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Chemistry ⸤◻️⸥｜Definition｜1st｜20260530152026-00-⌔
Chemistry
Images relating to the six main branches of chemistry, clockwise from the upper left1: a BeF₂ glass network (inorganic chemistry), a caffeine molecule (organic chemistry), a reaction coordinate diagram (physical chemistry), a proton NMR spectrum (analytical chemistry), the RGS4 protein (biochemistry), and a glowstick using chemiluminescence (applied chemistry).
Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter.23 It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies matter: composition, structure, properties, behavior and the changes they undergo during reactions with other substances.4567 Chemistry also addresses the nature of chemical bonds in chemical compounds.
In the scope of its subject, chemistry occupies an intermediate position between physics and biology.8 It is sometimes called the central science because it provides a foundation for understanding both basic and applied scientific disciplines at a fundamental level.9 For example, chemistry explains aspects of plant growth (botany), the formation of igneous rocks (geology), how atmospheric ozone is formed and how environmental pollutants are degraded (ecology), the properties of the soil on the Moon (cosmochemistry), how medications work (pharmacology), and how to collect DNA evidence at a crime scene (forensics).10
Chemistry has existed under various names since ancient times.11 It has evolved, and now chemistry encompasses various areas of specialisation, or subdisciplines, that continue to increase in number and interrelate to create further interdisciplinary fields of study. The applications of various fields of chemistry are used frequently for economic purposes in the chemical industry.12
Printed 2026-06-28.
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Link to original Footnotes
Information regarding the images in the footer was trimmed; the full descriptions are below: Inorganic chemistry: a two‑dimensional representation of a glassy beryllium(II) fluoride (BeF₂) network, illustrating the amorphous (non‑ crystalline) bonding patterns characteristic of inorganic glasses and extended network structures. Organic chemistry: a ball‑and‑stick molecular model of caffeine, showing the arrangement of carbon (grey), hydrogen (white), nitrogen (blue) and oxygen (red) atoms in a common organic heterocycle molecule. Physical chemistry: a reaction coordinate diagram depicting the conversion of reactant A to product C via a transition state, highlighting the activation energy (ΔG‡) and Gibbs free‑energy change (ΔG°) central to chemical kinetics and chemical thermodynamics. Analytical chemistry: a portion of a proton NMR spectrum (300 MHz, CDCl₃) of a nitrobenzene derivative, showing aromatic resonances near 6.6 ppm, representative of spectroscopic methods used to identify and characterise chemical compounds. Biochemistry: a ribbon diagram of the RGS4 protein, based on the crystal structure PDB entry 1AGR, illustrating secondary‑structure motifs such as α‑helices and loops commonly used to visualise protein folding. Applied chemistry: a glowstick in which hydrogen peroxide reacts with a phenyl oxalate ester to form 1,2-dioxetanedione, which decomposes and transfers energy to a fluorophore that emits light as part of a chemiluminescence reaction sequence. These are just some of the many branches of chemistry. Others include (but are not limited to): theoretical chemistry, thermochemistry, chemical thermodynamics, medicinal & pharmaceutical chemistry, materials chemistry, environmental chemistry, supramolecular chemistry, electrochemistry, quantum chemistry, polymer chemistry, geochemistry, nuclear chemistry and more. ↩
Brown, Theodore L.; LeMay, Jr., H. Eugene; Bursten, Bruce E.; Murphy, Catherine J.; Woodward, Patrick M.; Stoltzfus, Matthew W.; Lufaso, Michael W. (2018). “Introduction: Matter, energy, and measurement”. Chemistry: The Central Science (14th ed.). New York: Pearson. pp. 46–85. ISBN 978-0134414232. ↩
Kofoed, Melissa; Miller, Shawn (2020). Introductory Chemistry. Utah State University: UEN Pressbooks. ↩
“What is Chemistry?”. Chemweb.ucc.ie. Archived from the original on 3 October 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2011. ↩
“Definition of CHEMISTRY”. Merriam-Webster. Archived from the original on 7 August 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2020. ↩
“Definition of chemistry | Dictionary.com”. www.dictionary.com. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2020. ↩
“Chemistry Is Everywhere”. American Chemical Society. Archived from the original on 29 November 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2020. ↩
Carsten Reinhardt. Chemical Sciences in the 20th Century: Bridging Boundaries. Wiley-VCH, 2001. ISBN 3-527-30271-9. pp. 1–2. ↩
Theodore L. Brown, H. Eugene Lemay, Bruce Edward Bursten, H. Lemay. Chemistry: The Central Science. Prentice Hall; 8 ed. (1999). ISBN 0-13-010310-1. pp. 3–4. ↩
“How to translate chemistry to Indonesian?”. www.kamus.net. Retrieved 5 January 2026. ↩
“Chemistry – Chemistry and society”. Britannica. Archived from the original on 6 May 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023. ↩
“1.1: The Scope of Chemistry”. Libretexts. 20 May 2018. Retrieved 5 January 2026. ↩
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