Chemistry in Everyday Life

  • Location
    First Floor
  • Suggested duration
    15 mins
  • Open
    Permanent
  • More things about
 

The Chemistry gallery is where you’ll discover the vital role that chemistry plays in all of our lives.

Find out about the analytical techniques used in the drinks and petroleum industries, such as the use of pH meters to measure the acidity of soft drinks, tintometers to measure the colour of beer and viscosity apparatus to measure the thinness of the motor oils we put in our cars.

You can also find out how our understanding of the microscopic world has developed, from our earliest studies of simple molecules in the middle of the 19th century to the discovery of the chemical structure of insulin in the 1960s. We even have a section that highlights the modern methods used to explore this microscopic world.

A bonus feature of the gallery is the display of personal memorabilia that once belonged to key figures from the history of chemistry.

 

Cost:

On display

Dalton's wooden atomic models, c early 19th century.

Three wooden spheres used by Dalton to demonstrate his atomic theory.

 
Dorothy Hodgkin's model of pig insulin, c 1967.

Model of pig insulin's molecular structure.