Main Branches of Chemistry

Although many would say that there are FIVE main branches of chemistry, namely: Physical, Analytical, Biochemistry, Organic and Inorganic
chemistry many would argue that the science of chemistry actually links out to other branches or sub-branches that include Materials
Chemistry, Theoretical Chemistry, Macromolecular (Polymer) Chemistry, Nuclear Chemistry, Metallurgy, Forensic Chemistry, Medicinal
Chemistry and more.It is important to note that often sub-branches fall under one or more of the main branches of chemistry.
Analytical Chemistry
Analytical chemistry is the study involving how we analyze the chemical components of samples. How much caffeine is really in a cup of
coffee? Are there drugs found in athletes urine samples? What is the pH level of my swimming pool? Examples of areas using analytical
chemistry include forensic science, environmental science, and drug testing.
Analytical chemistry is divided into two main branches: qualitative and quantitative analysis.
Qualitative analysis employs methods/measurements to help determine the components of substances. Quantitative analysis on the other
hand, helps to identify how much of each component is present in a substance.
Both types of analysis can be used to provide important information about an unidentified sample and help to identify what the sample is.
Biochemistry
The study of life or more aptly put, of chemical processes in living organisms. Biochemists research includes cancer and stem cell biology,
infectious disease as well as membrane and structural biology and spans molecular biology, genetics, mechanistic biochemistry, genomics,
evolution and systems biology.
Biochemistry, according to many scientists can also be explained as a discipline in which biological phenomena are examined in chemical
terms. Examples are digestion and cellular respiration.
For this reason biochemistry is also known as Chemical Biology or Biological Chemistry.
Under the main umbrella of biochemistry many new sub-branches have emerged that modern chemists may specialize in solely. Some of these
disciplines include:
1.
Enzymology (study of enzymes)
2.
Endocrinology (study of hormones)
3.
Clinical Biochemistry (study of diseases)
4.
Molecular Biochemistry (Study of Biomolecules and their functions).
There are also others like Pharmacological Biochemistry, Agricultural Biochemistry and more.
Inorganic chemistry
Chemists in this field focus on elements and compounds other than carbon or hydrocarbons. Simply put, inorganic chemistry covers all
materials that are not organic and are termed as non-living substances those compounds that do not contain a carbon hydrogen (C-H) bond.
Compounds studied by inorganic chemists include crystal structures, minerals, metals, catalysts, and most elements on the periodic table. An
example is the strength of a power beam used to carry a specific weight or investigating how gold is formed in the earth.
Branches of inorganic chemistry include:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Bioinorganic chemistry (study of role of metals in biology)

Coordination chemistry (study of coordination compounds and interactions of ligands)
Geochemistry (study of the earths chemical composition, rocks, minerals & atmosphere)
Inorganic technology (synthesizing new inorganic compounds)
Nuclear chemistry (study of radioactive substances)
Organometallic chemistry (study of chemicals that contain bonds between a metal and carbon overlaps into organic chemistry)
Solid-state chemistry/materials chemistry (study of the forming, structure, and characteristics of solid phase materials)
Synthetic inorganic chemistry (study of synthesizing chemicals)
Industrial inorganic chemistry (study of materials used in manufacturing. E.g.: fertilizers)

Organic chemistry
The study of carbon compounds such as fuels, plastics, food additives, and drugs. An opposite of inorganic chemistry that focuses on nonliving matter and non-carbon based substances, organic chemistry deals with the study of carbon and the chemicals in living organisms. An
example is the process of photosynthesis in a leaf because there is a change in the chemical composition of the living plant.
Organic chemists are often the ones who devise experimental methods to isolate or synthesize new materials, or to study their properties, and
usually work and research in a lab. Some examples on the work they do include formulating a conditioner that keeps hair softer, developing a
better drug for headaches and creating a non-toxic home cleaning product.
The branches of organic chemistry involve many different disciplines including the study of ketones, aldehydes, hydrocarbons (alkenes,
alkanes, alkynes) and alcohols.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Stereochemistry (study of the 3-dimensional structure of molecules)

Medicinal chemistry (deals with designing, developing and synthesizing pharmaceutical drugs)
Organometallic chemistry (study of chemicals that contain bonds between a carbon and a metal)
Physical organic chemistry (study of structure and reactivity in organic molecules)
Polymer chemistry (study of the composition and creation of polymer molecules)

