Chemistry is defined as “the study of the composition, structure and properties of matter, the processes that matter undergoes, and the energetic changes that accompany these processes” (Davis 3). Chemistry has been around since the dawn of time, long before humans realized what chemistry was or its importance. The earth's building blocks, such as soil minerals and atmospheric gases, are all derived from chemical elements. Natural resources are all chemical substances or chemical compounds, and the study of such resources is what started the chemical revolution of the 18th century. Today, chemists continue to work hard trying to understand the reactions of the universe. Chemistry is a timeless field of study and will continue to be so long into the future. It is difficult to define a time “before” chemistry. Chemistry has been a part of people's lives since the date of humanity, even if people did not understand the concepts of chemistry itself. For example, early humans extracted metals from ore, fermented beer and wine, and made medicines and perfumes from plants. Even without a formal definition of chemistry, humans practiced the subject. At the end of the 18th century the Chemical Revolution took place, which defined Chemistry as a separate science from Alchemy, the dominant “science” before 1700. Robert Boyle is said to be one of the precursors of chemistry. He discovered that the volume of a gas decreases as the pressure increases and vice versa (Boyle's Law). Antione-Laurent Lavoisier, another leading thinker of the Chemical Revolution, gave society a new understanding of the chemical role of gases in explaining combustion, respiration, and other processes. These eminent scientists and their precursors created Chemis...... middle of paper ...... and the food we eat. Already today chemicals are introduced into animals to make them bigger and into vegetables to make them healthier. These steps make food affordable and feed more people. As the number of people living on Earth increases, it is likely that chemistry will help feed the growing population. Almost all processes on earth are driven by chemistry and chemical reactions. Processes in our bodies, the exchange of gases in the atmosphere, and the decomposition of matter are all small examples of the many things chemistry does in our daily lives. Natural resources, such as oxygen, nitrogen, and water, fuel many of these chemical reactions. Chemistry has existed since the beginning of time, even when people didn't know what it really was, and it will continue to shape people's lives into the future. There is much more that chemistry can still teach us.