Life processes do not violate the fundamental laws of chemistry and physics.  As we have learned in earlier lectures, life exhibits unique levels of complexity that are not found in non-living systems.  However, at the lower levels of chemistry and physics, life obeys all fundamental laws discovered in these disciplines.  In fact, biochemistry is the basis for understanding aspects of life that could never be understood otherwise.

A True Story about the Relevance of Chemistry in Everyday Life

Giggles could be heard floating down the hallway from behind the closed door of the young boy’s bedroom.  Gordon and his cousin, Eddie, were peering over a bubbling soup of chemicals from a toy chemistry set that had arrived at Christmas.  They had long abandoned the instruction book that showed how to learn chemistry by following some harmless recipes.  Now they were in uncharted territory.  “What would happen if we mixed this one, too…….”

Unsatisfied with the apparent lack of excitement in the chemical soup they were brewing, Gordon opened the doorway and quietly walked down the hallway toward the ray of light that entered from a door on the right.  At the end of the hallway he peered around the corner where two sets of parents were playing dominos.  When the coast was clear, Gordon tiptoed through another doorway to the left and found his way to the kitchen where he opened a cabinet door under the sink.   Gordon’s mother kept a meticulously clean house with the help of a small warehouse of cleaning compounds she bought at the grocery store.  Gordon had an armful of new ingredients when he returned to his bedroom.

A little of this and a little of that were added to the mix.  Eddie suggested that a little cooking might help.  A portion of the chemical soup was poured into a small test tube and then held with metal clamps over a candle flame.  The solution crackled, popped, and then… exploded!  The glass shattered and the brownish, purplish goop was scattered around the room, but mostly directly overhead on the white ceiling.

Laughter now rang down the hallway.  “Hey!  What are you boys up to?”  yelled a parent.  “Oh… we’ll just wrestling around, “ returned Gordon.  Hurriedly, the boys picked up the fragments of glass and wiped up the mess.  For years afterwards, Gordon would remember this incident when he lay in bed with his eyes open and saw the star-like pattern of brownish, purplish spots on that white ceiling!  It would always make him smile, but what had he learned?

Some years later, Gordon and Eddie went to college.  They were still just a bit on the adventurous side.  Gordon worked in the science building as a work study student.  One day he found a jar labeled “sodium metal.”  The metal in the jar looked a lot like lead, and it was covered with an oily liquid.  Gordon remembered something about sodium metal from chemistry class.  If small pieces were cut off and dropped in water, it would sizzle and get hot and sometimes pop like a firecracker.  Gordon liked fireworks, so he asked the professor if he could have the jar of sodium.  “Well..... okay” answered the professor, “but be careful with it.”  Gordon took the jar home and entertained his friends with the amazing popping metal.

One night, several of Gordon’s friends came to visit.  Spirits were high.  Gordon decided to amaze his friends once more with the amazing popping metal.  But this time, he really wanted to impress them.  Gordon invited them walk outside in the dark night to watch as he dropped the whole chunk of sodium metal into a nearby creek.  Gordon dropped the metal in the water and ran up the bank to his friends.  As the curious group watched, an eerie glow grew in the darkness.  Then...... KABOOM.  The explosion blew the top out of a tree hanging over the stream pool.  People in nearby houses ran outside thinking there was a sonic boom or earthquake!  Cars screeched to a halt on a nearby highway!  And the small group of friends was fortunate to be alive and have their hearing!

Gordon was a slow learner about some things, but the sodium metal explosion did get his attention.  Chemicals react, sometimes violently, and one must be knowledgeable and wise to use them safely!  But for Gordon, the pitfalls were many.  He was too lazy and too hardheaded to handle chemicals wisely.  Ultimately, Gordon always seemed to learn the hard way.

