Atkins' What is Chemistry Chapter Five: Its Techniques

Atkins briefly lists the important techniques that have helped propel chemistry to its current stature in terms of analysis and synthesis.  At the very fundamental level, analysis and measurement at the macroscopic level through the use of volumetric and filtration analysis familiar to many introductory and majors level students.  These techniques involve the use of titration, gravimetric and vacuum filtration, distillation, pipetting, and the like.  Then he went on to briefly describe the methods and instrumentation that have allowed chemistry to probe matter at the atomic and molecular level by taking advantage of knowledge about matter and its knteraction with light:spectroscopy.  Spectroscopic techniques involve detecting absorption and emission of different wavelengths of light to probe the structure and quantify small amount of matter.  These techniques include atomic spectroscopy, IR, visible, and UV spectrometry, NMR, and x/ray diffraction.  He also mentions the importance of probing surfaces where many important biological and industrial reactions take place.  These techniques involve atomic force microscopy and scanning tunneling microscopes.  He then went on to emphasize the very important role of computers to model the electronic structure of molecules for studying and designing reactivity and in determining the 3-D structure of proteins and to model their folding processes.  Lastly, in the realm of synthesis, combinatorial chemistry has allowed chemists to increase the efficiency with which molecules can be synthesized and probed for their biological activity for potential pharmaceutical applications.