Table of Contents

• Preface Acknowledgements
• 1: Molecular musings
• 2: Chemistry of health and risk
• 3: Chemistry of surfaces
• 4: Chemistry in the laundry
• 5: Chemistry in the kitchen
• 6: Chemistry in the dining room
• 7: Biochemistry of metabolism and sport
• 8: Chemistry of cosmetics
• 9: Chemistry in the medicine cabinet
• 10: Chemistry of plastics and glass
• 11: Chemistry of fibres, fabrics and other yarns
• 12: Chemistry in the garden
• 13: Chemistry of hardware and stationery
• 14: Chemistry in the swimming pool
• 15: Chemistry at the beach
• 16: Biological effects of metals and metalloids
• 17: Chemistry in energy
• 18: Chemistry of ionising radiation
• 19: Experiments
• Appendix 1: Nomenclature in chemistry
• Appendix 2: Reporting amounts of material (units)
• Appendix 3: Prevalence of logarithmic scales
• Appendix 4: How much is safe?
• Appendix 5: Phase diagrams
• Appendix 6: Metal foils
• Appendix 7: Metal alloys
• Appendix 8: Maillard reaction
• Appendix 9: Refractive index
• Appendix 10: Glass transition temperature (Tg)
• Appendix 11: The entropy game
• Index

About the Author

Ben Selinger AM is Emeritus Professor at the Australian National University. His extracurricular activities have included consumer protection, regulating Australia’s chemicals, and providing features on science on talk-back radio and for the Canberra Times. He was awarded a Eureka Prize for Science Communication by the Australian Museum.

Russell Barrow is an Associate Professor in the Research School of Chemistry at the Australian National University. He researches the roles of chemicals in natural systems, including chemicals involved in ecological processes such as plant pollination and the chemistry of compounds from mushrooms that are used traditionally in Papua New Guinea.

Reviews

“This is a wide-ranging, detailed and authoritative text, presented clearly and attractively with numerous images, tables and diagrams…it is good to see a text that has retained the essential chemistry and has not been oversimplified for the popular science market”.
- Janet Mitchell, School Science Review