[user11]

Hi, I'm so hungry and eager to understand how we know what we know about chemistry today. I want to understand the history, how it all began, and i want to understand exactly how the important experiments in chemistry werer performed, how conclusions were derived etc. Are there any good books on this huge sbject? Are there any books that actually lay out complete experiments and how scientists derived their equations from their experimental data?

[user11]

Hi, can anyone recommend a good book, or maybe 2 books: One that describes the history of the elements - who discovered each element, and how?
And another good visual book that explains porperties and common usage of each element?

[Furanone]

An interesting take on the history of the elements and who discovered them is called The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean

http://www.amazon.com/The-Disappearing-Spoon-Periodic-Elements/dp/0316051632

[Xenonman]

"The Ingredients: A Guided Tour of the Elements" by Phillip Ball is a safe choice. It doesn't quite go in a straight timeline, but it explains how some theories came to be, their foundations and downfall, and recent ones too. It's easy to read too.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Ingredients-Guided-Tour-Elements/dp/0192841009

[user11]

An interesting take on the history of the elements and who discovered them is called The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean

http://www.amazon.com/The-Disappearing-Spoon-Periodic-Elements/dp/0316051632

That actually looks very interesting

[mjc123]

From a similar thread:
There was a recent BBC TV series on this subject by Professor Jim Al-Khalili called "Chemistry: A Volatile History". Apparently it aired in the USA under the title "Unlocking the Universe". It is not currently available on BBC iplayer, but there is a good short summary on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemistry:_A_Volatile_History

[user11]

From a similar thread:
There was a recent BBC TV series on this subject by Professor Jim Al-Khalili called "Chemistry: A Volatile History". Apparently it aired in the USA under the title "Unlocking the Universe". It is not currently available on BBC iplayer, but there is a good short summary on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemistry:_A_Volatile_History

'i love that series. He's really good! There should be more of those