Physical chemistry
The study of the physical properties of molecules, and their relation to the ways in which molecules and atoms are put together. Physical
chemistry deals with the principles and methodologies of both chemistry and physics and is the study of how chemical structure impacts
physical properties of a substance. An example is baking brownies, as youre mixing materials and using heat and energy to get the final
product.
Physical chemists would typically study the rate of a chemical reaction, the interaction of molecules with radiation, and the calculation of
structures and properties.
Sub-branches of physical chemistry include:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Electrochemistry (study of the interaction of atoms, molecules, ions and electric current)
Photochemistry (study of the chemical effects of light; photochemical reactions)
Surface chemistry (study of chemical reactions at interfaces)
Chemical Kinetics (study of rates of chemical reactions)
Thermodynamics/Thermochemistry (study of how heat relates to chemical change)
Quantum Mechanics/Quantum Chemistry (study of quantum mechanics and how it relates to chemical phenomena)
Spectroscopy (study of spectra of light or radiation)

Measurement (from Old French, mesurement) is the assignment of numbers to objects or events. [1] It is a cornerstone of most natural
sciences, technology, economics, andquantitative research in other social sciences.
The significant figures of a number are those digits that carry meaning contributing to its precision. This includes all digits except:

All leading zeros;

Trailing zeros when they are merely placeholders to indicate the scale of the number (exact rules are explained at identifying
significant figures); and
Spurious digits introduced, for example, by calculations carried out to greater precision than that of the original data, or
measurements reported to a greater precision than the equipment supports.

Significance arithmetic are approximate rules for roughly maintaining significance throughout a computation. The more sophisticated scientific
rules are known as propagation of uncertainty.
Numbers are often rounded to avoid reporting insignificant figures. For instance, if a device measures to the nearest gram and gives a reading
of 12.345 kg (which has five significant figures), it would create false precision to express this measurement as 12.34500 kg (which has seven
significant figures). Numbers can also be rounded merely for simplicity rather than to indicate a given precision of measurement, for example
to make them faster to pronounce in news broadcasts.
Arithmetic precision can also be defined with reference to a fixed number of decimal places (the number of digits following the decimal
point). This second definition is useful in applications where the number of digits in the fractional part has particular importance, but it does
not follow the rules of significance arithmetic.
Identifying significant figures
Specifically, the rules for identifying significant figures when writing or interpreting numbers are as follows: [1]

All non-zero digits are considered significant. For example, 91 has two significant figures (9 and 1), while 123.45 has five significant
figures (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5).

Zeros appearing anywhere between two non-zero digits are significant. Example: 101.1203 has seven significant figures: 1, 0, 1, 1, 2,
0 and 3.
Leading zeros are not significant. For example, 0.00052 has two significant figures: 5 and 2.

Trailing zeros in a number containing a decimal point are significant. For example, 12.2300 has six significant figures: 1, 2, 2, 3, 0 and
0. The number 0.000122300 still has only six significant figures (the zeros before the 1 are not significant). In addition, 120.00 has five
significant figures since it has three trailing zeros. This convention clarifies the precision of such numbers; for example, if a measurement
precise to four decimal places (0.0001) is given as 12.23 then it might be understood that only two decimal places of precision are
available. Stating the result as 12.2300 makes clear that it is precise to four decimal places (in this case, six significant figures).
The significance of trailing zeros in a number not containing a decimal point can be ambiguous. For example, it may not always be
clear if a number like 1300 is precise to the nearest unit (and just happens coincidentally to be an exact multiple of a hundred) or if it is
only shown to the nearest hundred due to rounding or uncertainty. Various conventions exist to address this issue:

A bar may be placed over the last significant figure; any trailing zeros following this are insignificant. For example, 1300 has
three significant figures (and hence indicates that the number is precise to the nearest ten).

The last significant figure of a number may be underlined; for example, "2000" has two significant figures.

A decimal point may be placed after the number; for example "100." indicates specifically that three significant figures are
meant.[2]

In the combination of a number and a unit of measurement, the ambiguity can be avoided by choosing a suitable unit prefix. For
example, the number of significant figures in a mass specified as 1300 g is ambiguous, while in a mass of 13 hg or 1.3 kg it is
not.

However, these conventions are not universally used, and it is often necessary to determine from context whether such trailing zeros
are intended to be significant. If all else fails, the level of rounding can be specified explicitly. The abbreviation s.f. is sometimes used,
for example "20 000 to 2 s.f." or "20 000 (2 sf)". Alternatively, the uncertainty can be stated separately and explicitly with a plusminus sign, as in 20 000 1%, so that significant-figures rules do not apply. This also allows specifying a precision in-between powers
of ten (or whatever the base power of the numbering system is).
Scientific notation
In most cases, the same rules apply to numbers expressed in scientific notation. However, in the normalized form of that notation, placeholder
leading and trailing digits do not occur, so all digits are significant. For example, 0.00012 (two significant figures) becomes 1.210 4, and
0.00122300 (six significant figures) becomes 1.22300103. In particular, the potential ambiguity about the significance of trailing zeros is
eliminated. For example, 1300 to four significant figures is written as 1.30010 3, while 1300 to two significant figures is written as 1.310 3.
The part of the representation that contains the significant figures (as opposed to the base or the exponent) is known as the significand or
mantissa.
Alternatively: 1. All non-zero digits are significant 2. In a number without a decimal point, only zeros between non-zero digits are significant. 3.
In a number with a decimal point, all zeros to the right of the first non-zero digits are significant.
Scientific notation (commonly referred to as "standard form" or "standard index form") is a way of writing numbers that are too big or too
small to be conveniently written in decimal form. Scientific notation has a number of useful properties and is commonly used in calculators
and by scientists, mathematicians and engineers.
Standard decimal
notation

