What's New in Astrochemistry
Yorke Speaks at ACS Events All Across the USA
Yorke Speaks at ACS Events All Across the USA
If the physical world that we know
and the universe are described by
the same Physics, i.e., if Physics is
universal, is chemistry also
universal? Do the rules that we
know continue beyond earth?
Before 1960 that question was not
often raised. No one thought much
of chemistry off-earth. Yes, there
was known to be water, CO and
CO2 in the space around earth and
even around other planets, and yes
even in the spectra of some stars.
and the universe are described by
the same Physics, i.e., if Physics is
universal, is chemistry also
universal? Do the rules that we
know continue beyond earth?
Before 1960 that question was not
often raised. No one thought much
of chemistry off-earth. Yes, there
was known to be water, CO and
CO2 in the space around earth and
even around other planets, and yes
even in the spectra of some stars.
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| Talk, Talk, Talk with the Milky Way again at the ACS booth at the National ACS Meeting |
| At Tyler College in North West Texas as their speaker on "Astrochemistry" |
Such spectra were used to measure properties of some stars, but one
didn’t think of those molecules as chemistry. The myriad of
chemicals known on earth did not lead people to search off earth. But
since the ’60’s what discoveries have been made! There are now
known some 140 different molecules off-earth, out of the solar
system, interstellar, intergalactic. Practically everywhere one looks in
the heavens there are many molecules. Is the chemistry similar to
what we know here on Earth? Three quarters of the now-discovered
molecules are what we would call organic – some are similar to earth
chemistry, some are exotic, all follow rules of structure and energy
that we know, but many are very different and have unusual
structures that we don’t find in our temperate surroundings. A subtitle
could be: “Recent Advances in the Chemistry of Natural Products”.
Come learn about some unusual structures. What kinds of molecules
exist? How did they form? Where do they occur? What mechanisms
exist for molecule formation? What are some possible reactions?
Let's see what we can predict.
didn’t think of those molecules as chemistry. The myriad of
chemicals known on earth did not lead people to search off earth. But
since the ’60’s what discoveries have been made! There are now
known some 140 different molecules off-earth, out of the solar
system, interstellar, intergalactic. Practically everywhere one looks in
the heavens there are many molecules. Is the chemistry similar to
what we know here on Earth? Three quarters of the now-discovered
molecules are what we would call organic – some are similar to earth
chemistry, some are exotic, all follow rules of structure and energy
that we know, but many are very different and have unusual
structures that we don’t find in our temperate surroundings. A subtitle
could be: “Recent Advances in the Chemistry of Natural Products”.
Come learn about some unusual structures. What kinds of molecules
exist? How did they form? Where do they occur? What mechanisms
exist for molecule formation? What are some possible reactions?
Let's see what we can predict.