The list of career possibilities for people with training in chemistry is long and varied. Even in times when unemployment rates are high, the chemist remains one of the most highly sought after and employed scientists. The behavior of atoms, molecules, and ions determines the sort of world we live in, our shapes and sizes, and even how we feel on a given day. Chemists who understand these phenomena are very well equipped to tackle problems faced by our modern society.
On any given day, a chemist may be studying the mechanism of the recombination of DNA molecules, measuring the amount of insecticide in drinking water, comparing the protein content of meats, developing a new antibiotic, or analyzing a moon rock.
To design a synthetic fiber, a life-saving drug, or a space capsule requires a knowledge of chemistry. To understand why an autumn leaf turns red, or why a diamond is hard, or why soap gets us clean, requires, first, a basic understanding of chemistry. It may be obvious to you that a chemistry background is important if you plan to teach chemistry or to work in the chemical industry developing chemical commodities such as polymeric materials, pharmaceuticals, flavorings, preservatives, dyestuffs, or fragrances.
You may also be aware that chemists are frequently employed as environmental scientists, chemical oceanographers, chemical information specialists, chemical engineers, and chemical salespersons. However, it may be less obvious to you that a significant knowledge of chemistry is often required in a number of related professions including medicine, pharmacy, medical technology, nuclear medicine, molecular biology, biotechnology, pharmacology, toxicology, paper science, pharmaceutical science, hazardous waste management, art conservation, forensic science and patent law.
Thus, a chemistry degree can be effectively combined with advanced work in other fields which may lead, for example, to work in higher management sometimes with an M. It is often observed that today's graduate, unlike the graduate of a generation ago, should anticipate not a single position with one employer or in one industry, but rather many careers.
You will be well prepared for this future if, in your college years, you take advantage of the opportunity to become broadly educated, to learn to be flexible and to be a creative problem solver. For example, some biologists and chemists work in both fields so much that their work is called biochemistry. Similarly, geology and chemistry overlap in the field called geochemistry.
There are many other fields of science, in addition to the ones biology, medicine, etc. As our understanding of the universe has changed over time, so has the practice of science. Chemistry in its modern form, based on principles that we consider valid today, was developed in the s and s.
Before that, the study of matter was known as alchemy and was practiced mainly in China, Arabia, Egypt, and Europe. Alchemy was a somewhat mystical and secretive approach to learning how to manipulate matter. Practitioners, called alchemists, thought that all matter was composed of different proportions of the four basic elements—fire, water, earth, and air—and believed that if you changed the relative proportions of these elements in a substance, you could change the substance.
Alchemists used symbols to represent substances, some of which are shown in the accompanying figure. This was not done to better communicate ideas, as chemists do today, but to maintain the secrecy of alchemical knowledge, keeping others from sharing in it.
In spite of this secrecy, in its time alchemy was respected as a serious, scholarly endeavor. Isaac Newton, the great mathematician and physicist, was also an alchemist. The study of modern chemistry has many branches, but can generally be broken down into five main disciplines, or areas of study:.
In practice, chemical research is often not limited to just one of the five major disciplines. A particular chemist may use biochemistry to isolate a particular chemical found in the human body such as hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying component of red blood cells.
He or she may then proceed to analyze the hemoglobin using methods that would pertain to the areas of physical or analytical chemistry. Many chemists specialize in areas that are combinations of the main disciplines, such as bioinorganic chemistry or physical organic chemistry. The American Chemical Society ACS has designed a series of videos illustrating the different fields that a chemist could pursue.
Please watch this 2 minute and second video and answer the questions below:. Elizabeth R. Gordon Furman University. Learning Objectives To recognize the breadth, depth, and scope of chemistry.
Traditionally, chemistry has been broken into five main subdisciplines: Organic , Analytical , Physical , Inorganic , and Biochemistry. Over the last several years, additional concentrations have begun to emerge, including Nuclear chemistry, Polymer chemistry, Biophysical chemistry, Bioinorganic chemistry, Environmental chemistry, etceteras. All of these areas of chemistry are addressed in our classes here at UWL to some extent, and by the research interests of our faculty in the Chemistry Department.
The following descriptions of the five major subdisciplines were written by several of our faculty members in their field of expertise. UW-La Crosse's accredited Chemistry and Biochemistry programs blend technical, hands-on research experience with practical skill development. Organic Organic chemistry is a sub-field of chemistry that involves studying the molecules of life. It is mainly concerned with looking at the structure and behavior of these molecules, which are composed of only a few different types of atoms: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and a few miscellaneous others.
These are the atoms used to construct the molecules that all plants and animals require for their survival. Traditional organic chemists are concerned with synthesizing new molecules and with developing new reactions that might make these syntheses more efficient.
The kinds of molecules organic chemists synthesize include useful things like drugs, flavorings, preservatives, fragrances, plastics polymers , and agricultural chemicals fertilizers and pesticides , and sometimes include unusual molecules found in nature or ones that might simply provide a challenge to make.
Also, understanding something about organic chemistry is essential for learning about biochemistry and molecular biology because bio-molecules such as proteins, sugars, fats, and nucleic acids DNA and RNA are all organic molecules, albeit very large ones.
Students who concentrate in organic chemistry typically go on to work in pharmaceutical, food or polymer companies, do research or teach in organic chemistry, pursue medical careers, or may pursue other related job opportunities. Analytical Analytical chemistry is the science of identification and quantification of materials in a mixture. Analytical chemists may invent procedures for analysis, or they may use or modify existing ones. They also supervise, perform, and interpret the analysis. Physical Physical chemistry is the study of the fundamental physical principles that govern the way that atoms, molecules, and other chemical systems behave.
Physical chemists study a wide array of topics such as the rates of reactions kinetics , the way that light and matter interact spectroscopy , how electrons are arranged in atoms and molecules quantum mechanics , and the stabilities and reactivities of different compounds and processes thermodynamics.
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