Physical
chemistry
Physical
chemistry is the study of macroscopic, atomic,
subatomic, and particulate phenomena in chemical systems in terms of physical
laws and concepts. It applies the principles, practices and concepts of physics
such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum
chemistry, statistical mechanics
and dynamics.
Physical chemistry is the
application of the principles and methods of physics and math to chemistry.
Physical chemistry can also be regarded as the study of the physical principles
underlying chemistry. We want to know how and why materials behave as they do.
The ultimate goal of physical chemistry is to provide a (mathematical) model
for all of chemistry.Level of mathematics required. Physical chemistry requires
that calculus be used as a tool just as algebra has been used as a tool.
Physical chemistry, in contrast to chemical
physics, is predominantly (but not always) a
macroscopic or supra-molecular science, as the majority of the principles on
which physical chemistry was founded, are concepts related to the bulk rather
than on molecular/atomic structure alone. For example, chemical equilibrium,
and colloids.
Some of the relationships that physical
chemistry strives to resolve include the effects of:
1. Intermolecular forces
that act upon the physical properties of materials (plasticity, tensile
strength, surface
tension in liquids).
3. The
identity of ions on the electrical conductivity of materials.
Chemical physics is a subdiscipline of chemistry and physics that investigates
physicochemical phenomena using techniques from atomic and molecular physics and condensed matter physics; it is the branch
of physics that studies chemical processes from the point of view of physics.
While at the interface of physics and chemistry, chemical physics is distinct from physical chemistry in that it focuses more on the
characteristic elements and theories of physics. Meanwhile, physical chemistry
studies the physical nature of chemistry. Nonetheless, the distinction between
the two fields is vague, and workers often practice in each field during the
course of their research.
What chemical physicists do
Chemical physicists commonly probe the
structure and dynamics of
ions, free
radicals, polymers, clusters,
and molecules.
Areas of study include the quantum mechanical
behavior of chemical reactions,
the process of solvation, inter-
and intra-molecular energy flow, and single entities such as quantum
dots. Experimental chemical physicists use a
variety of spectroscopic
techniques to better understand hydrogen
bonding, electron
transfer, the formation and dissolution of chemical
bonds, chemical reactions, and the formation of nanoparticles.
Theoretical chemical physicists create simulations of the molecular processes
probed in these experiments to both explain results and guide future
investigations. The goals of chemical physics research include understanding chemical
structures and reactions at the quantum mechanical level, elucidating the
structure and reactivity of gas phase
ions and radicals, and discovering accurate approximations to make the physics
of chemical phenomena computationally accessible. Chemical physicists are
looking for answers to such questions as:
- Can we experimentally test quantum mechanical predictions of the vibrations and rotations of simple molecules? Or even those of complex molecules (such as proteins)?
- Can we develop more accurate methods for calculating the electronic structure and properties of molecules?
- Can we understand chemical reactions from first principles?
- Why do quantum dots start blinking (in a pattern suggesting fractal kinetics) after absorbing photons of light?
- How do chemical reactions really take place?
- What
is the step-by-step process that occurs when an isolated molecule becomes
solvated? Or when a whole ensemble[disambiguation
needed
] of molecules becomes solvated? - Can we use the properties of negative ions to determine molecular structures, understand the dynamics of chemical reactions, or explain photodissociation?
- Why does a stream of soft x-rays knock enough electrons out of the atoms in a xenon cluster to cause the cluster to explode?
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