The science of ‘stuff’, Chemistry seeks to understand what things are made of, and how these constituents behave. This involves studying the interactions between atoms and the larger structures
they form, predicting further interactions, and deriving practical applications of this knowledge.
Due to the highly versatile nature of carbon and the way it interacts with the other elements, chemistry is traditionally divided into three main subdisciplines. The first is
organic chemistry:
the study of molecules built around a framework of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms. The second subdiscipline is inorganic chemistry,
which is the study of all of the remaining chemicals and their interactions. Finally, physical chemists crunch numbers to
analyse the inherent properties of chemical reactions and apply the laws of physics to chemical phenomena. These three subdisciplines overlap,
combine and are applied to many different fields to produce a range of branches impacting on practically every aspect of the world around us.
We've published 25 articles and 35 specialist blog posts about chemistry so far, featuring 397 unanswered chemistry questions! But we're not done yet as there are still plenty of ongoing chemistry research areas to write about, so come back soon!
Recent Chemistry News
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Dental health benefits of fluoride in water may have declined, study finds
4th October, 2024
Researchers say wider use of fluoride toothpaste means practice now has less of a role in reducing tooth decay
This week’s Feedback column (that I write) in New Scientist magazine has four segments. Here are bits of each of them: Chicken blushing — People — humans — blush. Chickens aren’t entirely inhuman in that they, too, show emotions on their facial skin. Delphine Soulet at the University of Tours, France, and colleagues have explored how skin redness […]
Lions and giraffes in the snow…: an exceptional storm has just hit South Africa
1st October, 2024
In a stunning turn of events, South Africa's wildlife reserves experienced an unprecedented snowfall that caught both animals and humans off guard. Lions,
Green ammonia could reduce carbon emissions hugely by synthesising hydrogen via electrolysis or using biocatalysts or electrochemical alternative routes.
Proteins are nature's robots, essential for growth, repair and catalysis, undergoing mysterious folding and holding the answers to evolution and the development of multiple diseases.
We don’t know what causes lightning, how much of it there is, nor how to predict it. As global temperatures increase, so does lightning; as lightning increases, so do global temperatures. Its impact on atmospheric chemistry is still being explored.
For subatomic particles, electrons are pretty well understood. But we still don’t know what they are, where they are, nor how they spin nor what spin is.
Geoengineering the climate would mean venturing into new technology with huge consequences. But what might those consequences be and is there an alternative solution to anthropogenic climate change?
Chemists are exploring ways to mimic nature’s selective, low-temperature biochemical reactions that make delicate and reactive structures. Previously, chemists had copied high temperature geological reactions.
There’s a lot of chemistry going on in whisky. Despite tight regulations on food hygiene, processing and labelling, we still don’t know much about the chemistry of whisky – nor how they may affect us.
Entropy or disorder, is a scientific measure of things spreading out, of uncertainty, or of the information required to describe something. Entropy always increases, so what impact does it have on our universe, our materials, and our concept of exist
There are many unknowns when it comes to pregnancy, and many accepted phenomena are still unexplained, or simply attributed to "hormones" or "the placenta" (a complex and poorly understood organ!)
On scales too small to see are weird and wonderful particles. Their bizarre properties make up the world around us, yet we hardly know a thing about them!
The search for alien life catches many people's imagination and has always been a very public branch of science. So with all this investigation, why has our search revealed nothing? Are we truly alone in the Universe?
Vision is arguably a human's primary sense – we use it to spot danger and navigate our environment. Despite this, there is still plenty we don't know about how this sense works.
Our senses allow us to explore and interact with the world around us. Even the simplest living organisms have some way to sense their environment - and some animals can sense in ways we can't even imagine!
There are many open questions surrounding vaccines – but perhaps not the first questions that come to mind. Vaccines do not cause autism, but there are many things we don’t know about them, such as why some wear off.
The ecosystem in your gut – how the microbiome might affect what we eat, what illnesses we get and whether we gain weight easily. How to change your microbiome and why it's such a fuzzy business.
Pain, while unpleasant, is vital for our survival. But in many cases it can get out of hand, and limit people's activity and quality of life. More needs to be understood about pain before we can develop ways to help people with chronic conditions.
Smell is probably the least well understood of our five main senses, despite playing a huge role in our lives and impacting our well being more than we realise.
Our immune systems are vital for our survival as they protect us from bacterial, viruses and other pathogens that could cause us harm. But sometimes, they can go wrong, and cause damage to our bodies.
Thermodynamics is very successful at describing the way energy interacts with itself and matter – but every now and then a paradox will pop up, or someone will spot an event which no one has an explanation for yet.
Can't find what you're looking for? Browse the branches of chemistry that interest you most.
Analytical Chemistry looks at what things are made of, and finding new ways to determine what they're made of.
Astrochemistry is the study of the chemical make-up of the universe, and the reactions and interactions that take place in stars and other astronomical bodies.
Biochemistry is a broad area of chemistry covering the chemical processes involved in life itself.
Environmental Chemistry tracks chemical processes in soil, air and water, and studies how they interact with humans, plants and animals.
Geochemistry is the use of Chemistry to study the composition and mechanisms of major geological systems such as Earth.
Green Chemistry is concerned with the design and development of new sustainable technologies and products.
Inorganic Chemistry looks at the entire periodic table, its trends, the formation of non-carbon-based compounds and their applications in new technologies.
Materials Science deals with the structures and properties of materials.
Nuclear Chemistry is the science of radioactive elements, and studies the effect of radiation on the chemistry of materials.
Organic Chemistry focusses on carbon-based compounds such as those that make up life, and deals with molecular reactions and drug syntheses.
Physical Chemistry uses mathematical modelling to discover the rate laws, mechanisms and underlying principles behind core chemistry.
![Image credit: James Gathany (CDC Public Health Image library ID 11162) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.thingswedontknow.com/img/sci/1024px-sneeze.jpg "Immune system")
Analytical Chemistry looks at what things are made of, and finding new ways to determine what they're made of.
