Air travel is common today as passengers fly all over the world in jets. But in the late 1700s, scientists were only just beginning to develop the technology for flight. They started by making balloons that could safely carry humans through the air. Although much simpler than planes or rockets, balloons still required a great deal of planning and many chemical principles were applied to their development. Since then, many more chemical principles have been applied as scientists and engineers built and tested planes, jets, rockets, and a space station that orbits Earth. In this chapter, you will look more closely at ideas in chemistry such as gas laws, the mole concept, and reaction stoichiometry that have helped humans develop air and space flight.
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