文档介绍：The Theories of Chemistry
by J. C. Boeyens
· ISBN: 0444514910
· Publisher: Elsevier Science & Technology Books
· Pub. Date: November 2003
Preface
At the end of the eenth century chemistry was at the cutting edge as
a theoretically well-founded experimental science. The most advanced and
controversial physical theories of the day had their origin in chemical research,
which concerned itself with all aspects related to the nature and constitution
of matter. The theories of electrons (5zc), atoms and molecules were the
working models of practising chemists. Optical activity, like other forms of
spectroscopy in its infancy, was the pursuit of analytical chemistry.
The theoretical chemistry of a hundred years es across as an
exciting, vibrant activity, hotly disputed at the laboratory benches of the
leading research schools. parison, present-day chemistry has very
little by way of an innate theory to stimulate the experimentalist. Instead,
the necessity of specialization dictates that theoretical pursuits be performed
elsewhere and stimulate chemical research by some two-way flow of informa•
tion. This cross-fertilization however, has dwindled gradually until it finally
disappeared during the latter half of the twentieth century. That is why it
is not mon today, to find synthetic chemists designing new advanced
materials such as nano-structures or superconductors, in blissful ignorance
of the basic theories that determine the behaviour of these systems.
Symmetry is another example. Its importance is constantly emphasized,
but rarely examined beyond the concepts of point-group symmetry, applied to
molecules and orbitals. The implications of translational symmetry and con•
tinuous symmetry groups in chemical contexts, are simply ignored, and the
fundamental significance of conservation (or non-conservation) laws never
appreciated. Consequently, chemical thermodynamics remains a sterile