Chemistry in Everyday Life

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

If it is possible to appreciate art without being an artist, shouldn’t it also be possible for a non-scientist to appreciate chemistry? Yes! The omnipresence of chemistry in our everyday lives will be explored in this course for nonscience majors. The fundamentals of chemistry will be covered primarily through lectures, text readings, journal articles, problem-solving, and group projects. We will investigate the origin of the elements, spectroscopy, synthesis of new substances, how we interact with molecules through our senses, metabolism, health, and environmental chemistry involving the air we breathe, the water we drink, the weather we enjoy or endure, as well as special topics like nanotechnology, genetics, forensics, and art conservation. A major goal of this course is to help students understand how science works and what it means for something to be "scientifically proven". We repeatedly ask the question: “How do we know?” because it is not what we know that is so important, it is how we know it and how certain we are that it is correct that matters.