Have you ever asked yourself – what are three reasons for studying chemistry? Many people choose to study chemistry for various reasons, from wanting to pursue a career in the sciences, to simply wanting more time in the lab experimenting. But there are some other reasons why people choose to study chemistry, and if you too are wondering why then you’ve come to the right place. Here are the top three reasons we believe people should study chemistry.
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1. It’s a fun subject!
What are the three reasons for studying chemistry?
As children, we spent our time playing in the dirt, mixing stones with water, adding in leaves and other kinds of gunk, just to see what would happen. If you were privileged enough to have a great science teacher, you probably watched on in awe as they poured vinegar into a paper mache volcano and saw the contents erupt. Children are naturally curious, and the sciences allow us to experiment and see what happens. Curiosity and discovery are a HUGE part of science, and what we did as kids was just that!
Chemistry (noun): the branch of science concerned with the substances of which matter is composed, the investigation of their properties and reactions, and the use of such reactions to form new substances.
Chemistry is a subject that allows you to use different types of matter and see how they interact. As a budding chemist, you’ll discover things that change colour, glow in the dark, produce bubbles, change shape and even go BOOM! What’s more fun than that?
2. It answers complex questions
What are the three reasons for studying chemistry?
Chemistry isn’t just in the science lab, it’s in your kitchen when you’re baking a cake and it lives in your shampoo bottle. Life can be perplexing and full of questions and chemistry gives us plenty of answers!
By learning the basics of chemistry, we learn more about life and the world around us. It even helps us to understand current events such as what pollution is, the effects of climate change on the environment, and the pros and cons of technological advantages.
Chemistry helps us to decide what type of shampoo and condition is best for our hair type, whether a face cream will really clear up our acne, and why we really shouldn’t open the oven door before the timer pings!
What A-Levels do I need to take to study chemistry?
3. It helps you to learn objective reasoning and problem-solving skills
What are the three reasons for studying chemistry?
Humans are born emotional beings, oftentimes we struggle to accept things as they are. Just think back to a time when you fell out with a friend. You likely had your perspective on the situation and they had there’s, that’s likely because emotions were involved and sometimes it’s hard to see things as they are.
Working with the sciences is likely to help you see things in a more factual and objective way, rather than how you want them to be. A big part of the experimentation process in chemistry is starting with a prediction e.g. what do you think will happen when we add X to Y? Once the experiment has been conducted, you’re able to evaluate what actually happened in a logical and factual way. You’ll often find that your predictions aren’t always right, and by remaining open-minded, you’ll start to see everything as an opportunity to learn more about how things work.
Want to discover more about chemistry? Immerse Education offers a range of chemistry courses for young people aged 13-18. Explore chemistry in one-to-one sessions or in group-based classes online, or learn in the heart of the UK’s most prestigious university on a two-week residential programme.
