Molecules at an Exhibition

Molecules at an Exhibition is a tour through the art gallery of chemistry in which there are 'portraits' of around a hundred chemicals that impinge on our lives. There are nine galleries devoted to various categories, such as the strange chemicals in food, the metals in our bodies, the molecules that turn us on and help produce healthy babies, drug molecules, polymers that we use in everyday life, renewable fuels, and even some molecules from hell.

• Published: 1998
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• ISBN: 0198502664 (hbk), 0198503792 (pbk)

Did you know?

Following the success of my award-winning The Consumers' Good Chemical Guide, I was approached to write a second book of popular chemistry. At the time I was doing the 'Molecule of the Month' column for The Independent newspaper and gathering a lot of useful material. Molecules at an Exhibition allowed me to expand on various topics in a much broader way, and without their being linked to a particular news item. I also included many new topics in the book. I wrote the book as if I were discussing exhibits on display in a museum or art gallery. I grouped them together under various themes, just as would be done for the various galleries at an exhibition.
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Table of Contents

• Introduction
• A quick guide to things large and small
• Gallery 1 - Nearly as Nature intended; An exhibition of some curious molecules in the foods we eat.
• Gallery 2 - Testing your metal; An exhibition of the metals which our body must have.
• Gallery 3 - Starting lives, saving lives, screwing up lives; An exhibition of molecules that can help or harm us.
• Gallery 4 - Home sweet home; An exhibition of detergents, dangers, delights and delusions.
• Gallery 5 - Material progress and immaterial observations; An exhibition of the molecules that make life a little easier.
• Landscape Room
• Gallery 6 - Environmental cons, concerns and comments; An exhibition of molecules that stalk the world.
• Gallery 7 - We're on the road to nowhere … and other miraculous destinations; An exhibition of molecules to transport us.
• Gallery 8 - Elements from Hell; An exhibition of molecules that are mainly malevolent.
• Appendix 1: Book list
• Appendix 2: Molecular index
• Index