Chemistry · Physical Chemistry
A topic within Physical Chemistry, itself one of 11 topics in that field and part of Chemistry.
No prior grounding assumed.
Water: The Fountain of Youth, Christmas Lectures
Peter Wothers (The Royal Institution) · 2012
Uses water to show that a substance's familiar behaviour is anomalous — its expansion on freezing and high boiling point follow from hydrogen…
Primary sources and full treatments.
The Atom and the Molecule
G. N. Lewis · 1916
Proposes that a chemical bond is a pair of electrons shared between two atoms, replacing electrostatic bonding models with the shared-electron-pair…
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Peter Wothers (The Royal Institution)
Uses water to show that a substance's familiar behaviour is anomalous — its expansion on freezing and high boiling point follow from hydrogen bonding, not from anything ordinary about the molecule.
link checked 17 Sept 2026G. N. Lewis
Proposes that a chemical bond is a pair of electrons shared between two atoms, replacing electrostatic bonding models with the shared-electron-pair picture still taught today.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Linus Pauling
Argues that a handful of quantum-mechanical bonding rules — resonance, hybridisation, electronegativity — explain the geometry and stability of molecules and crystals alike.