What Does Relationship of Chemistry with other Sciences Mean
We explain to you what is the relationship of chemistry with other sciences, how it collaborates with them and what disciplines are formed.
What is the relationship of chemistry with other sciences?
As well as many other scientific disciplines, the chemical has a field of study so vast and complex that can collaborate with other sciences neighbors. This intersection, far from being problematic, engenders new disciplines and establishes new fields of knowledge, in which scientific tools are used without paying attention to which discipline they belong to.
These fuzzy margins between the sciences are not, however, new. In reality, what is new is the division between them, because if we go back in time to past times, we will notice that their different fields of study coincide under the name of " Natural Science ", "Natural Philosophy" or, much earlier, simply " Philosophy " .
In the particular case of chemistry, its direct ancestor was alchemy , whose name came from the Arabic al-kimia, and it was supposed to be the art of transforming certain materials into others.
Today we consider chemistry as an autonomous field of research on the nature of matter : its reactions , its constituent elements, and the laws that govern its structure.
Depending on the focus on matter, we can distinguish between organic chemistry , for example, which is the chemistry of substances based on the carbon atom (C), such as those that make up living beings , and inorganic chemistry , on the other hand, in charge of the study of inert matter and other types of substances.
In a similar way, the encounter of chemistry with other areas of knowledge allows us to speak of disciplines such as the following:
- Physicochemistry . A science that proposes a look at matter and energy at the same time, which places it in the common space between chemistry and physics , as its name indicates. In general, it applies the models of systems typical of physics to the molecules and substances that constitute the field of study of chemistry.
- Biochemistry . This case can be understood as a meeting point between chemistry and biology , in which the very functioning of the body of living beings is studied at a molecular level, that is, how matter is organized in the particular case of beings living.
- Geochemistry . In this case we are talking about the encounter between geology, which studies the layers of the earth's surface, with chemistry, which founds a discipline interested in understanding the reactions and atomic composition of terrestrial materials, such as minerals, metals and types. rocks, as well as the processes that gave rise to them.
- Astrochemistry . Hand in hand with the astronomy , interested in the study of space , chemistry founds in this case the study of matter as it exists outside planet Earth . This discipline tries to understand what they are made of and how the stars are formed .
- Petrochemical . Also understood as a branch of chemistry, petrochemistry can be thought of as the meeting between chemistry and the petroleum sciences (or simply the petroleum industry). The truth is that it consists of a very independent field of oil studies, which have to do with the refining of crude oil and obtaining its many derivatives, thanks to the understanding of the matter that composes it.
- Chemical engineering . Obviously, we are talking about the crossing of chemistry and engineering, to found a branch of engineering dedicated to the study and obtaining of new materials that are useful for humanity .
On the other hand, and without actually founding disciplines or sub-disciplines with their own names, chemistry collaborates closely with the development of other knowledge, as in the cases of:
- Medicine . The understanding of the human body benefits from specialized knowledge of chemistry and biochemistry, to understand the type of reactions that take place in our body and how they can be used to fight diseases or extend the useful life. Treatments like radiation therapy or chemotherapy, for example, would not be possible without the help of chemistry.
- Pharmacology . Another health-related field that benefits from chemistry is the composition of drugs, supplements, and remedies. As in the case of toxicology, chemistry collaborates with these sciences to understand how different substances and materials affect the human body, and why: which of them can be used for our benefit, which ones represent a danger and how they can neutralize its effects. All this happens to better understand matter and its reactions.
- Ecology . The preservation of the environment and understanding of the planetary balance that favors life as we understand it, goes hand in hand with chemistry and the understanding of the reactions that occur in matter in nature . Thus, it is possible to understand the effect that industries have on the environment and, at the same time, design strategies to deal with pollution .
- Archeology and paleontology . Despite not being natural but social sciences , the study of past civilizations or prehistoric life forms from the fossil record has benefited immensely from the development of chemistry. Not only because by better understanding the nature of the matter that makes up the planet or that makes up living beings we can formulate a history of the fossil materials found in the subsoil, but because it allows us to design measurement strategies based on matter, such as carbon 14 reading techniques.
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