Effective Use of this Book – Note to Students

The evolution of human civilization is often described in terms of stages characterized by the dominant materials of each era (Figure 1); the impact of materials on human existence cannot be visualized more vividly. The science and technology of materials encompasses a wide range of physical and natural sciences, and engineering. Chemistry has played a central role in the development and utilization of materials; the nanoscale regime has close analogies to the concept of molecules, the heart and soul of chemistry. An appreciation, understanding, and practice of materials chemistry require a sound foundation in the physical and analytical concepts involved; this book is an effort to serve on this front.

The book has a novel formulation based on a bullet format and to-the-point presentation, designed to project the concepts and ideas in a logical sequence. This should help you to imbibe the key principles that lead to a clear and broad understanding of materials, without having to meander into extensive descriptive text. The liberal use of graphical illustrations is expected to aid this process. An effective way to use the book is to first familiarize yourself with the main topics in each sub-section stated in the initial paragraph(s); they impart a flavour of the principal content. This reading is expected to drive your curiosity, to subsequently glide deeper into the details, derivations or illustrations provided in the bullet steps that follow. The sub-sections are kept compact to facilitate easier assimilation of the essential concepts.

The model exercises collected at the end of the book are grouped into two types in each section, ‘content based’ and ‘context based’. The former essentially requires information already provided in the book, and is meant to guide the process of enquiry. An efficient mode of learning the subject is to take up each sub-section and use the bullet format to create your own questions and answers; the point-wise presentation can guide such efforts. It is often said that, the essence of learning is not so much acquiring the ability to answer questions, but developing the talent to raise relevant questions. The context based problems are natural extensions that follow, and involve utilization of the content of the book in interpretations, analysis, applications or extension scenarios, testing your comprehension. It is strongly recommended that after you go through the exercises, you attempt the development of your own context based ones.

Happy learning!