What Is Chemistry?
According to Britannica, chemistry is “the science that deals with the properties, composition, and structure of substances (defined as elements and compounds), the transformations they undergo, and the energy that is released or absorbed during these processes.”
Branches Of Chemistry
According to the online chemistry textbook published by LibreText, chemistry is traditionally divided into many branches. More specific areas such as food chemistry, environmental chemistry and nuclear chemistry are also included, but this section focuses on the main branches of chemistry.
Analytical chemistry
Analytical chemistry involves the analysis of chemicals and includes qualitative methods, such as looking at color changes, as well as quantitative methods, such as examining the exact wavelength(s) of light absorbed by a chemical as a result of a color change.
These methods allow scientists to characterize many different properties of chemicals and can benefit society in many ways. For example, analytical chemistry helps food companies make tastier frozen dinners by detecting how chemicals in food change when they are frozen over time. Analytical chemistry also monitors environmental health by measuring chemicals in water or soil, for example.
Biochemistry, as mentioned above, uses the methods of chemistry to understand how biological systems work on a chemical level. Thanks to biochemistry, scientists have managed to map the human genome, understand the function of various proteins in the body and develop medicines for many diseases.
Inorganic chemistry
Inorganic chemistry is the study of chemical compounds in inorganic or non-living things such as minerals and metals. Traditionally, inorganic chemistry considers compounds that do not contain carbon (which are categorized under organic chemistry), but this definition is not entirely accurate, according to the ACS (opens in a new tab). Some compounds studied in inorganic chemistry, such as “organometallic compounds”, contain metals that are metals bonded to carbon, the main substance studied in organic chemistry. As such, such compounds are considered part of both fields.
Inorganic chemistry is used to create a variety of products, such as paints, fertilizers and sunscreens.
Organic chemistry deals with chemical compounds that contain carbon, an element essential to life. Organic chemists study the composition, structure, properties and reactions of compounds that contain carbon together with other non-carbon elements such as hydrogen, sulfur and silicon. Organic chemistry is used in many applications such as ACS such as biotechnology, petroleum, pharmaceuticals and plastics.
Physical chemistry
Physical chemistry uses the concepts of physics to understand how chemistry works. For example, figuring out how atoms move and interact with each other or why some liquids, including water, turn into vapor at high temperatures. Physical chemists try to understand these phenomena at the very small scale – the level of atoms and molecules – to draw conclusions about how chemical reactions work and what gives certain materials their unique properties.
This type of research helps inform other areas of chemistry and is important for product development, according to ACS. For example, physical chemists can study how certain materials, such as plastics, can react with chemicals that the material is intended to come into contact with.
Conclusion
Overall, this article explains the basics of chemistry and general science.
