Conclusion! (:
In conclusion, chemistry plays a relevant role in all parts of the photography process. As previously noted, photography touches upon many aspects of chemistry. It involves a plethora of chemical reactions ranging from oxidation-reduction reactions (emulsion) to double-replacement reactions, etc, in which the composition of matter changes, and new, unique products are formed. This experiment also involved using different types of chemicals, mixtures, and solutions to achieve the final goal of a stable negative. The acid-base reaction between the developer and the stop bath is a prime example about the significance of chemistry in photography - one neutralized the other. The microscopic environment played a crucial role in creating what we could see on the macroscopic level. Dalton's theory that atoms of different elements can physically mix or chemically combine in simple whole-number ratios to form compounds, held true in this experiment - the reactions listed in Section 5 show that the elements combined in small, whole number ratios. The electrons of these elements played a key role in allowing the reactions to take place. The transfer and/or sharing of electrons is what allowed the photographic process to occur. (See section 5 for more info) Polyatomic ions like NH4+ (ammonium) were involved in these reactions, as well. All these items are ideas noted and covered in our Chemistry textbook / in class. Being able to recognize different molecules / polyatomic ions, and being able to write and balance formulas definitely came in handy when it came to analyzing what had happened when we took the picture to how the negatives appeared on our film.
The history of the camera & different methods of photography helped me to later be able to understand how light energy could be converted into a concrete image. By seeing the step by step development of these discoveries, I understood how this was possible. The "How Cameras Work" section broke it down for me even further. In a sense, each section in this project tied together any previous knowledge had attained and each built upon the next section, contributing to a strong understanding of the subject matter. The developing process section really broke down for me what must happen for a film to be fully developed. Of course, I was able to actually experience and go about this process in my lab experiment, but knowing what was going on while I was doing the lab was extremely helpful and helped to solidify my understanding of the process. Because of previous knowledge I had attained in chemistry, I was able to recognize the different types of reactions that occurred in the experiment. For example, the stop bath, which was acidic, neutralized the basic developer and stopped the ongoing reaction between the developer and the silver halide grains. Finally, breaking down the objects in my pictures into chemical components helped me to see that chemistry affects all living and synthetic things. For example, the presence of carbon in specific compounds within certain objects showed me that these things were (for the most part) living, or once living.
I learned a lot by doing this experiment in terms of chemistry and the photography process. I was able to successfully develop my pictures, while learning more about different aspects of chemistry. This project really helped to put together all the pieces of topics we covered in class.