Full transcript
0:01[Music]
0:04traveling the galaxies of knowledge
0:06there are many perspectives
0:10we marvel at the behavior of nature more
0:13predictable or less
0:15we look to our own lives our actions and
0:18what we make to improve life to satisfy
0:22fulfill
0:23behind these doors of perception the
0:26explorer can strive to uncover the real
0:28nature of matter and so enlighten what
0:30we are change what we do
0:33it is a fascinating journey this path of
0:36knowledge and the vehicle we ride is a
0:38science called
0:40chemistry
0:42[Music]
1:10look at the incredible variety of things
1:13around us the steel the glass in this
1:15building people sitting at tables eating
1:19food dressed in colorful clothes
1:23these things don't just happen people
1:26have made them
1:27the fabric here is a blend of natural
1:30cotton and synthetic nylon even the
1:33colors that we see are due to a mixture
1:36of natural and synthetic dyes
1:39you know that range and intensity of
1:41color was just not available to ordinary
1:45people a hundred years ago
1:48this world has been transformed and
1:50changed by people
1:53experimenting and reasoning out how
1:56matter is built and applying that
1:58knowledge
1:59what we have learned is that absolutely
2:02everything is constructed of groups of
2:05atoms called molecules
2:08the science of molecules and of their
2:10transformations is chemistry that
2:13science is largely responsible for the
2:16world that we have made
2:20chemistry the central science
2:23always at the heart of life itself it's
2:26become central to our way of life
2:29at the heart of cars and homes and what
2:32we enjoy in them
2:44take your car
2:45it's here in the metals and in the paint
2:47that protects them
2:50it's in the gas that makes it go
2:53in what comes out the other end
3:00it's in the plastic panels in our future
3:04in the future cars themselves
3:06[Music]
3:14we drive down chemical asphalt roads
3:17work and chemically set cement
3:19structures
3:21and live in homes which are commercial
3:24symphonies to chemical synthesis
3:28[Music]
3:40cleaners come in plastic containers
3:43so does food and garbage goes out in
3:46them
3:47each plastic bends
3:51or shatters stretches
3:53or bounces because of its
3:55sub-microscopic design
3:57chemical tailoring makes us fire proof
4:01even bulletproof
4:03we take for granted these products
4:05rarely ask the why or how of the amazing
4:08new world we've made
4:10but behind each plastic or pill each
4:13paint or perfume or dress or drink lies
4:16a story a story of invention of
4:20creativity
4:22working from his woodshed wilson great
4:25match would prolong lives with the heart
4:28pacemaker
4:31yet there was a further challenge for
4:33chemical innovation
4:35we were still only getting one to two
4:38years out of pacemakers two years
4:40average and the re the failure mechanism
4:42was always the battery it didn't just
4:44run down it failed we finally wound up
4:47with this lithium battery it really uh
4:50revolutionized the pacemaker
4:55the business have told me the
4:57introduction of the lithium battery to
4:58pacemakers was more significant than the
5:00invention of the pacemaker in the first
5:02place
5:02[Music]
5:03the invention came from knowing the
5:05special properties of the element
5:07lithium
5:08from that early medical use its
5:10applications have broadened into a major
5:13business a longer life battery for a
5:16variety of consumers
5:17[Music]
5:19keeping well is a multi-billion dollar
5:22molecular business
5:24molecular because a change in a molecule
5:27can mean the difference between health
5:30and disease
5:33at the base of of most of our diseases
5:36is some molecule or molecules that are
5:39not working the way they should
5:41and that we can actually find detailed
5:44atomic reasons
5:46why something is not working the way it
5:48should
5:49probing deep to the molecular structures
5:52of plants and funguses can lead to new
5:55medicines to cures for major diseases
5:59you have to isolate the active component
6:01purify it determine its structure and
6:03then it gets handed over to the
6:05pharmaceutical people who decide how to
6:07package it
6:08i can't believe i ate that whole thing
6:11you ate it ralph
6:13even if you're feeling just a little ill
6:16from a small over-indulgence perhaps
6:19there's a wide choice across the counter
6:21take two alka-seltzer
6:24all antacids neutralize acid
6:28and if they're given in sufficient
6:29amount
6:31any antacid is as good as another at
6:33neutralizing acid
6:35explore chemistry and you touch every
6:38aspect of sickness and health of course
6:40what goes into the body in the first
6:42place matters a great deal
6:47it all starts out with what is spread on
6:49the fields how plants and animals grow
6:52and at the end of it are foods and fats
6:55and oils where some are better than
6:57others for your body
