About a week ago our teacher asked us to make a blog about how the philosophy of chemistry is related to another subject that we do and I was absolutely clueless about how chemistry can relate to another subject at a philosophical level. I only knew how I could relate this to the other sciences or maths, speaking form a content perspective.
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However, when I was able to think about it over the weekend, I realised that chemistry and math are more alike and linked that people give them credit to be. In the same way that all chemistry topics can be linked back to the most basic form of the atom, any math concept can be linked back to the most fundamental applications of math, namely addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Anything we learn in chemistry can be linked back to the atom and how the sub-atomic particles interact within the atom and with other atoms to form literally everything. Similarly, any mathematical concept such as quadratics, polynomials, even logarithms and many concepts can be linked back to the four basic mathematical functions. In the same way that we use different functions to find answers to mathematical questions, using our knowledge of the atom and the reactions between elements, we can find solutions to so many problems that occur within many external fields of science. For instance, a new molecule can be discovered or created that can help physicists in their research and chemistry can also help develop medicines that can one day hopefully cure cancer. Both chemistry and maths have a great influence on many different fields. Chemistry can easily be linked to any other sciences and maths can be linked to other fields such as economics, business, physics, chemistry and computer science, to name a few. Maths and chemistry have more in common than just the application of maths in chemistry and I think that I might even learn more about their similarities over the course of IB.
In the future, when I learn much more about chemistry during the next 2 years, I might find another connection between chemistry and another subject. I believe I thought of maths first is because I like both maths and chemistry and I am passionate about both the subjects. Other people might have different views because they might pursue different passions. One question I have at the end of this activity is how has chemistry helped other fields of science develop in the past and how is chemistry currently helping the world? I think I’ll find the answers to these questions later, once we begin to study chemistry in detail.