10 CHEMISTRY APPLICATIONS THAT SHOW ITS IMPORTANCE - CHEMISTRY - 2024

Some of the applications of chemistry are medicine, nutrition, control of bacteria or microbes, agriculture and even economics. The importance of chemistry lies in the many uses it has today.

Chemistry is defined as the experimental science that studies the properties of substances and elemental forms of matter. In the same way, he studies energy and the interactions between it and matter.

Because everything is made up of matter, chemistry is one of the most important branches of science. Even living things are composed of chemical elements that interact with each other. This science allows us to understand the relationships between living beings and the world around them.

At present, chemistry has specialized in various branches that are related to the different fields of knowledge. For example, biology, physics and medicine, among others.

Applications of chemistry in various areas

1- Chemistry and medicine

Most of the medicines are made of organic matter, which is why medicine, understood as a study area, is closely related to organic chemistry.

Antibiotics, cancer medication, pain relievers, and anesthesia are some of the medications made from organic matter.

2- Chemistry and food

Food is made of carbon, the object of study in organic chemistry. Carbohydrates are the most obvious example of the chemical composition of food.

The term itself suggests carbon and hydrogen (indeed, carbohydrates are made up of one molecule of carbon, one of hydrogen, plus one of oxygen - CHO); proteins (NH2-CH-COOH) and fats (CH-COO-CH) also contain carbon, even vitamins are made from organic matter.

Through chemistry, the amount of carbohydrates, proteins, fats and vitamins that the human body needs under different conditions can be studied. For example, during pregnancy, the consumption of vitamins (such as folic acid) is recommended; while, if you want to tone the body, a diet rich in protein is recommended.

3- Chemistry and sterilizing agents

Most of the sterilizing agents, such as phenol and formaldehydes, are composed of carbon, an element studied by organic chemistry (as previously mentioned). These carbon-based sterilants are effective in killing bacteria and other microbes.

4- Chemistry and economics

Many of the carbon compounds, such as diamond, graphite, and petroleum, are considered highly valuable. Diamond and graphite are pure carbon with no other elements inside and both have a wide variety of uses and are also highly expensive.

For its part, oil is one of the most valuable resources in the world and, economically, it is one of the most influential. This can be transformed through various chemical processes to give rise to other resources that human beings may need, such as gasoline, tires, among others.

In this sense, chemistry is very useful in the oil industry, since through this science processes can be developed that allow oil to be transformed and to make the most of this resource.

5- Chemistry and agriculture

Fertilizers are organic or inorganic chemicals that are added to soils to provide the nutrients necessary for them to be productive.

Some studies carried out in the field of agriculture show that the use of commercial fertilizers can increase agricultural production up to 60%. This is why currently, agriculture depends on scientific advances, mainly in the area of ​​chemistry, since they allow to optimize production.

Fertilizers, both organic and inorganic, maximize agricultural production if used in the correct amounts. However, organics have a higher concentration of chemicals necessary for plant growth.

6- Chemistry and biology

Biology coincides with chemistry in the study of structures at the molecular level. Similarly, the principles of chemistry are useful in cell biology because cells are made up of chemicals.

At the same time, multiple chemical processes take place within an organism, such as digestion, respiration, photosynthesis in plants, among others.

In this sense, to understand biology, it is necessary to understand the foundations of chemistry, just as to understand chemistry it is necessary to know about biology.

From the interaction between biology and chemistry, diverse interdisciplines arise, among which chemical ecology, biochemistry and already biotechnology stand out.

7- Chemical ecology

Chemical ecology is an interdisciplinary area of ​​research between chemistry and biology that studies the chemical mechanisms that control interactions between living things.

All organisms use chemical "signals" to transmit information, what is known as "chemical language", the oldest communication system. In this sense, chemical ecology is in charge of identifying and synthesizing the substances that are used to transmit this information.

The collaboration between biology and chemistry began after Professor Jean-Henri Fabre discovered that female moths of the species Saturnia pyri, or night peacock bass, attracted males regardless of distance.

