A basic chemical hypothesis first emerged in Classical Greece when Aristotle defined the four elements of fire, air, earth, and water. It was not until the 17th and 18th centuries when scientists such as Robert Boyle (1627-1691) and Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794) began to reshape the old alchemical traditions into a rigorous scientific discipline.

Chemistry is the study of matter—what it consists of, what its properties are, and how it changes. Being able to describe the ingredients in a cake and how they change when the cake is baked is called chemistry. Matter is anything that has mass and takes up space—that is, anything that is physically real. Some things are easily identified as matter—this book, for example. Others are not so obvious. Because we move so easily through the air, we sometimes forget that it, too, is matter.


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