Learn not only how to recreate the chemicals that changed history, but the history behind the chemicals.
See review in Journal of Chemical Education (April 2004).
Having traveled the world from age to age, who can say where they will find their next home? Perhaps they will find one in you.
The spirit of Earth taught folks to make tools of stone, the spirit of Air imparted knowledge of units and the spirit of Water began with the invention of spirits.
This spirit passed from one person to another, from one generation to another, from one millennium to another, arriving at last in the pages of this book.
The spirit of Fire, for example, was born in the first creature to cultivate the flame.
These archetypical characters deliver first-hand accounts of the births of their respective technologies.
Your guides on this journey are the four alchemical elements
Fire, Earth, Air and Water.
Instructions are given for making bronze from metal ores; glass from sand, ashes, and limestone; paper from grass or straw; soap from fat; alcohol from honey; photographs from egg whites; chlorine from salt water and celluloid from cotton.
An experiential exploration? Not only will you learn about these technologies, you will learn to recreate them.
Caveman Chemistry is an experiential exploration of chemical technology from the campfires of the stone age to the PETE plastic soda pop bottle.
In a phrase, from Caveman to Chemist.
from blasting powder to fertilizers and plastics.
from aniline dyes to analgesic drugs.
from sulfuric acid to sodium carbonate.
And the demands of everyday folk for glass and paper and soap stimulated the first round of chemical industrialization.
Kingdoms rose and fell by the power of saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal.
Kings and queens demanded ever more colorful clothing and accessories in order to out-class clod-hoppers and call-girls.
Buildings of brick and mortar enshrined books of parchment and paper.
In ceramic crucibles they won metal from rock, the metals lead to colored glazes and glass.
Their descendants transformed clay into pottery, wool into clothing, and ashes into cleansers.
They crafted intricate tools from stone and brewed mind-altering elixirs from honey.
A five star college level teaching aid! Half a million years ago our ancestors learned to make Fire from scratch.
Learn not only how to recreate the chemicals that changed history, but the history behind the chemicals
