Jack777

Right. Protons, neutrons, electrons, I can understand that despite not seeing it but I take it on faith. Atomic number and atomic weight, and isotopes. I still need a lot of work here to learn this. Avogadro's Number and moles - This might take me centuries to understand. I like the study of combustion so far. I very much appreciate your help. And thanks for your kind words. Yes, I have so far copied all my questions and your posts and created a document which I think I need to read and reread constantly. It's very good stuff. I don't think I'm ready for an equation. About all I know is what most people know and that's H2O. One hydrogen and two oxygen. But my perennial questions are always like, ok, one hydrogen, how do they actually know it's hydrogen? Ditto for oxygen and how do they know you only need one hydrogen and two oxygen. We really need to back up and get even more basic. Like kindergarten basic How was hydrogen first discovered? How was oxygen first discovered? I mean, what process did they use to discover them? Was it weighing? Burning? Dunno. But I find this absolutely fascinating. I can tell you anything you'd want to know about aircraft, how they work, how to fix them, how to fly them, same for woodworking. But chemistry? Not so much. I love studying history so anything history related in regards to who and how and when would be very helpful. In the video you posted, he said silver nitrate. Where did he get it and how is he sure it's silver nitrate? Same for silver chloride. How does he know it's silver chloride? And what's silver chloride used for anyway? This is so interesting!

Gosh, this is a lot to take in. I like the flame test in the video, it produces some interesting colors. Do all elements of the periodic table have different colors so they can all be identified like this? I never knew this flame test stuff and it's marvelous!

"Metal ions in the form of chloride salt solution with platinum wire." Now, I know I'm thick, I really am. How in the world did he know it was chloride and how did he know it was platinum? These are what I'd like to know. For example, the periodic table of elements in clear plastic I bought from Amazon has 103 elements in it. Supposedly. What I'd really love to know is whoever put this together had to buy the elements. So the person who provided him with the elements how does he know exactly what each element is? Did he use the flame method? I'm getting there thanks to the video above and bought the books mentioned above. This. How? Say I was walking in an area where it had a lot of rocks or wherever phosphorus comes from. How would I recognize it? I could stumble over it and wouldn't recognize it. Cool. Now, how do they know it's acid? Sorry for so many newbie questions but this is what I've always wondered about. The simplest most fundamental questions. Much appreciated kind sir but this is way over my head for now. I'm looking forward to understanding things like electron jumps though.

Thanks, and sorry for taking so long to reply as my wife broke her foot. Ok, phosphorus, in order to actually know he had phosphorus he would have to burn it to look at the spectroscopic lines? How can they weigh these or even see them? But what I'd like to know is how are they sure about this? Is there a way to actually see this? Would I need to study physics for these answers? Are there any videos of this? They can actually see the ions move? Thanks for your help. I'm compiling a Pages document so I can read and reread to wrap my head around this stuff. Yes. Analytical Chemistry is my main line of thought. This is precisely what I had in mind when I originally posted. Much appreciated.

Thank you kindly!

Excellent explanation! Thanks. Ok, so what is a reactant? And they weighed them? Were their scales that precise back then? And I still need to learn what atomic weight is. Phosphoric acid, how did he know it was phosphoric acid? Sorry for so many questions, I'm trying to learn and remember this stuff. Do you know of any good YT videos that explain this? And what is an ion? How do they know it's an ion? Anyway, these explanations are much appreciated.

That was terrific! Many thanks. Gosh, I read this, light years over my head. I had no idea what they were talking about. All those letters with lines between them and all the names of other chemicals. I'm sure I'll understand this someday but for now it might as well be ancient Mesopotamian. Back in 1875 as they mentioned how did they identify what all the separate chemicals actually were? I find this stuff interesting though.

Thanks. I need something on the 1st grade level.

Thank you and much appreciated. Ok, I've been reading all the Apollo astronaut autobiographies and they mention the different fuels, for instance, hydrazine. Then it got me thinking about chemistry, I mean, how do they actually know it's hydrazine. I'm not really interested in the chemical composition of hydrazine, it just got me thinking. I'm a complete and total neophyte to chemistry. I bought a periodic table of the elements clear plastic display from Amazon and it's fascinating. Anyway, how do chemists actually know what a chemical really is? How can they look at a rock and say, ok, this rock has sulfur in it, or that rock has silver in it or whatever. How do they know a pill has aspirin in it for example. How does anyone measure or test for these elements? Who first discovered them? And I have read some articles but they assume a body of knowledge I don't have. I need something like a kindergarten level book. And the elements have a number like mg, 12. How do they actually know for certain it has what, 12 electrons? This is the very basic stuff I'm talking about and I have even more dopey questions. I spent my career in aviation but was never taught chemistry. Take care. Jack.

Hello, my name is Jack. I'm 65, live near Atlanta, and have never studied chemistry. I've been curious about chemistry but was never taught it in school as I went to a trade school. I have a ton of the most basic chemistry questions. Thanks.