Generally, we study science to better understand our environment and the world around us. All our knowledge about our planet, including how our bodies function, the food we eat, the reproduction of plants and animals, how smartphones and computers work, and the products made in factories among other things, is derived from science.
In schools across the globe, science is divided into 3 classical subjects or fields: Biology, chemistry, and physics.
What Is Chemistry About?
In the course of our daily lives, we encounter or use different substances. These substances are in the form of what’s commonly referred to as matter. Anything you can see or touch around you—soil, rocks, air, water, plants, animals—is made of matter. So, matter is basically everything that makes up our universe.
Chemistry is the study of the structure, property, and composition of matter as well as the changes that matter undergoes.
The study of chemistry involves carrying out experiments on matter, making observations, doing analysis, interpreting the findings, and making conclusions.
You might be wondering, why are the experiments conducted? Well, chemists, or scientists who study chemistry, conduct experiments on matter (or substances) to discover:
• The composition of matter or chemical substances that make up a particular object.
• How the chemicals in the substances (or matter) behave under different conditions.
• How different substances in a particular object interact.
• How different substances in a particular object can be separated.
The information obtained from these aspects helps chemists understand how some substances can be altered to make them more useful to humans or to explain why they behave as they do.
In our explanation above, we’ve used “matter” and “substance” interchangeably. In chemistry, “substance” is often used as a synonym for “matter,” although “substance” has a more specific meaning in chemistry.
Branches of Chemistry
Just as science is divided into different fields, chemistry is also segmented into various branches, such as:
- Physical chemistry
- Biochemistry
- Organic chemistry
- Inorganic chemistry
- Analytical Chemistry
As you progress in your study of chemistry, you’ll learn more about these different branches.
Chemistry Is All Around Us, In Everything.
Matter is all around us. As we said earlier, anything you can touch, hear, or smell is composed of matter. Because chemistry entails the study of the structure, property, composition, and behavior of matter, we can conclude that chemistry is everywhere and is in everything.
