I take back what I said about Chemistry

[flan2dave]

I've said here before I didn't understand the appeal of chemistry: I take it all back! It's a literal symphony of electrical forces interacting, from which everything emerges. Studying quantum and electrical physics for some time over the summer has helped me appreciate just how amazing it all is. Instead of seeing the subject as a bunch of stuff to memorize, going into unneccessary detail, it's more like an endless treasure of beautiful and mysterious processes that can be probed into by imaginative and rational thinking. I have an inkling of what Newton meant when he said he is like a child on the beach trying to find the prettiest shell.

I just had my first class of college level chemistry today, while I still dread all the lab write ups and boring calculations that we'll go through, it's worth it for the heart of the subject.

What does everyone else think about chem? If you're already deep into the subject (or branches, I know NGene is studying biochem), what sort of research do you find interesting? Discuss whatever really.

[int]

I have a love/hate relationship with chemistry. I really didn't like it in high school and ended up droppping the class but once I took physics in college I started to understand it a lot better, although I never took a formal chem class in college. If I could do it all over again I'd probably major in physics or astronomy with math and writing minors.

It took some time but chem sounds like more fun now. :)

[Hypnos]

I'm a physics PhD. I used to hate chemistry, but now it merely blows my mind.

[int]

Wow. I'm amazed how you guys can stand school long enough to get a doctorate. How do you keep interested?

[antireconciler]

Because it's physics!

I have a mild interest in chemistry. There's a lot of cool things to understand, but I always get the impression that it takes more S than I like. That's why there's physics!

[Johnny]

Ironically, I only liked college chemistry for the lab work and experiments, and I didn't get far enough into it to go beyond groaning over deterministic formulas. My bad, though. Enjoy!

[flan2dave]

I always prod my professeur to give chemistry a physics point of view. He has a pet interest in quantum physics, this seems to be a common thread amongst all my mathematics and science teachers no matter what discipline they are, making it really fun to talk to them about theories and phenomenon. If my questions get too off track, he's glad to go into more detail after class! What a joy it has been so far.

Every chemical equation is another wonder in itself. Back in high school chem, we were showed the typical Na and Cl reaction resulting in salt. Now I know enough about particle dynamics to ask about the details of the reactions, the physics of the electrons and how the atoms align themselves in the new formations, what are the essential principles active at any given moment, etc. There's also a geometric appeal to it all, which satisfies my need for visual imagination (which is somewhat lacking in physics in my opinion, though bear in mind I've taken only classical physics stuff thus far, not the more mysterious modern physics).

[int]

Because it's physics!




I know! That's why it killed me! :) I love physics but could learn through a class. It was painful to want to move ahead but be pulled back by classmates - but I couldn't hate them because they WERE trying to learn. ARRAAAGGHHH!!! :)

The whole school structure got monotonous for me. Are you guys switching schools every few years? How do you stay interested in the same topic??

[Hypnos]

Wow. I'm amazed how you guys can stand school long enough to get a doctorate. How do you keep interested?
I have a passion for physics. After that, it's talent and toughness.

[Odyssey]

Chemistry's okay - but to me inorganic chemistry can get boring.

Biochemistry is awesome. THAT'S where a whole lot of the complexity plays out. Inorganic chem has its own types of complexities (think material science), but they're relatively static qualities like ductile strength or solubility - I prefer the highly dynamic, interacting nature of molecules and systems in biochem.

As for chemistry equations and write-ups... bleh! Okay, they're not horrible, but they're time-consuming and often superficial. X_X The deeper-level mechanics of electrons and bondings and energies are fascinating! But, the batches of equations need to be balanced with the exercise of figuring out What It Means.

~Odyssey

[flan2dave]

I'm a physics PhD. I used to hate chemistry, but now it merely blows my mind.

btw, what sort of research did you do for your PhD? Or tell what part of physics you know best or would be interested in doing more research.

Oddyssey, I know what you mean about organic chemistry providing the best show for the processes of chemistry. Material science has its appeal when you look at the quantum details, which makes it pretty open to postulating what is really going on. Studying organic chemistry on the same level would be too complicated in many cases (just finding the structures of molecules in various conditions would be a big lab undertaking). What I'm talking about though might be physical chemistry, or perhaps just particles physics. I'm not really concerned with the categories, which may get me in trouble from a degree earning standpoint, lol.