6:59it is better to eat more bent molecules
7:03than straight molecules
7:04generally the recommendations are that
7:07we reduce overall consumption of fat
7:10and that we carefully control the amount
7:13of
7:14straight molecules
7:16saturated fatty acids that we consume
7:19you'll discover how food can be
7:21preserved from supermarket to space
7:25so you can eat at any time any place
7:29[Music]
7:34and then there are the flavors mirages
7:37of taste
7:39you can mix together 20 or 30 chemicals
7:42smell them and it smells like a peach or
7:44strawberry and it's seen nothing but a
7:46test tube this is terrific
7:49here is a world of subtlety of personal
7:51preference flavors
7:53and fragrances the secret world of
7:56perfumes where a delicate nose commands
7:59the highest salary
8:02there is personal chemistry in personal
8:05care
8:07this substance isn't manufactured it's a
8:10molecular covering for our molecular
8:12bodies its skin
8:14and it changes chemically in the sun
8:17we tan or burn
8:19scientists have designed new molecules
8:21for protection constantly testing which
8:24sunscreens work better
8:26or won't wash off in water
8:34there's beauty in chemistry and
8:36chemistry and beauty
8:38roots of science down to the roots of
8:41your hair
8:43kelly i think you're going to find this
8:44so easy to take care of
8:46see what happens when you have your
8:48disulfide bonds broken it looks great
8:52there's an art to science
8:54observant eyes hands delicate and
8:57decisive
8:58minds ordered and creative
9:01inventing products needs imaginative
9:04approaches
9:06the biggest
9:08part of a problem
9:10and the easiest way to solving a problem
9:13is to understand it
9:15have the problem in a form that you
9:17understand what's going on
9:19brother of artist andrew wyeth nat
9:21wyeth's creation was
9:24the plastic bottle
9:26and his quest continues
9:28millions of bottles can grow into
9:30mountains of garbage
9:33one of my dreams is that we're going to
9:35be able to
9:38melt these bottles the return bottles
9:41melt them down
9:43mix them with reinforcing fibers
9:46and make car bodies
9:48out of them
9:51and that
9:53when the car has served its purpose
9:56rather than put it on a junk pile
9:59melt the car down and make bottles out
10:01of it
10:06matter is neither created nor destroyed
10:09but in industry we transform it every
10:11day
10:12in this plant the matter the petroleum
10:15raw material is being changed on a giant
10:18scale
10:20[Music]
10:24coming out of the plant are methane
10:26ethylene steam and smoke and flame
10:29but when everything is added up the mass
10:32coming out will always equal the mass
10:34going in
10:35[Music]
10:37most of our raw materials are drawn from
10:40the earth and that's where most of the
10:42products and waste end up too
10:44the great challenge now is to clean up
10:47the mess we've made and reduce its
10:49production in the future
10:51[Music]
10:53in between input and output are the huge
10:56factories built to make those products
10:59we know so well
11:02each of them comes from something
11:04and something else
11:06this must be added to that very
11:09accurately and on a huge scale
11:12and this is where the captains of
11:14industry work
11:17you really have a huge network from the
11:20raw materials which are primary to
11:21petroleum
11:23to the refinery situation which is
11:24primarily the place in which you get
11:26starting materials then those starting
11:28materials are then used to make
11:30petrochemicals
11:31the petrochemicals then are used to make
11:33all kinds of things from plastics to
11:36medicines to drugs to
11:38whatever
11:39i would guess that if you looked at it
11:42probably 25 to 40 percent of the
11:45population of the country
11:47in one way or another
11:49is probably dependent upon that
11:51infrastructure
11:53amidst the pipes and towers the energy
11:56and precision there is still the
11:58excitement of science well done
12:01a breakthrough here in chemical fibers
12:04for carpets and fabrics is good cause to
12:06let everyone know
12:08i clearly remember the rockets went off
12:10in the hallway our research director had
12:13a way of
12:14uh for every significant research
12:16achievement setting off some rockets in
12:19the hallway at which point everyone in
12:21the laboratory was alerted that a eureka
12:23had in fact occurred
12:26and the competition knows it too
12:29when our plant came on stream a curling
12:32eye trial was selling for 28 cents a
12:34pound we were making it for 14 cents a
12:37pound and we shut down
12:39every other commercial process
12:43within the secretive world of industrial
12:46research you'll discover exotic
12:48substances
12:49the liquid in this container is worth
12:52350 000
12:54a catalyst
12:56the thin gold coating here is for
12:59missile guidance systems
13:01[Music]
13:08and this intricate operation lays down
