoal burns on a brazier, chemistry explains how carbon reacts with oxygen to release heat.

When milk ferments into mabisi, chemistry explains how bacteria turn lactose into lactic acid.

So if chemistry is the science of change, here’s a puzzle: if air is invisible, how do we even know it exists, and that it is matter?

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