[Avengardh]

Ah, chem, how I loathed thee...
I hated it in high school, I took AP chem, and she mostly went into inorganic chem, then I tried college chem (I thought I was going to go to the School of Mines and become an engineer...heh, I was wrong) and it was just too boring for me, I couldn't stay awake.

If I could major in physics I would...I love it. Astrophysics interests me the most...but also quantum and superstring theory.

~*Aven*~

[Hypnos]

btw, what sort of research did you do for your PhD? Or tell what part of physics you know best or would be interested in doing more research.
String theory (and related topics)

[Melody]

I bought the book "Gravitation," aka "MTW." I was able to get past the first chapter. ^_^ I seem to have grinded to a halt at chapter 2. I can understand the concepts easily enough, but the math goes in one ear and out my ass. I got an introductory book (D'Inverno,) and am progressing through it and checking out other books on relativity as well as tensors, differential forms, etc.

A technical forum might be good. That way, after I understand what a tensor is (fundamentally, not just superficially) I can ask questions about relativity, and you can answer them. *nods wisely*

[int]

String theory (and related topics)

Wanna post your thesis?

[Melody]

String theory (and related topics)

Wanna post your thesis?
Yeah, let's take all his knowledge. muahahahaha

feeling ... sleepy :zzz:

[int]

Heh. Well obviously school didn't work for me, so I gotta get it somewhere... :)

[Hypnos]

String theory (and related topics)

Wanna post your thesis?
Ask me again in two years.

[int]

Wanna post your thoughts thus far? :)

[Miss Padfoot]

Not a big chemistry fan. Especially biochem. It seems like there's not much you can figure out for yourself with logic, just a bunch of memorization. I'm more into the really theoretical stuff - math and physics and the like.

[Hypnos]

Wanna post your thoughts thus far? :)
Well, for string theory to realize its potential we're going to have to identify dualities between all the different limits -- after all, there are no free parameters. So far, there are cute/obvious geometric dualities popping up that we realize as essential (like the duality between toroid moduli), but I'm looking for deeper features of the theory: D0-branes as vortex duals to D(d-1)-branes, for example.

On top of that, there is still the issue of identifying the right global symmetries to break to the sub-symmetries we see in nature, like U(1) for E&M, SU(3) for the strong force, etc. etc., and this has a big back-influence on the deep structure of the theory.

[cozmonite61]

I really loved chemistry in high school, but college fizzled my enthusiasm a bit.

[brianmartin]

O-chem is especially awesome.

[airjaw]

hated chem in high school. doubt its grown on me since then.
I help high school students with it at tutoring sometimes and it's just inane the way schools force students to learn all these useless methods the majority will NEVER use. The majority of these students will never have more than a superficial understanding of chemistry - they're just doing problem sets and following the most basic, routine methods of problem solving. if someone is interested in chemistry it should be freely available otherwise we should make our children do more productive things with their time.

[bluebell]

Not a big chemistry fan. Especially biochem. It seems like there's not much you can figure out for yourself with logic, just a bunch of memorization.

Yeah, I didn't do so well on the organic chem at college, I sucked at the rote learning organic reactions *yawn* - I couldn't see any patterns, it was all about learning rules, but there seemed to be far more exceptions to the rules than examples that followed the rules.

Phys chem on the other hand... :grin: Loved it.

Inorganic was ok (apart from having to memorise :P reactions) because we did heaps of spectroscopy and the theories behind that, specially organometallic stuff with the transition elements.

I stopped doing chem about 12 years ago, but still comes in handy occasionally, eg work or trivia nights.

[Varelse]

Ironically, I only liked college chemistry for the lab work and experiments, and I didn't get far enough into it to go beyond groaning over deterministic formulas. My bad, though. Enjoy!Lab is fun. Memorizing everything-not so much.

[Zergling]

I've liked chemistry all the way through. (In second semester organic right now.) I agree with the "more exceptions than rules", but there are enough patterns to figure things out. Physical chemistry looks interesting, but hard. 9Or maybe it will be just fine.)