... the goal of this book is to make the material about chemistry and its problems more understandable.About the BookThis book is about chemistry, one of the most important sciences studied by humanity. It consists of a series of essays, each considering one field of chemistry, or a key notion, or an important compound. A feature of this book is that each essay is accompanied by descriptions of simple experiments, which can easily be performed at home. Some of the principles by which experimental data are processed, are considered, and the reader will see how the properties of unstudied substances can be predicted. Far from all branches of chemistry are covered within this small book. Nevertheless, the book touches upon many fields of chemistry, such as inorganic, organic, physical, colloid, biological, analytical and stereo-chemistry branches. The book will be of interest to senior pupils and chemistry teachers.The book was translated from the Russian by Natalia Frosina and was published by Mir Publishers in 1989.