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 chemistry has such a vast and complex field of study that it can collaborate with other Sciences neighbors. This intersection, far from being problematic, engenders new disciplines and founds new fields of knowledge, in which scientific tools are used without paying attention to which discipline they belong to.
The ancestor of chemistry 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: study your reactions, their elements constituents and the laws that govern their structure and transformation.
Depending on the focus on the matter, we can distinguish between organic chemistry, for example, what is the chemistry of substances based on the atom carbon (C) and inorganic chemistry, on the other hand, in charge of the study of the rest of the substances, also including certain substances that contain carbon but not as the main constituent element.
Similarly, the encounter of chemistry with other areas of knowledge allows us to speak of disciplines such as the following:
- Physical chemistry. It is a science that proposes a look at matter and energy at the same time, which places it in the common space between chemistry and physical, just as the name implies. In general, it applies physics' own systems models to molecules and substances that constitute the field of study of chemistry.
- Biochemistry. It can be understood as a meeting point between chemistry and biology, and that studies the functioning of the body of living beings at a molecular level, that is, how matter is transformed and organized in the particular case of living beings.
- Geochemistry. It is the meeting between geology (which studies the layers of the earth's surface) with chemistry. It is a discipline interested in understanding the reactions and atomic composition of terrestrial materials, such as minerals, metals and types of rocks, as well as the processes that gave rise to them.
- Astrochemistry. Hand in hand astronomy, interested in the study of space, chemistry founds in this case the study of matter as it exists outside the planet Earth. This discipline tries to understand what they are made of and how they are formed. stars.
- Petrochemistry. Also understood as a branch of chemistry, it can be thought of as the meeting between chemistry and the science of Petroleum (or simply the oil industry). It consists of a field that is highly dependent on oil studies, which have to do with the refinement of crude oil and the obtaining of its many derivatives, thanks to the understanding of the matter that composes it.
- Chemical engineering. It is the cross between chemistry and engineering. It is a branch of engineering dedicated to the study and obtaining of new materials that are useful for the industries of the 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:
- Medicine. Understanding 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 disease or extend life span. 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 its effects be attenuated or eliminated.
- Ecology. The preservation of the environment and an understanding of the planetary balance that fosters life as we understand it, they go hand in hand with chemistry and the study 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 the pollution.
- Archeology. Despite not being a natural science but Social, the study of past civilizations and their culture 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 the techniques carbon-14 reading.