Asimov on Chemistry by Isaac AsimovThe book Asimov on Chemistry by Isaac Asimov is a collection of seventeen essays that he wrote for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction . This book is one of ten that were published by Doubleday & Company, Inc. Not all books focus on chemistry and similar sciences. Most just covered everything Isaac Asimov was wondering about. These essays go back quite a long way and extend from January 1959 to April 1966. INORGANIC CHEMISTRY The weighting game This is what I found the most boring in the whole book. It covers chemical atomic weight and physical atomic weight. It also gives chemical methods for determining atomic weight. Slow Burn This is a description of how Isaac Newton contributed to the field of chemistry as well as what civilizations thought about chemistry. Then he talks about a chemist who is pathologically shy, absent-minded, stuffy and who hates women. This man made some discoveries about flammable gases and proved that water was an oxide. The Element of Perfection Asimov talks about the astronomers of the mid-1800s and how they made the spectroscope. Only then does he begin to mention an element that a French chemist thought was new or perhaps just a heavier element, nitrogen. Inert gases and their liquefaction points are then listed when they are first liquefied by a chemist. Welcome, stranger! This is talking about the rarest of the stable energetic gases, xenon. This also explains why in 1962 so many expirations occurred regarding this gas. First, he defines the word gas and talks about different types in about four pages. Then he explains how it is combined with flour to form a poison. Death in the laboratory. Here Asimov talks about how scientists died due to poor laboratory conditions and other reasons. He also tells you about some ways you can poison yourself in a lab, like mixing xenon and flour. He then leaves and explains how the flour was used and discovered as well as the people who died in the process. Some other toxic chemical compounds are also mentioned. To tell a chemist This is Isaac Asimov's way of knowing whether someone is a chemist or not. The two questions are: (1) How do you pronounce UNIONIZED? and (2) what is a mole? He believes that if you can say non-EYE-on-ized and talk for hours about molecular weight to define mole, then you must be a chemist. NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY The Evens concluded here's how isotopes are impractical and how to identify them. It then describes how an isotope is constructed. it also says an element with a