In our every day life we see a number of things and witness various phenomena or the events happening all around us. These events or facts about the material universe are collected through our five senses, which form knowledge. This knowledge is merely accumulated form of facts and is far from being science. But when the validity and truthfulness of facts (knowledge) is confirmed by experiments, the knowledge thus obtained is called science.
Science thus may be defined as the systematized knowledge, which is obtained through observations and experiments. )
Science may also be regarded as a field of study, which deals with the observations, and interpretation of reproducible facts.
"The word reproducible means the fact that can be repeated or
demonstrated to any person." (“Role of Instructional Technology in
Enhancing Students ...”) Water normally freezes at O'C and boils at 100°C. The
electric bulb is lighted when electric current is passed through it. Zinc
reacts with sulphuric acid, forming zine sulphate and hydrogen, etc. These
facts can be repeated or demonstrated to any person. Hence these facts are
science. But statement like "Babar invaded India in 1526, etc., may be
true as a statement , but it can not be precisely repeated . Therefore , it
will not form the basis for a scientific study . (“Role of Instructional
Technology in Enhancing Students ...”) So it is not called science .
What is Chemistry ?
Chemistry is a branch of science , which deals with the
composition properties , chemical changes in matter and the laws and principles
, which govern these changes To understand the above definition of chemistry we
will study hydrogen as an example . It is a gas and consists of hydrogen
molecules . A molecule of hydrogen formed from the union of two hydrogen atoms
( composition ) . Hydrogen reacts with oxygen and chlorine to form water and
hydrogen chloride , respectively ( properties ) . When pressure is applied on
hydrogen gas , its volume decreases ( Boyle's Law ) . All the above description
about hydrogen is the chemistry of hydrogen in which composition , properties ,
change in volume and the law related to the change in volume were discussed.
