The best reasons to learn chemistry
Chemistry10 Reasons to Study Chemistry: The best reasons to learn chemistry
Here are the best reasons to learn chemistry discuss with details in this article so let’s find out the reasons why you should learn.
1 – Understand the world around you
2 – Be more informed about what you buy
3 – Cook better
5 – Find a job easily
6 – Understand physics and biology
7 – Use your brain and hands
8 – Have fun
9 – Understand the news
10 – Create a better world
Chemistry is often referred to as the core science , as most scientists have to study chemicals at some point in their studies or research. Biologists study all chemicals related to living organisms, while geologists and ecologists research chemicals and compounds found in soils, rocks, and minerals. Even astrophysicists have to investigate the chemical compositions of planets, stars, and moons.
With so many ramifications, chemistry is the only subject that you will not be able to escape if you are interested in studying a scientific career.
Since their dark beginnings centuries ago, alchemists have gained more and more knowledge about the world around us and the reactions that occur naturally in nature. For a long time, these prochemists thought that alchemy would allow them to transform any metal into gold. This feat has yet to be accomplished (at least not in a way that makes economic sense).
Ever since the French naturalist Antoine Lavoisier established the laws of conservation of mass in 1774, chemists have been involved in many of the scientific breakthroughs the world has witnessed over the past 250 years.
If you are curious about the world, have always wondered what the secret behind candy is, or would like to contribute to improving the environment, you should seriously consider studying a career in chemistry. Here are ten more reasons why you should study chemistry .
“The country that is ahead of the rest of the world in chemistry will also be first in wealth and general prosperity” – Sir William Ramsay, Scottish chemist who discovered noble gases and received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1904.
1 – Understand the world around you: The best reasons to learn chemistry
When you study chemistry, you will discover the reason why everything happens around you. Why does chocolate taste so good, why does soap clean, or why is the sky blue?
Understanding the atomic structure of atoms, the electrochemistry of an acid-base solution or the stoichiometry of a molecule is essential to understand everything in your environment , from the toothpaste you use every morning to the battery of the mobile you charge. every day.
Every reaction in nature is governed by chemistry, from metal oxidation to digestion. If you have a curious mind, chemistry classes will help you answer all the questions you may have about the world and your environment.
For example, did you know that leaves change color in autumn because chlorophyll production is regulated by light? As the day gets shorter, the amount of chlorophyll in the leaves decreases and the chemical that causes the green color and prevails during the spring and summer days gives way to other compounds present in the leaves. The production of anthocyanin pigments increases as the sugar level rises during the fall, giving the leaves yellow colors. Carotenoids, whose production is not affected by sunlight, will give the leaves an orange and brown hue.
And why do we cry when we cut onions? Simply because the sulfoxides and enzymes contained in the onion cells are released, which react and produce syn-propanothial-S-oxide , a gas composed of sulfur. The natural reaction of the eyes is to create tears to clean this irritant, but since syn-propanothial-S-oxide mixes with the water in tears, sulfuric acid is produced , causing cooking to give you a tire patch.
There are many additives in processed foods, so studying chemistry will help you understand what you eat.
2 – Be more informed about what you buy: The best reasons to learn chemistry
Studying chemistry will also make you a more informed shopper. Since most of the food we eat is processed, it is becoming increasingly important to understand what we eat . However, the more complicated and lengthy food labels are, the more difficult it is to understand all the different preservatives, sweeteners, colors, and stabilizers that they contain.
By understanding what a food additive such as citric acid, monosodium glutamate, sodium benzoate, sodium nitrite, or guar gum is, you will know which ones are safe and which ones you shouldn’t include in your diet.
3 – Cook better: The best reasons to learn chemistry
Being a good chemist will make you cook better. All food is made of chemical compounds and cooking is simply changing the chemical bonds, using the properties of matter, and playing with combustion, oxidation, reduction, solubility and chemical reactions, to make the ingredients the most. tasty as possible.
One of the main reactions in cooking is the Maillard reaction . It is the main chemical reaction that makes cooked foods delicious and occurs when amino acids , the building block of all animal and plant proteins, react with the reducing sugars found in most foods. Most cooking techniques – frying, broiling, browning and baking, and even very slow cooking – involve some degree of Maillard reaction.
