Chemistry of the Universe: What Is It Made of?

Abstract

The simplest answer to the question in the title of this part is that the Universe and our Earth are all made of chemicals. We will talk about only the inanimate material world, though we ourselves, the living things, are also chemicals and a part of the universe. We talked about the chemistry of living things in other parts of this book. No attempt is made here, however, to give a comprehensive discussion of the issue. Besides, there is a lot to be learned yet. We try to give you some basic ideas for understanding the chemistry of this big universe and the tiny planet Earth.