13:10the materials of computer circuitry the
13:13chemistry of information
13:16[Music]
13:20in basic steel and in the bags of rare
13:23ingredients that are thrown in to make
13:24alloys there's plenty of chemistry
13:28i'm still accused of being a
13:32a witch doctor so to speak with the
13:35little pinches of this and the little
13:36pinches of that
13:38but we do know what we're doing
13:42if you really want to know what makes
13:43things work there's a home for you here
13:46in the heart of science in chemicals and
13:48chemistry
13:51in fact chemists are not just involved
13:54in making things they're even more
13:56involved in discovering nature
14:02what's there in the natural world
14:06and what makes it change
14:11they observe at the bottom of the oceans
14:14as new minerals pour from cracks in the
14:16crust
14:19they ponder the order and symmetry in
14:21the rocks and minerals around us
14:24the exquisite forms of crystals
14:26reflecting the shapes of atomic
14:28groupings beyond what the eye can see
14:35inquiring minds vault from our planet to
14:38others to the mysterious moons of
14:41jupiter wondering why their chemistry is
14:44so strange
14:46the mysteries of space abound
14:48[Music]
14:51and sometimes fall to earth
14:53[Music]
14:55carbon containing objects from outer
14:57space what does it mean does it mean
14:59there's life
15:00out in outer space and this represents a
15:02planet like earth that developed life
15:05and then blew up or some
15:07hit into a another object and these
15:09meteorites are relics from this
15:12yet the greatest mysteries are right
15:15here on planet earth
15:17deep within life itself
15:19[Music]
15:22there's plenty here to challenge
15:24searching minds for decades to come
15:27[Music]
15:30what is the chemistry that makes the
15:32human being a molecular being
15:36how does a cell
15:38take sugar and convert it into a
15:42substance which is a storehouse for
15:43energy
15:44why is it that when i eat something that
15:46helps me think differently so in
15:49different in respects but chemistry
15:51really is involved in how nature
15:54actually takes food and converts it into
15:56thought
15:57there's still so much to learn
15:59i mean my goodness the thought of things
16:01it takes me
16:03years to do nature doesn't a matter of
16:04seconds
16:05the secrets there still have to be
16:07unraveled
16:10for the explorers of natural molecules
16:12proteins for example discoveries can
16:16come at unlikely moments after fruitless
16:19years of searching
16:20i had a cold i was lying in bed for two
16:23or three days so i said to my wife bring
16:26me a sheet of paper and i'm going to i
16:30think i'll work on that problem of how
16:32polypeptide chains are folded in
16:34proteins so she brought me sheet of
16:37paper and the slide rule and
16:39pencil
16:40and i
16:42started
16:43working well
16:45i succeeded
16:47it only took a couple of hours of work
16:49that day in march of 1948
16:54for me to find the structure
16:56called the alpha helix
17:00the spiral that led to a nobel prize
17:05beyond drawings today's microscopes take
17:08us to see for the first time
17:11atoms
17:12it was about two or three o'clock in the
17:14morning and i was staring at this image
17:16and i started to notice this regular
17:18pattern appearing which i knew had to be
17:21the positions of the atoms
17:22and it just got better and better and i
17:24was just elated
17:27[Music]
17:32eventually just tears came to my eyes
17:34because i was so happy having worked on
17:35this
17:36day and night for
17:38for so long
17:40[Music]
17:51this is not a real image of atoms it is
17:54a model of particles in a gas
17:57scientists often use computer-generated
18:00models to study structures in the
18:02sub-microscopic world
18:03[Music]
18:06this is ice water molecules linked
18:08together in hexagonal shapes
18:15on warming some of the bonds break and
18:18there is liquid water
18:21heat still further and the water
18:23molecules fly off to become a gas
18:28here is an atom of silicon
18:30surrounded with four oxygen atoms in a
18:33tetrahedral shape attach many such
18:36tetrahedrons together
18:38and we have the building blocks of
18:40silicates the most abundant minerals on
18:43earth
18:43[Music]
18:46the computer can model the structure of
18:48silica chains as in asbestos or silicate
18:52sheets as in mica
18:56it's the same with compounds of carbon
18:59quite simple molecules link again and
19:02again
19:03to form long chains
19:05polymers
19:10models can graphically depict how two
19:12molecules apparently identical are
19:15really different mirror images of one
19:18another a vital realization in
19:20understanding the molecules of life
19:25using computers scientists can begin to
19:28figure out how chains of proteins might
19:30fold up to become globular intricate
19:33enzymes which govern the activities of
