Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The relationship between chemistry and physics is a topic of debate in the philosophy of science. The issue is a complicated one, since both physics and chemistry are divided into multiple subfields, each with their own goals. A major theme is whether, and in what sense, chemistry can be said to "reduce" to physics. [1] [2]
The science of matter is also addressed by physics, but while physics takes a more general and fundamental approach, chemistry is more specialized, being concerned by the composition, behavior (or reaction), structure, and properties of matter, as well as the changes it undergoes during chemical reactions.
Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mechanics, analytical dynamics and chemical equilibria.
Distinction between Chemical Physics and Physical Chemistry [ edit ] While at the interface of physics and chemistry, chemical physics is distinct from physical chemistry as it focuses more on using physical theories to understand and explain chemical phenomena at the microscopic level, such as quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics, and ...
The distinctions between the natural science disciplines are not always sharp, and they share many cross-discipline fields. Physics plays a significant role in the other natural sciences, as represented by astrophysics, geophysics, chemical physics and biophysics.
Sometimes in the field of physics "matter" is simply equated with particles that exhibit rest mass (i.e., that cannot travel at the speed of light), such as quarks and leptons. However, in both physics and chemistry, matter exhibits both wave-like and particle-like properties, the so-called wave–particle duality. [10] [11] [12]
Physics is the scientific study of matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. [1] Physics is one of the most fundamental scientific disciplines. [2] [3] [4] A scientist who specializes in the field of physics is called a physicist.
Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. [1] It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, properties, behavior and the changes they undergo during reactions with other substances.