Honors Chemistry

Review of basic concepts (ch.1)

Definitions

• Chemistry is the study of matter, its interactions, and the energy changes that accompany these interactions.

• Chemistry is how the universe is put together

• Physics is the study of how the universe works.

Branches of Chemistry

• Organic Chemistry

• Inorganic Chemistry

• Physical Chemistry

• Analytical Chemistry

• Biochemistry (molecular biology)

• Theoretical chemistry

Organic/Inorganic Chemistry

• Carbon and its compounds

• Derived from petroleum

• Thousands of organic compounds- all foods, medicines, plastics, etc.

• Inorganic chemistry is the chemistry of minerals, metals, and certain nonmetals

• Most elements are either metals or nonmetals

Physical/Analytical Chemistry

• Physical chemistry is the application of physics principles to chemical relationships (thermodynamics, kinetics, etc.)

• Analytical chemistry is chemistry in the laboratory- what an unknown compound or substance is made up of and how much is present, either using “wet” methodology or with instrumentation (spectrometers, chromatography, etc)– Most industry jobs are in this field– Forensic chemistry is one of these areas

Biochemistry

• Branch of organic chemistry

• Chemical levels of the human body

• Biomacromolecules (DNA, proteins, etc.)

• Enzymes, large molecules in the immune system

• Molecular genetics (genome studies)

Theoretical Chemistry

• Development and application of mathematical models

• Computational chemistry- mathematically describe how subatomic particles might behave based on macroscopic behavior

• Virtual instrumentation- design of assays based on how a compound should behave under given conditions