Big Subfields Of Chemistry/chemical Engineering

Which is better chemical engineering or chemistry?

I was undecided between chemistry and physics, so started a joint course, but eventually qualified as a chemist and worked in industry on R&D on a chemical plant.  I realised that I would have done chemical engineering had I known about it, so proceeded to study, take exams in chemical engineering and completed a design project for the Institution of Chemical Engineers.  I have done work which bridges both fields.Both careers are valid, one is not better than the other.  Both have a considerable range of career options which will suit some people more than others.  In general, chemical engineering is better paid and more likely to lead to management, but money should not be your main aim.If you love chemistry, you should do chemistry, because there is surprisingly little in chemical engineering.  What chemical engineers do is to provide the conditions for chemical or biological reactions to take place by physical processes such as heating, cooling, stirring, bubbling gases through etc.  Then they carry out processes such as distillation or filtration to separate and purify the products.  Finally they minimize the energy usage of processes, and dangers to people and the environment.  It is a very broad subject area.  Of course, chemical engineers have to be competent in chemistry and be prepared to learn any chemistry involved in a process.   May also deal with complex biological systems and get educated in that area.However, chemical engineering is absolutely NOT applied chemistry.  The degree courses are completely different.If you choose to be a chemist, I would advise a career plan through to PhD in order to get a good job in industry.  For a chemical engineer, a Masters is pretty much required.  A PhD is somewhat optional unless you wish to be an academic.

What should I choose chemistry or chemical engineering?

Chemistry is a science. Science is about finding out. Chemical engineering is engineering. Engineering is about doing things. Chemical engineering contains chemistry (especially kinetics and physical chemistry) but is mostly applied physics.Think about some chemical reaction A + B = C + D where C is the product.A and B have to be stored, transported to the reactor (different for gas, liquid and solid) probably heated, cooled or compressed to the reactor conditions. Within the reactor the material has to be mixed, and there will be lots of control to maintain the conditions and residence time (depending if it is batch or continuous or some combination). The products have to be removed (more transport, heating, cooling etc) and C separated from D, excess A, B and any side products. The separation process is generally the majority of the plant. It may involve crystallization, filtration distillation etc, and probably not just a single unit. The crude C will most probably be further refined. If any unused A and B can be recycled, this will be done. (Recycles are a major part of chemical engineering.) D and any side products must be disposed of in a safe and environmentally responsible manner, which may effectively mean another chemical plant.Obviously chemical engineers also deal with processes for energy, water, food etc.My school had no idea of chemical engineering, so I qualified as a chemist and went to work in industry, where I discovered that I should have been a chemical engineer. With further study and experience, I eventually became a chemical engineer.Both are valid and interesting professions. If you are fascinated by what molecules do, then chemistry. If you would like to think what you can do with molecules, become a chemical engineer.

What is the difference between chemical engineering and chemistry?

Chemistry is science while chemical engineering is, well, engineering.Focus: Chemists try to understand and explain the mechanism behind chemical reactions whereas engineers focus on designing/operating the processes to manufacture substances on a large scale.Technology aspect: A chemist won't be trained on industrial equipment but that's a necessity for an engineer.During my internship, a chemist-to-be friend of mine wanted to be assigned to the plant instead of the lab so we could be together. She just couldn't understand the huge compressors or what does a pump gearbox does. She asked to be reassigned to the lab in a few days.Scale: Chemists usually work with grams and milliliters at a time. However, engineers work with cubic meters and tons.That same friend of mine couldn't fathom when we talked about several tons per hour product.Work style: A chemist deals with test tubes, flasks, beakers and usually can see what's going on. We check dials, gauges, lights and other symbols and say that “all looks OK” while three or four systems are in alarm state.Work conditions: A chemist can work in a lab coat all day long, occasionally needing gloves and/or safety goggles. In a plant safety regulations may even dictate what you cannot wear. Forget about synthetic fabrics, no loose hair or dangling clothes, a skirt is a no-no. In large complexes, even walking on the roads between plants may be prohibited and only vehicles with flame arrestors are allowed inside.All in all, they are related but the actual work needs to be done by either profession is night and day. However both are fun.

Does research in chemical engineering include a lot of chemistry?

It generally should. Even in the more engineering elements of chemical engineering subjects of process control and fluids, research should require a lot of chemistry.Chemical engineering is about understanding how microscopic interactions influence macroscopic phenomena. When the microscopic gets ignored, it frankly ceases to be chemical engineering and just becomes engineering. For the most part, chemical engineers are trained to be engineers first but when a student starts to do research in the subject, then the engineering science elements become much more important.In subfields like transport phenomena and kinetics, the engineer should understand how the underlying chemistry influences the problem. They don’t necessarily need to know it, but for them to make a meaningful interpretation of the data to propose a usable hypothesis, they should understand the chemical interactions, thermodynamics, and kinetics of the problem.Process design and process control are sort of an odd area. I frankly don’t consider most process control to be a chemical engineering discipline since engineering control loops and systems are derived from engineering principles. However, process design and control in chemical engineering is inherently about understand how the underlying chemical processes that you’re trying to control work so that you can effectively control them.Thus, without understanding how you are measuring a signal and using that signal to feed into a controller which then changes conditions that impact the chemical reaction, I would argue that you’re really not doing any chemical engineering at all.

What are the subfields of chemistry?

Roughly it can be divided into five fields: inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, physical chemistry, analytical chemistry and high polymer chemistry.However, there aren’t absolute lines between them because cross fields are common. In Greenwood’s Elemental Chemistry it’s stated that The category of inorganic chemistry is outdated so the concept of elemental chemistry is used here. The book is organized by elements and for most part it introduces inorganic matters, but at the end of each chapter introductions of related organic matters are given.There are a kind of textbooks called “structural chemistry” and they are about inorganic, organic and physical chemistry.High polymers can be inorganic or organic.