The caramelization is another excellent example of the relationship between chemistry and cooking. Unlike the Maillard reaction, caramelization involves what chemists call pyrolysis. When sugars react with water above a certain temperature (between 110 ° C and 180 ° C, depending on the sugars involved), dozens of chemical reactions occur and hundreds of different chemical compounds are released.
Chemistry begins in the stars. The stars are the source of the chemical elements, which are the basic components of matter »- Peter Atkins, English chemist and member of Lincoln College, University of Oxford
Many cleaning products are actually very dangerous chemicals that require very specific handling.
5 – Find a job easily
Chemistry offers many job opportunities. From nuclear chemistry to biological chemistry to analytical chemistry, you can easily specialize in a field that interests you. It is also very common for chemists to get involved in other fields of science and collaborate with biologists, physicists, doctors and engineers .
You could become a materials scientist and find new ways to use recyclable items like plastics, paper, cardboard, or by-products from the food industry to create new materials that better meet the needs of humanity to reduce the amount of trash that ends up in waste. landfills and pollutes our planet.
You can also become a nanotechnologist and work with elements smaller than cells to create new surgical and diagnostic methods, as well as to create more efficient drugs.
6 – Understand physics and biology
As a core science, chemistry will be your best tool for understanding both physics and biology.
The biochemistry and biophysics are the two fields that are at the crossroads between the three sciences. Both involve organic and inorganic chemistry, as well as general chemistry.
Biochemists work in biotechnologies, medical chemistry, or forensic science and often work for environmental agencies, hospitals, and research laboratories.
7 – Use your brain and hands
Unlike hard sciences like physics and mathematics, which primarily use the brain to solve complicated equations and problems, chemistry is a very practical field.
As a chemist, you will have both to plan your experiments and carry them out, often handling dangerous chemicals and using very complicated gadgets and instruments such as mass spectrometers, chromatography machines or distillation columns.
There are many chemical investigations that seek the creation of new fuels to launch rockets into space.
8 – Have fun
Chemistry can be a lot of fun (if practiced safely). It’s so easy to handle safe and simple chemicals and get amazing results.
Everyone has seen some viral video mixing Diet Coke and Mentos candies, which make amazing squirts of soda, and you can easily play them at home. But chemistry is much more than that.
Why not create polymer marbles or change the color of the flame in your fireplace in your home? With simple, everyday products, you can have a lot of fun and learn why the reactions you create and observe occur.
9 – Understand the news
Every day we are bombarded with news about oil pollution, water pollution, discoveries and medical breakthroughs or product recalls, but how much do you really understand?
Taking chemistry classes will allow you to be more informed about what is happening in the world. It is also essential to understand the repercussions of events such as oil leaks in the oceans or chemical contamination of underground aquifers.
Since most industries involved in climate change are regulated by national laws, understanding what is happening in your neighborhood, city or country will also make you a more informed voter.
10 – Create a better world
The chemical industry has been the main contributor to the world’s major pollution problems. During the last 70 years, with the advent of intensive use of fertilizers in our agriculture, chemists have been at the forefront of most pollution crises.
Plastic waste, CO 2 emissions , polluted water or arid soils can be linked to the misuse of chemistry, mainly for economic reasons. But all the problems that chemicals have caused can also be solved by chemists.
Recycling plastics and creating new materials and using them for what we have long considered garbage is one of the many challenges young professional chemists face today. CO 2 , one of the main greenhouse gases, is produced mainly by transport using fossil fuels. Chemists are currently working to capture atmospheric carbon dioxide and use it as a clean energy source.
Much remains to be done to save our planet from the effect of our industries, and most of the work will be done by chemists.
Plastic that ends up in the oceans is a major problem and chemists are working to reduce the amount of trash that ends up in the seas.
Chemistry is much more than learning the periodic table of elements. Whatever field of science you are considering studying, chemistry will always help you understand everything around you, from the clothes you wear to the food you eat. And considering the great damage we have caused to our environment, it seems that chemicals will be much needed to help solve the problems created by the previous generation.
