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- "Wherever we look, the work of the chemist has raised the level of our civilization and has increased the productive capacity of the nation."
– Calvin Coolidge
This excerpt is from the Civ 5 Strategy Guide:
Siege weaponry leaps forward once again when Chemistry is discovered. Trebuchets can upgrade into Cannons, and that gives them a major boost in their Ranged Combat. Though still limited to slower movement and setup times, these units are strong enough to shred cities that depend on their Castles for safety.
The Ironworks is a National Wonder that raises Production in its city by 20%! You need to have a Workshop in every city before you can build the Ironworks, but that's a small price to pay. Beyond that, it's rare to find a city that wouldn't benefit from having a Workshop, so you're not wasting time or money getting ready for this National Wonder.
Historical Info:
The offspring of alchemy and mathematics, Chemistry is the science of matter, its structure, behavior, composition, and how it behaves during chemical reactions. Physicists drop balls off of towers and time how long it takes them to fall; chemists study the balls themselves and try to figure out why some shatter and some bounce.
While scientists, doctors and philosophers have been interested in chemistry throughout history, it achieved the dignified status of science in 1789, when Antoine Lavoisier published a paper describing the law of conservation of mass. In "Elements of Chemistry," Lavoisier discovered the composition of air and water, coining the term "oxygen." He also debunked the phlogiston theory, which had been hanging around confusing scientists for over 100 years.
Lavoisier is considered the father of modern chemistry. His example led other chemists to employ scientific methods to the study of chemicals. By so doing, they were able to disprove theories that had been taken as gospel since they were put forth by the Greeks thousands of years ago.