What Is Chemistry?

Chemistry is the study of matter and energy and the interactions between them. This is also the
definition for physics, by the way. Chemistry and physics are specializations of physical science.
Chemistry tends to focus on the properties of substances and the interactions between different types of
matter, particularly reactions that involve electrons. Physics tends to focus more on the nuclear part of
the atom, as well as the subatomic realm. Really, they are two sides of the same coin.
The formal definition of chemistry is probably what you want to use if you're asked this question on a
test.
Why Study Chemistry?
Because understanding chemistry helps you to understand the world around you. Cooking is chemistry.
Everything you can touch or taste or smell is a chemical. When you study chemistry, you come to
understand a bit about how things work. Chemistry isn't secret knowledge, useless to anyone but a
scientist. It's the explanation for everyday things, like why laundry detergent works better in hot water
or how baking soda works or why not all pain relievers work equally well on a headache. If you know
some chemistry, you can make educated choices about everyday products that you use.
hemistry Explains...
Cooking
Chemistry explains how food changes as you cook it, how it rots, how to preserve food, how your
body uses the food you eat, and how ingredients interact to make food.
Cleaning
Part of the importance of chemistry is it explains how cleaning works. You use chemistry to help
decide what cleaner is best for dishes, laundry, yourself, and your home. You use chemistry when
you use bleaches and disinfectants and even ordinary soap and water. How do they work? That's
chemistry!
Medicine
You need to understand basic chemistry so you can understand how vitamins, supplements, and
drugs can help or harm you. Part of the importance of chemistry lies in developing and testing new
medical treatments and medicines.
Environmental Issues
Chemistry is at the heart of environmental issues. What makes one chemical a nutrient and another
chemical a pollutant? How can you clean up the environment? What processes can produce the
things you need without harming the environment?

We're all chemists. We use chemicals every day and perform chemical reactions without thinking much
about them. Chemistry is important because everything you do is chemistry! Even your body is made
of chemicals. Chemical reactions occur when you breathe, eat, or just sit there reading. All matter is
made of chemicals, so the importance of chemistry is that it's the study of everything.
Importance of Taking Chemistry
Everyone can and should understand basic chemistry, but it may be important to take a course in
chemistry or even make a career out of it. It's important to understand chemistry if you are studying any
of the sciences because all of the sciences involve matter and the interactions between types of matter.
Students wanting to become doctors, nurses, physicists, nutritionists, geologists, pharmacists, and (of
course) chemists all study chemistry. You might want to make a career of chemistry because chemistry-
related jobs are plentiful and high-paying. The importance of chemistry won't be diminished over time,
so it will remain a promising career path.
Main Branches of Chemistry
Although many would say that there are FIVE main branches of chemistry, namely: Physical,
Analytical, Biochemistry, Organic and Inorganic chemistry many would argue that the science of
chemistry actually links out to other branches or sub-branches that include Materials Chemistry,
Theoretical Chemistry, Macromolecular (Polymer) Chemistry, Nuclear Chemistry, Metallurgy,
Forensic Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry and more.
It is important to note that often sub-branches fall under one or more of the main branches of chemistry.
Lets start by taking a look at the 5 main branches of chemistry and then delve deeper into chemistrys
many sub-branches:
Analytical Chemistry
Analytical chemistry is the study involving how we analyze the chemical components of samples. How
much caffeine is really in a cup of coffee? Are there drugs found in athletes urine samples? What is the
pH level of my swimming pool? Examples of areas using analytical chemistry include forensic science,
environmental science, and drug testing.
Analytical chemistry is divided into two main branches: qualitative and quantitative analysis.
Qualitative analysis employs methods/measurements to help determine the components of substances.
Quantitative analysis on the other hand, helps to identify how much of each component is present in a
substance.
Both types of analysis can be used to provide important information about an unidentified sample and
help to identify what the sample is.
For more detailed reading on analytical chemistry check out the helpful links below:
Biochemistry
The study of life or more aptly put, of chemical processes in living organisms. Biochemists research
includes cancer and stem cell biology, infectious disease as well as membrane and structural biology
and spans molecular biology, genetics, mechanistic biochemistry, genomics, evolution and systems
biology.
Biochemistry, according to many scientists can also be explained as a discipline in which biological
phenomena are examined in chemical terms. Examples are digestion and cellular respiration.
For this reason biochemistry is also known as Chemical Biology or Biological Chemistry.
Under the main umbrella of biochemistry many new sub-branches have emerged that modern chemists
may specialize in solely. Some of these disciplines include:
1. Enzymology (study of enzymes)
2. Endocrinology (study of hormones)
3. Clinical Biochemistry (study of diseases)
4. Molecular Biochemistry (Study of Biomolecules and their functions).
There are also others like Pharmacological Biochemistry, Agricultural Biochemistry and more.
Click the informative links below to learn more about biochemistry:
Inorganic chemistry
Chemists in this field focus on elements and compounds other than carbon or hydrocarbons. Simply
put, inorganic chemistry covers all materials that are not organic and are termed as non-living
substances those compounds that do not contain a carbon hydrogen (C-H) bond.
