Chemistry and the Student Way of Life: An Unlikely (Though Necessary) Partnership.

Chemistry. We've all heard the word, and we all had to study it in school. Maybe you enjoyed it, maybe you didn't. Maybe you didn't see the point of it.

How many people are given a child's chemistry set for a christmas or birthday present? Did you get one once? I did, when I was about 7 years old, and at that time it seemed to be a wierd kind of magic or something. It was through that chemistry set that I (and thousands of other children like me) were introduced to my first real chemical: blue copper sulphate crystals (CuSO_{4 (s)}).
As toxic blue crystals were not something I had encountered before in my sheltered life up until then, I was taken aback. But what was the relevence to me? Where did these strange crystals come into my life? That was the question.

The simple fact of the matter is that chemistry is everywhere, and is responsible for everything we perceive in the world around us. It is responsable for our very existance. Which is exactly why we cannot run from it or ignore it.

As I write this, I am studying chemistry at Sheffield University (UK). When I tell people that I am studying chemistry, most of them physically shudder and ask me how I could force myself to study such a difficult and complex subject that seems to have little or no relevance to real life. It is partly for those reasons that I created this web page. My aim is to show exactly how and why chemistry (in the broadest sense of the word) is relevant (and in some ways essential) to the modern day student's way of life (hence the title of the page). So, if you are wanting to learn more, or if I haven't scared you off yet, then here we go...