Chemistry a science?

[cameron marical]

I do not want to offend any one with this question, but what do chemists actually do? Hasnt the periodic table been mapped out etc... Is it really a science anymore or is it just an engineering disipline now? Dont get me wrong, chemistry rocks, but is there really discoveries to find still?

 

Thank you.

[dr.syntax]

To mention a few areas: materials research and development, drug research and developement, all the different medical fields require at least a fair amount of chemistry, the space projects,alternative fuel R and D. Things like that. ...Dr.Syntax

[John Cuthber]

There's all the analytical side too. Many, if not most, medical tests are chemistry

[MDJH]

I do not want to offend any one with this question, but what do chemists actually do? Hasnt the periodic table been mapped out etc... Is it really a science anymore or is it just an engineering disipline now? Dont get me wrong, chemistry rocks, but is there really discoveries to find still?

 

Thank you.

I would think that given how there are so many chemical compounds, there'd still be many undiscovered chemical reactions between those compounds.

 

That and what Dr. Syntax said.

[cameron marical]

I got some -rep. I will just say this now, this is not to try to offend any chemists at all, and I am truly sorry if it does.

 

I was just curious, and now I have an answer. Thanks for the replys you three.

[hermanntrude]

i'm sorry you got negative rep for that... it shouldn't be that way. No scientist should ever be afraid to ask a question.

 

Having said that, isn't it obvious chemistry still needs a lot of work? After all, a bacterium, or even a virus can synthesise DNA in giant quantities to a very precise order of the base pairs, but to do that in a lab would be almost impossible. There's many other examples of course

[CharonY]

Also by far not all possible chemical reactions have been mapped out yet. Chemistry is not only about identifying elements, but more importantly it deals with interactions.

[Psycho]

i'm sorry you got negative rep for that... it shouldn't be that way. No scientist should ever be afraid to ask a question.

 

Having said that, isn't it obvious chemistry still needs a lot of work? After all, a bacterium, or even a virus can synthesise DNA in giant quantities to a very precise order of the base pairs, but to do that in a lab would be almost impossible. There's many other examples of course

 

Indeed, the whole concept of how amino acids fold thermodynamically is poorly understood and there are millions of medically important proteins out there.

[Horza2002]

I think thats a bit harsh getting -ve rep for a valid question!

 

Chemistry is still very important. Granted chemistry did start by determining the perodic table but now it is much more. From pharmaceuticals, materials, food, astrostudies and to synthesis...chemistry is involved in everything!

[foodchain]

I think it all depends on how you look at it. In one way you could say all the sciences and engineering fields are really just applied physics, and that each field is different simply because each is such a huge body of knowledge. Yet you also have scientific paradigms which are typically native to say a particular field. I mean civil engineers probably do not concern themselves that often with say quantum mechanics, or for that matter protein protein interactions in some cell. Yet concepts you find in any of the natural sciences or engineering disciplines can be related to each other, such as concepts like energy, or mechanical energy, force, momentum, or why elements bond.

 

For instance another way to look at it is you can get a phd in just organic chemistry, or many other disciplines within chemistry. In that there is so much to know just to certain aspects within a field you can spend ten years at college on the subject. Also you have genetics, why don't we just call that chemistry? I think its because you again begin to deal with so much a person can learn and work with, as with genes you have all of the chemistry behind it, such as all of the biochemical processes alone that go along with chromosomes, but you also have how the genes themselves operate in terms of phenotypes and above. Yet in both you will be working with spectroscopy, which I think was derived by physics right, so really these fields are more then just applied mathematics for a reason, and that reason is to me simply because you really can learn so much about a particular subject that it deserves its own field.

[brzozowskir2]

i saw a nobel rpize physicist speak recently. he noted that everything that biology encompasses boils down to the chemistry of the biological interactions. likewise all of chemistry stems from the physics that govern the chemical interactions. basically, physics is the most fundamental science followed by chem and then bio. isn't it obvious that there are still many things to be found out about all of the sciences then? i mean, say the LHC discovers some new exciting particle or force or whatever (lol im not a physicist). is there not a great possibility that this type of discovery would not have a profound impact on the way we understand all of the other sciences?

moral: there is always something to be discovered. the day that man believes he has found everything that can be found will be a sad day indeed. scientific inquiry is the cause of most of the evil AND the good in the world. whether it is a good thing or bad thing, scientific inquiry will live forever, unchecked.