In physics, you learn about how matter move and interacts with the world at a very fundemental level. In biology you learn just how different living systems operate. Chemistry falls right in the center of the progression of the three fundemental sciences. It takes the principles of physics and uses them to describe how the fundemental units of matter (namely atoms) with specific properties come together to form compounds that can have properties that can be completely different from the atoms they are made from. Chemists want to know how to make different substances and what different substances are made of. We want to know the properties of the different kinds of matter in the world. We want to know why different kinds of substances interact with one another the way they do. Only then can we understand the processes that are important not only to life (like what is studied in biology) but to the nonliving world as well. All of these curiousities is what chemistry is all about.
Like other sciences, chemistry has many different divisions devoted to the study its many facets. There are four major divisions of chemistry. Although they seem separate, there is a great deal of overlap between them.
Analytical Chemistry deals with the characterization and detection of different substances. Analytical chemists use many techniques to accomplish this from simple lab techniques such as titrations to sophisticated instrumental techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy
Organic Chemistry is devoted to the millions of compounds that contain mostly carbon and hydrogen. An important application of organic chemistry is the synthesis of pharmicutical drugs.
Inorganic Chemistry includes the study of all of the other elements in the periodic table and includes the study of organic molecules as well, but in terms of making these molecules using inorganic catalysts
Physical Chemistry is the bedrock of chemical science. It is devoted to studying chemical processes and matter at a microscopic level. This relies on the heavy use of mathematics and the principles of classical and quantum physics
Chemistry also appears in other disciplines of science. Here are a few examples
-Biochemistry: The study of biologically important molecules and chemical proceeses important to biology.
-Chemical Engineering: A branch of engineering that deals with the transformation of raw materials to more useful ones. Chemical engineers apply chemical processes to large scale manufacturing
-Geology: Geo;ogists often use chemistry to study the chemical composition as well as the history of the Earth.
-Astronomy: Astronomists use chemistry, in particular analytical chemistry to study what chemical compounds or elements other planets, stars, etc consist of.