19:36our body's cells
19:42the most beautiful and complex
19:44structures can be displayed like dna
19:48the spiraling miracle at the core of
19:51life
19:55but we want to go even further explore
19:57beyond the wondrous architecture to
20:00visualize the dynamic actions and
20:02reactions of the molecular world
20:06a few particles in a gas collide and
20:09bounce away unchanged
20:13even fewer collide head-on react
20:18chemistry is about reactions here on a
20:22surface a two atom molecule separates
20:26the molecule of another substance
20:28arrives and also separates
20:32different atoms then bond together and a
20:35transformation takes place a new
20:38substance is formed
20:40and from the very simple to the most
20:42complex interactions between drugs and
20:46the marvelously intricate molecules of
20:48the human organism
20:50scientists tailor pharmaceuticals with
20:52computer tools to probe how their
20:55designs fit with those of brain and body
20:59blocking unwanted effects enhancing
21:02desired activity
21:04searching out what makes it all work
21:07[Music]
21:11how do we make sense of this
21:13extraordinary world of nature of
21:15industry of products
21:18we can take this world into the
21:20laboratory observe experiment test the
21:24ideas that underlie it all
21:26right here is the key to chemical
21:29revelation
21:31meet the wizard of the lab don showalter
21:33professor of chemistry glasses on and
21:36stand back
21:40[Music]
21:48dramatic indeed
21:50but each of these reactions between
21:52substances illustrates a concept of the
21:55way matter behaves some reactions are
21:58more tranquil and beautiful
22:01here between aluminum and bromine
22:09and here from sodium metal and chlorine
22:11gas don is making simple salt
22:19oh it looks quite different from iron
22:21oxide you yourselves can make
22:24some of that iron
22:26look at that
22:29and you can even make aspirin
22:32i weighed out
22:34138 milligrams
22:36of salicylic acid
22:39and then the other active ingredient is
22:42acidic anhydride
22:44and then we need to heat it for five
22:46minutes at 90 degrees
22:50what i have to do it has to get cooler
22:52oh here it goes now look at that
22:55see that cloudiness now turning into a
22:58more and more dense
23:01mixture now so the
23:03aspirin is precipitating out of there
23:06now there's the aspirin we made
23:08let's see we can scrape it on here so we
23:10can get a good look at that
23:12that's acetyl salicylic acid
23:15well we did it but i'm sure glad i don't
23:17have a headache now because we have just
23:20made about one third
23:23of the acetosalicylic acid that is in
23:26one
23:27aspirin tablet
23:29sometimes observations alone are vital
23:32on the speed of a reaction for example
23:35not many bubbles
23:37wow look at the bubbles
23:39look at the smoke
23:41put it in there and presto
23:45nothing happens
23:47energy changes are important too we can
23:49put in energy with heat
23:53here we go
23:54here we go
23:56watch energy given off spontaneously
24:00look at the flame
24:02observe energy taken in absorbed
24:05whoop look at this
24:08the beaker is frozen to the board
24:11look at that
24:13all in all the excitement in the lab is
24:15almost electrical enough to make yes
24:19you guessed it
24:23this then is our journey through the
24:25world of chemistry
24:27experiment and observation guide the
24:29voyage revealing the wonders of
24:32architecture unseen
24:34[Music]
24:35we transform molecules to our will
24:40and pursue the infinite search for
24:43nature's
24:44[Music]
24:45the plant world is green
24:48all shades of green
24:50what i'd like to know
24:52is how these plants take carbon dioxide
24:55and water and sunlight and transform
24:58them into amino acids and carbohydrates
25:01and the oxygen that i need
25:03well i can look at a leaf
25:06and zero in on a chloroplast which is
25:09where the action takes place and isolate
25:11out the beautiful green chlorophyll
25:13molecules that trap the light and if i
25:16look deeper i see copper manganese iron
25:18atoms all crucial to photosynthesis
25:22it's a beautiful chemical chain
25:25this business of trapping elusive
25:28seemingly
25:29unsubstantial light
25:31and transforming using the energy of
25:34that light relatively simple building
25:36blocks into the kind of complex
25:39molecules that make this tree grow
25:42people have found out how it works why
25:45because we're curious it's in the nature
25:48of human beings to be curious about the
25:51world around us about ourselves
25:55this is the ultimate driving force in
25:57chemistry
25:59to know
26:00what we don't know
26:02we may find uninteresting worse what we
26:05don't know we may be afraid of
26:09as we learn more about the world
26:12the more interesting
26:14the less threatening
26:16the more beautiful it becomes
26:20[Music]
26:30so
26:59[Music]
27:20you