• Question: What is chemistry?

    Asked by lmcnevin to Amy, Karen, Sarah, Vijay, Will on 18 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Will Reynolds

      Will Reynolds answered on 18 Jun 2012:

      Hi lmcnevin. Chemistry is the study of the elements (the ones in the periodic table, not earth, water, fire and air!) and how they behave and interact with each other. Most of the time it involves looking at individual atoms and how they are bonded to other atoms. By understanding how they are bonded together, we can make lots of interesting and complicated molecules and materials that can be used for all sorts of things like plastics, medicines, fuels, TV screens and everything else we need.

      Within chemistry there are three main areas: Organic chemistry, which looks at the elements that are found in living things which are mostly carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorous and sulfur. Inorganic chemistry which looks at all the other elements, that are mainly metals and Physical chemistry which deals with numbers: how fast things react, how hot they get and how much energy it takes to make or break atomic bonds..

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