Abstract

In 2002 the American Chemical Society (ACS) asked its members to submit proposals for the "ten most beautiful experiments in chemistry" (C&EN, Nov. 18, 2002, p. 5) and then proudly published the result of the vote in its Chemical and Engineering News magazine (C&EN, Aug. 25, 2003, pp. 27-30). Democratic as the procedure is, it avoids asking critical questions: What is an experiment? What is beauty? What is chemistry? In fact, you need not be able to give an answer to these questions in order to vote. We could even imagine none of the voters being able to answer any of the questions in explicit terms. And yet, the members of the society might correctly consider the result valid, not only with regard to the top ten list but also regarding its implicit definitions of what ‘experiment’, ‘beauty’, and ‘chemistry’ means. The result thus reflects the tacit knowledge and the unquestioned feelings of the majority, as they have previously been trained to respond to such unusual questions, and helps newcomers to acculturate easily. However, such implicit consensus definitions and assessments are neither binding for non-members, nor suitable for explicit debates. Prompted by the questions of what a beautiful experiment in chemistry is, you might repeat the top ten list you have learnt by heart, but otherwise remain silent