Compounds studied by inorganic chemists include crystal structures, minerals, metals, catalysts, and
most elements on the periodic table. An example is the strength of a power beam used to carry a
specific weight or investigating how gold is formed in the earth.
Branches of inorganic chemistry include:
1. Bioinorganic chemistry (study of role of metals in biology)
2. Coordination chemistry (study of coordination compounds and interactions of ligands)
3. Geochemistry (study of the earths chemical composition, rocks, minerals & atmosphere)
4. Inorganic technology (synthesizing new inorganic compounds)
5. Nuclear chemistry (study of radioactive substances)
6. Organometallic chemistry (study of chemicals that contain bonds between a metal and carbon
overlaps into organic chemistry)
7. Solid-state chemistry/materials chemistry (study of the forming, structure, and characteristics of
solid phase materials)
8. Synthetic inorganic chemistry (study of synthesizing chemicals)
9. Industrial inorganic chemistry (study of materials used in manufacturing. E.g.: fertilizers)
Read up on more about inorganic chemistry below:
Organic chemistry
The study of carbon compounds such as fuels, plastics, food additives, and drugs. An opposite of
inorganic chemistry that focuses on non-living matter and non-carbon based substances, organic
chemistry deals with the study of carbon and the chemicals in living organisms. An example is the
process of photosynthesis in a leaf because there is a change in the chemical composition of the living
plant.
Organic chemists are often the ones who devise experimental methods to isolate or synthesize new
materials, or to study their properties, and usually work and research in a lab. Some examples on the
work they do include formulating a conditioner that keeps hair softer, developing a better drug for
headaches and creating a non-toxic home cleaning product.
The branches of organic chemistry involve many different disciplines including the study of ketones,
aldehydes, hydrocarbons (alkenes, alkanes, alkynes) and alcohols.
1. Stereochemistry (study of the 3-dimensional structure of molecules)
2. Medicinal chemistry (deals with designing, developing and synthesizing pharmaceutical drugs)
3. Organometallic chemistry (study of chemicals that contain bonds between a carbon and a metal)
4. Physical organic chemistry (study of structure and reactivity in organic molecules)
5. Polymer chemistry (study of the composition and creation of polymer molecules)
Want to learn more about organic chemistry? Browse the resources below:
Physical chemistry
The study of the physical properties of molecules, and their relation to the ways in which molecules and
atoms are put together. Physical chemistry deals with the principles and methodologies of both
chemistry and physics and is the study of how chemical structure impacts physical properties of a
substance. An example is baking brownies, as youre mixing materials and using heat and energy to get
the final product.
Physical chemists would typically study the rate of a chemical reaction, the interaction of molecules
with radiation, and the calculation of structures and properties.
Sub-branches of physical chemistry include:
1. Electrochemistry (study of the interaction of atoms, molecules, ions and electric current)
2. Photochemistry (study of the chemical effects of light; photochemical reactions)
3. Surface chemistry (study of chemical reactions at interfaces)
4. Chemical Kinetics (study of rates of chemical reactions)
5. Thermodynamics/Thermochemistry (study of how heat relates to chemical change)
6. Quantum Mechanics/Quantum Chemistry (study of quantum mechanics and how it relates to
chemical phenomena)
7. Spectroscopy (study of spectra of light or radiation)

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
History of Chemistry
The earliest practical knowledge of chemistry was concerned with metallurgy, pottery, and dyes; these
crafts were developed with considerable skill, but with no understanding of the principles involved, as
early as 3500 B.C. in Egypt and Mesopotamia. The basic ideas of element and compound were first
formulated by the Greek philosophers during the period from 500 to 300 B.C. Opinion varied, but it
was generally believed that four elements (fire, air, water, and earth) combined to form all things.
Aristotle's definition of a simple body as "one into which other bodies can be decomposed and which
itself is not capable of being divided" is close to the modern definition of element.
About the beginning of the Christian era in Alexandria, the ancient Egyptian industrial arts and Greek
philosophical speculations were fused into a new science. The beginnings of chemistry, or alchemy, as
it was first known, are mingled with occultism and magic. Interests of the period were the
transmutation of base metals into gold, the imitation of precious gems, and the search for the elixir of
life, thought to grant immortality. Muslim conquests in the 7th cent. A.D. diffused the remains of
Hellenistic civilization to the Arab world. The first chemical treatises to become well known in Europe
were Latin translations of Arabic works, made in Spain c.A.D. 1100; hence it is often erroneously
supposed that chemistry originated among the Arabs. Alchemy developed extensively during the
Middle Ages, cultivated largely by itinerant scholars who wandered over Europe looking for patrons.