Normalized scientific
notation

2100

300

3102

4,321.768

4.321768103

53,000

5.3104

6,720,000,000

6.72109

0.2

2101

0.000 000 007 51

7.51109

In scientific notation all numbers are written in the form

(a times ten raised to the power of b), where the exponent b is an integer, and the coefficient a is any real number (however, see normalized
notation below), called the significand or mantissa. The term "mantissa" may cause confusion, however, because it can also refer to
the fractional part of the common logarithm. If the number is negative then a minus sign precedes a (as in ordinary decimal notation).Decimal
floating point is a computer arithmetic system closely related to scientific notation.
Define the following terms:
Chemistry
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Chemistry is the branch of science which deals with the properties, composition and structure of matter. Study of chemistry also includes
the laws and principles related to the structure and inter-relations of elements and compound.
Chemistry has the task of investigating the materials of which our universe is made. Chemistry investigates chemical changes, conditions
under which chemical changes occur. Chemistry also deals with the way in which similar changes can be brought about in laboratory and on
a large scale in industries.
Chemistry is a very vast field. Chemistry is divided into a number of branches such as Organic chemistry, Inorganic chemistry, Physical
chemistry, biochemistry, Applied chemistry, Nuclear chemistry etc.
Significant Figures
Significant figures are the reliable digits in a number or measurement
which are known with certainty.
Significant figures show the accuracy in measurements. We can understand the precision of a measurement if we know exactly the
significant figures in the measurement.
A measurement that contains more number of significant figures is more accurate than a measurement that contains less number
of Significant figures.
For example:Radius of a bob is 3.3679 cm and that of the other is 3.36 cm. In this situation the first measurement is the most accurate as
it has more number of significant figures.
Rules Of Significant Figures
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In order to determine significant figures in a number we must follow the following rules:
(1) All the non-zero digits are significant figures.
For Example:
3.456 has four significant figures.

12.3456 has six significant figures.

0.34 has two significant figures.
(2) Zeros between non-zero digits are significant.
For Example:
2306 has four significant figures.
20,0894 has six significant figures.
(3) Zeros locating the position of decimal in numbers of magnitude less than one are not significant.
For Example:
0.2224 has only one significant figures.
0.0000034 has two significant figures.
(4) Final zeros to the right of the decimal point are significant.
For Example:
3.0000 has five significant figures.
1002.00 has six significant figures.
(5) Zeros that locate decimal point in numbers greater than one are not significant.
For Example:
30000 has only one significant figure.
120000 has two significant figures.
Rules Of Rounding Off Data
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Rule # 1:
If the digit to be dropped is greater than 5, then add "1" to the last digit to be retained and drop all digits
For example:
3.677 is rounded off to 3.68 if we need three significant figures in measurement.
3.677 is rounded off to 3.7 if we need two significant figures in measurement.

farther to the right.

Rule # 2:
If the digit to be dropped is less than 5, then simply drop it without adding any number to the last digit.
For example:
6.632 is rounded off to 6.63 if we need three significant figures in measurement.
6.632 is rounded off to 6.6 if we need two significant figures in measurement.
Rule # 3:
If the digit to be dropped is exactly 5 then:
(A) If the digit to be retained is even, then just drop the "5".
For example:
6.65 is rounded off to 6.6 if we need two significant figures in measurement.
3.4665 is rounded off to 6.466 if we need four significant figures in measurement.
(B) If the digit to be retained is odd, then add "1" to it.
For example:
6.35 is rounded off to 6.4 if we need two significant figures in measurement.
3.4675 is rounded off to 6.468 if we need four significant figures in measurement.
Remember: Zero is an even number
3.05 is rounded off to 3.0 if we need two significant figures in measurement.
Use of significant figures in
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addition and subtraction
In addition and subtraction we consider the significant figures on the right side of decimal point. This
means that only as many digits are to be retained to the right side of decimal point as the number with fewest digits to the right of the
decimal point.
For example:
4.345 + 23.5 =27.845 (actual answer by using calculator)
Answer after rounding off: 27.8
Use of significant figures in
multiplication and division
In multiplication and division , the number obtained after calculation of two or more numbers must have
no more significant figure than that number used in multiplication or division.
For example:
4.3458 x 2.7 =11.73366(actual answer by using calculator)
Answer after rounding off: 12(because 2.7 has only two significant figures)