Chemical Elements of Life

Examine the fundamental building blocks of matter and discover how knowledge of the atom has changed our view of the universe. Take a look at the structure of atoms and at the composition of elements, isotopes, and ions, and learn the basic ideas of quantum theory.

English novelist and scientist C. P. Snow classed certain scientific ideas with the works of Shakespeare as something every educated person should know. One such idea, according to Snow, was the second law of thermodynamics, which deals with the diffusion of heat and has many profound consequences. He might well have added Newton's laws, the periodic table of elements, the double-helix structure of DNA, and scores of other masterpieces of scientific discovery.