Evolution of Modern Chemistry
In the hands of the "Oxford Chemists" (Robert Boyle, Robert Hooke, and John Mayow) chemistry
began to emerge as distinct from the pseudoscience of alchemy. Boyle (162791) is often called the
founder of modern chemistry (an honor sometimes also given Antoine Lavoisier, 174394). He
performed experiments under reduced pressure, using an air pump, and discovered that volume and
pressure are inversely related in gases (see gas laws). Hooke gave the first rational explanation
of combustionas combination with airwhile Mayow studied animal respiration. Even as the
English chemists were moving toward the correct theory of combustion, two Germans, J. J. Becher and
G. E. Stahl, introduced the false phlogiston theory of combustion, which held that the substance
phlogiston is contained in all combustible bodies and escapes when the bodies burn.
The discovery of various gases and the analysis of air as a mixture of gases occurred during the
phlogiston period. Carbon dioxide, first described by J. B. van Helmont and rediscovered by Joseph
Black in 1754, was originally called fixed air. Hydrogen, discovered by Boyle and carefully studied by
Henry Cavendish, was called inflammable air and was sometimes identified with phlogiston itself.
Cavendish also showed that the explosion of hydrogen and oxygen produces water. C. W. Scheele
found that air is composed of two fluids, only one of which supports combustion. He was the first to
obtain pure oxygen (177173), although he did not recognize it as an element. Joseph Priestley
independently discovered oxygen by heating the red oxide of mercury with a burning glass; he was the
last great defender of the phlogiston theory.
The work of Priestley, Black, and Cavendish was radically reinterpreted by Lavoisier, who did for
chemistry what Newton had done for physics a century before. He made no important new discoveries
of his own; rather, he was a theoretician. He recognized the true nature of combustion, introduced a
new chemical nomenclature, and wrote the first modern chemistry textbook. He erroneously believed
that all acids contain oxygen.
Impact of the Atomic Theory
The assumption that compounds were of definite composition was implicit in 18th-century chemistry.
J. L. Proust formally stated the law of constant proportions in 1797. C. L. Berthollet opposed this law,
holding that composition depended on the method of preparation. The issue was resolved in favor of
Proust by John Dalton's atomic theory (1808). The atomic theory goes back to the Greeks, but it did not
prove fruitful in chemistry until Dalton ascribed relative weights to the atoms of chemical elements.
Electrochemical theories of chemical combinations were developed by Humphry Davy and J. J.
Berzelius. Davy discovered the alkali metals by passing an electric current through their molten oxides.
Michael Faraday discovered that a definite quantity of charge must flow in order to deposit a given
weight of material in solution. Amedeo Avogadro introduced the hypothesis that equal volumes of
gases at the same pressure and temperature contain the same number of molecules.
William Prout suggested that as all elements seemed to have atomic weights that were multiples of the
atomic weight of hydrogen, they could all be in some way different combinations of hydrogen atoms.
This contributed to the concept of the periodic table of the elements, the culmination of a long effort to
find regular, systematic properties among the elements. Periodic laws were put forward almost
simultaneously and independently by J. L. Meyer in Germany and D. I. Mendeleev in Russia (1869).
An early triumph of the new theory was the discovery of new elements that fit the empty spaces in the
table. William Ramsay's discovery, in collaboration with Lord Rayleigh, of argon and other inert gases
in the atmosphere extended the periodic table
Organic Chemistry and the Modern Era
Organic chemistry developed extensively in the 19th cent., prompted in part by Friedrich Wohler's
synthesis of urea (1828), which disproved the belief that only living organisms could produce organic
molecules. Other important organic chemists include Justus von Liebig, C. A. Wurtz, and J. B. Dumas.
In 1852 Edward Frankland introduced the idea of valency (see valence), and in 1858 F. A. Kekule
showed that carbon atoms are tetravalent and are linked together in chains. Kekule's ring structure for
benzene opened the way to modern theories of organic chemistry. Henri Louis Le Chtelier, J. H. van't
Hoff, and Wilhelm Ostwald pioneered the application of thermodynamics to chemistry. Further
contributions were the phase rule of J. W. Gibbs, the ionization equilibrium theory of S. A. Arrhenius,
and the heat theorem of Walther Nernst. Ernst Fischer's work on the amino acids marks the beginning
of molecular biology.
At the end of the 19th cent., the discovery of the electron by J. J. Thomson and of radioactivity by A. E.
Becquerel revealed the close connection between chemistry and physics. The work of Ernest
Rutherford, H. G. J. Moseley, and Niels Bohr on atomic structure (see atom) was applied to molecular
structures. G. N. Lewis, Irving Langmuir, and Linus Pauling developed the electronic theory
of chemical bonds, directed valency, and molecular orbitals (see molecular orbital theory).
Transmutation of the elements, first achieved by Rutherford, has led to the creation of elements not
found in nature; in work pioneered by Glenn Seaborg elements heavier than uranium have been
produced. With the rapid development of polymer chemistry after World War II a host of new synthetic
fibers and materials have been added to the market. A fuller understanding of the relation between the
structure of molecules and their properties has allowed chemists to tailor predictively new materials to
meet specific needs.