Starting in 1930, chemists and biologists from the United States Department of Agriculture tried to identify the substances involved in the attraction process of various moths.

Years later, in 1959, Karlson and Lüscher created the term "pheromones" (from the Greek "pherein", to transport, and the Arabic "horman", to excite) to name the substances expelled by an organism and that generate a certain behavior or reaction in another individual of the same species.

8- Biochemistry

Biochemistry is a branch of science that is responsible for studying the chemical processes that occur within a living being or that are related to it. This science focuses on the cellular level, studying the processes that occur within cells and the molecules that make them up, such as lipids, carbohydrates and proteins.

9- Chemistry and biotechnology

In simple words, biotechnology is technology based on biology. Biotechnology is a broad discipline in which other sciences such as chemistry, microbiology, genetics, among others, interact.

The object of biotechnology is the development of new technologies through the study of biological and chemical processes, organisms and cells and their components. Biotech products are useful in various fields, among which are agriculture, industry and medicine. Biotechnology is divided into three areas:

• Red biotechnology

• Green biotechnology

• White biotechnology

Red biotechnology includes the uses of this science in relation to medicine, such as the development of vaccines and antibiotics.

Green biotechnology refers to the application of biological techniques in plants, to improve certain aspects of these; genetically modified (GM) crops are an example of green biotechnology.

Finally, white biotechnology is the biotechnology that is used in industrial processes; This branch proposes the use of cells and organic substances to synthesize and degrade certain materials, instead of using petrochemicals.

10- Chemical engineering

Chemical engineering is a branch of engineering that is responsible for studying the ways in which raw materials are transformed to create useful and marketable products.

This branch of engineering involves the study of the properties of these materials in order to understand what processes should be used in the transformation of each of these materials and what would be the best way to take advantage of them.

Chemical engineering also encompasses controlling pollution levels, protecting the environment and conserving energy, and plays an important role in the development of renewable energy.

It constitutes an interdiscipline, since it is based on physics, mathematics, biological sciences, economics and, obviously, chemistry.

The historical evolution of chemistry as a discipline

Chemistry as a practice has existed since prehistoric times, when humans began to manipulate the materials that were at their disposal to make them useful.

He discovered fire and manipulated it to cook his food, as well as to produce strong clay pots; he manipulated metals and created alloys between them, such as bronze.

In ancient times, they began to seek explanations for chemical processes, until then considered magic.

It was in this period that the Greek philosopher Aristotle stated that matter was made up of the four elements (water, earth, fire and air), mixed in different proportions to give rise to different materials.

However, Aristotle did not believe in experimentation (essential basis of chemistry) as a method to test his theories.

Later, in the Middle Ages, alchemy (dark science in Greek) developed, "science" in which knowledge about materials, magic and philosophy interacted.

The alchemists gave great contributions to the chemistry that is known today; for example, they studied processes such as sublimation and crystallization and, above all, developed a method based on observation and experimentation.

In the modern age, chemistry was born as an experimental science and developed more strongly in the contemporary age, with the atomic theory of John Dalton. During this period, the branches of chemistry were developed: organic, inorganic, biochemical, analytical, among others.

At present, chemistry is divided into more specialized branches and its interdisciplinary nature stands out, since it is related to multiple fields of knowledge (biology, physics, medicine, among others).

conclusion

After having studied some of the areas in which chemistry intervenes, it can be said that this science is of great importance due to its interdisciplinary nature.

This is why chemistry can be "associated" with other disciplines, such as biology, engineering and technology, giving rise to new fields of study such as biochemistry, chemical engineering and biotechnology.

In the same way, chemistry constitutes a transdiscipline, which means that the knowledge produced by this science is used by other disciplines without generating a new field of study.

In this sense, the transdisciplinary character of chemistry favors agriculture and medicine, to name a few.

The relationship between chemistry and other sciences makes it possible to improve the quality of life, since it allows the creation of medicines, the optimization of economic activities (such as agriculture and the oil industry), the development of new technologies and the protection of the environment.. At the same time, it allows us to get to know the world around us in greater depth.

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