Think you know chemistry? Think again. In How Chemistry Surrounds You, award-winning University of Utah professor Janis Louie reveals the surprising science behind the everyday world—no lab coat required.
Chemistry is the science of how atoms combine and rearrange to produce the colors we see, the flavors we taste, the materials we use, and the technologies that shape modern life.
Rather than beginning with abstract principles, Professor Louie starts with familiar mysteries: Why is the sky blue? How does chocolate achieve its unique appeal? Why do some fabrics stretch while others shrink? Like a detective solving a series of baffling cases, she uncovers the invisible molecular processes behind a host of everyday phenomena. Along the way, you learn core chemical ideas, such as how atoms bond, how reactions release or absorb energy, and how molecular structure determines properties such as color, flavor, and strength.
Filled with memorable demonstrations, the course shows chemistry in action—from the surprisingly complex events in a burning candle to a pH detector that you can make in your kitchen with red cabbage. Dramatic highlights include a gummy bear blasting like a rocket, nylon drawn from two liquids, and the foamy eruption of “elephant toothpaste.”
By the end of the course, chemistry emerges not as a difficult subject confined to the lab, but as the hidden machinery of our surroundings. Before you know it, you’ll be seeing chemistry at work everywhere.