Gordon was a hard worker, and held down three jobs while he was in college.  One of these jobs was at a local supermarket.  Each evening Gordon mopped the floors of the entire store.  Mr. Roberts, the storeowner, told the workers to use damaged bottles of cleaners to mix the mop water.  One evening Gordon prepared to mop the floors.  He looked in the back room where the damaged goods were crammed on a shelf.  “Hmmmmm....  What should I use?” thought Gordon.  Forgetting his chemistry set disaster years before, Gordon took a little of this, a little of that, and a little of something else and poured them in the mop bucket.  He headed out into the store and started mopping.  Soon his eyes were burning severely, kind of like someone had sprayed him with mace!  The fumes spread and quickly the customers and other workers in the store had to run outside to get fresh air.

What had happened?  Two of the cleaners that Gordon had mixed were clorox bleach and ammonia.  Each by itself was a good enough cleaner, but mixed together they reacted and one of the products was a dangerous, poisonous gas called chlorine!  Chlorine gas is so reactive that when it mixes with water (such as in tears of the eyes or moisture in the lungs) it forms hydrochloric acid!  Gordon had filled the air with poison.  Gordon had not bothered to read the warning labels on the bottles before mixing the dangerous brew.  Fortunately, no one was permanently hurt.

Gordon learned slowly about chemicals.  He graduated with a minor in chemistry, but he still had not developed a wise respect for chemicals.  He decided to go to graduate school and study his academic love, biology.  Graduate school was fun and enjoyed learning.  However, the pressure and demands were difficult for him to handle without help.  He found a chemical to help.  A doctor friend told him one day to try a prescription of amphetamines to help him study.  So Gordon did.  He took amphetamines to study all night, and when he needed to finally go to sleep, his old chemical buddy, ethyl alcohol, did the job.  A mass quantity of the chemical, caffeine, was a poor substitute he used to stay awake when the amphetamines ran out.  This pattern of life would continue for many years, and Gordon saw no problems in his use of these chemicals.  As the years passed, he added many new chemicals to his pharmaceutical repertoire:  THC, LSD, methamphamine, mescaline, cocaine, morphine, demerol, ecstasy, and a host of others.  Gordon thought these helped him have fun and relax.  He thought these chemicals were good for him.  After all, he always worked extremely hard at his job.  He always paid his bills.  He was an acceptable, responsible, and productive member of society!

Once again, Gordon learned the hard way.  His life fell apart.  He was miserable.  His mind no longer functioned normally, and a hopeless, depression overwhelmed him.  The chemicals he had used to get by for thirty years of his life no longer worked, but he could not do without them.  He did not know it, but he was an addict.  His health began to fail.  He lost all hope of being happy.  Tragically, he reached a point when he could no longer function as an acceptable, responsible, and productive member of society.

What had happened?  Gordon did not realize that every chemical taken into his body was reacting in ways that slowly destroyed or disrupted many critical physiological processes.  The neurons in his brain were slowly altered until finally he developed clear clinical symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia!  Obsessive-compulsive behavior made things worse.  Depression was an everyday handicap.  Gordon did not know about the chemistry of neurotransmitters, those important natural chemicals that must be in proper balance for proper brain function.  He did not know how drugs (including alcohol because alcohol is also a drug) damage the activities of these neurotransmitters.  He did not know how drugs damage other tissues of the body.  He did not know in the midst of active addiction how much he had changed for the worse.  He did not know that biased thinking and denial characterize the disease of addiction.  Once again, Gordon’s lack of respect for chemistry nearly did him in, this time for good.

Gordon’s story fortunately has a happy ending.  Friends, doctors, and counselors helped saved his life.  Many months of intensive treatment, both medical and psychological were required to combat the ravages of years of substance abuse.  As the years passed, Gordon developed a true respect for chemistry and its importance in our society.  He also learned that understanding basic chemistry is a valuable asset to all people.  Gordon is happy today and has again become an acceptable, responsible, and productive member of our society.  He knows the importance of teaching others about chemistry and tries to carry this message wherever appropriate in his teaching and his life.