关键词: 化学, 社会发展, 火, 石油, 玻璃, 环境问题, 青蒿素

Abstract: This article is extracted from author’s book—What is Chemistry. In this article, the contributions of chemistry to social development, environment protection, and daily lives are presented with the aim of improving the understanding of chemistry to the public. The topics involve: human evolvement promoted by firerelated “chemical activities”, the exploit and usage of petroleum, the research and production of glass, environment and chemistry, the chemical modification of artemisinin.

Key words: chemistry, social development, fire, petroleum, glass, environment protection, artemisinin