In
chemistry, a
chemical species is a chemical entity, such as a particular
atom, ion, or
molecule. [1]
A chemical species, in technical terms, is defined as an ensemble of chemical identical molecular entities that can explore the same set of molecular energy levels on the time scale of the experiment. [2] People as chemical speciesIn 1809, building on the logic of Swedish of naturalist Carolus Linnaeus, who had recently developed a Latin binomial classification scheme for plant species and who also suggested to his associate French chemist
Antoine Lavoisier that all alchemical entities be classified in a similar manner, German polymath
Johann von Goethe founded the
science of
human chemistry when he conceived the view of
people as "chemical species", such as those found on the various chemical
affinity tables of the 18th century, and wrote the scientific novella
Elective Affinities on this view. [3]
See alsoReferences1. Daintith, John. (2004).
Oxford Dictionary of Chemistry. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2. Chemical species (PDF) – IUPAC Goldbook3. Thims, Libb. (2007).
Human Chemistry (Volume Two), (
preview), (ch. 10 "Goethe's Affinities", pgs. 371-422). Morrisville, NC: LuLu.