Chemistry: A Volatile History Chemistry: A Volatile History Chemistry: A Volatile History is a 2010 BBC documentary on the history of chemistry presented by Jim Al-Khalili. It was nominated for the 2010 British Academy Television Awards in the category Specialist Factual. Only in the last 200 years have we known what an element is – a substance that cannot be broken down further by chemical reaction. The Ancient Greeks, with no way of breaking open substances, could only base their ideas of the elements on what they could see: Earth, Fire, Water and Air. In the 16th century alchemists were busy trying to turn
Comparison of chemistry and physics nuclei made of protons and neutrons. On the other hand, chemistry is not concerned with other forms of matter such as quarks, mu and tau leptons and dark matter. Although fundamental laws that govern the behavior of matter apply both in chemistry and physics, the disciplines of physics and chemistry are distinct. Physics is concerned with nature from a very large scale (the entire universe) down to a very small scale (subatomic particles). All physical phenomena that are measurable follow some behavior that is in accordance with the most basic principles studied in physics. Physics is involved with the fundamental