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Here's a Deeper Look into STEM Fields & Disciplines: Physical Sciences

Written by: Jenn Xu

 

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Choosing a career path is a major life decision, and oftentimes it’s a hard call to make. When it comes to post-secondary education, it’s not easy to decide on what exactly you want to study. It can be especially difficult when you’re dead set on going into science, technology, engineering, or mathematics, but you just have no clue which one you want, or what specifically you want to do in the far future.


However, to make the decision a little easier, I've done some research and compiled a list of STEM fields and disciplines in post-secondary. You know the basics: chemistry, biology, medical science, computer science, etc.. But there are so many more options out there, many of which you may not have considered or known! (Or at least not their definitions and exactly what they’re all about.) The fields & disciplines covered are for bachelor’s degrees and graduate studies, which may bring about some more specific topics. When considering those niche topics, remember to trace them back to their original undergraduate programs! The list of disciplines will unravel in a series of 7 posts, so as not to overwhelm you with information.


(1) Physical sciences, (2) environmental life sciences, (3) social sciences & economics, (4) health & clinical science, (5) medical biosciences, (6) mathematics, statistics & computer science, and (7) engineering.


Now, without further ado, let’s get into the physical sciences!


Chemistry

As previously mentioned, chemistry is one of those “staple” science fields—and a very broad one at that. It’s obvious that there would be many branches of chemistry, depending on what you want to specialize in, and that deviate from the basic pure chemistry.


To begin, there are some relatively straightforward fields & disciplines; you can guess what they’re all about just by the names themselves. They include chemistry, biopolymers, cement chemistry (yes, this is a thing!), environmental chemistry, food chemistry, medicinal chemistry, nuclear chemistry, organic chemistry, photonics/optics, agrochemicals, and polymer science.


However, more on the unknown ones. Let’s start with analytical chemistry, a field of study centering on—you guessed it—analyzing matter. Thinking back on the properties of matter, both qualitative and quantitative, those assessments are what analytical chemistry covers, albeit on a much more professional level. Analytical chemistry exists to identify matter and its characteristics, and although it may seem boring, it’s more important than you think. We need to know the specific properties of types of matter to make decisions in manufacturing, environmental regulation, and even in the medical world.


Next up are chemical biology and biochemistry. Confusing, yes, but both very important and different fields of study. While chemical biology is about applying chemical methods to study biological systems, biochemistry is chemistry within living organisms. The field of chemical biology also uses something called chemical probes to study and interact with biological systems, oftentimes in the development of drugs and medicines. A branch of science called natural products chemistry deals with finding/creating new chemical probes.


Interested in using computer simulations to solve chemistry-related problems? Take a look into computational chemistry! This branch of chemistry utilizes reasonably developed mathematical methods from theoretical chemistry, turns them into computer models, and uses them to solve chemical questions. Theoretical chemistry focuses more on formulating algorithms based on molecule properties using bits of quantum chemistry knowledge.


Now for a speed round before moving on!

  • bioinorganic chemistry: the study of how metals are part of biology

  • inorganic chemistry: the study of inorganic & organometallic compounds, their properties, and their behaviors

  • crystallography: determining crystalline structures by studying molecular bonding in order to identify substances

  • physical chemistry: the study of matter’s behavior to develop new concepts, principles and theories

  • spectroscopy: the study of the interaction between matter and light

  • surface chemistry: the study of what happens at the interfaces of different states of matter

  • electrochemistry: the study of how electricity plays a role in chemical reactions (think redox reactions!)

  • nanoscience/nanotechnology: the manipulation of matter on a microscopic scale, involving both chemistry and physics

  • materials chemistry: using chemistry to create materials with beneficial properties

  • catalysis: the study of catalysts

Physics

Another of the major fields of study under the big umbrella of science, physics, has more routes you can take besides the basic algebraic one we’ve become familiarized with in high school physics class. They include atomic & molecular physics, optics, thermodynamics, mathematical physics, magnetism, and nuclear physics.


You’ve heard of computational chemistry—now get ready for computational physics! Similar to its chemical counterpart, it uses computer models to solve physics problems. It’s somewhat associated with theoretical physics, which uses mathematical models to solve physics problems that have not yet been tested in real life.


Perhaps you’ve encountered the term biophysics, but what exactly is it about and why is it useful? Biophysics utilizes principles of physics to study biology and its systems. Biophysics has real-world applications, playing a role in the development of biofuels, vaccines, and more!


More on physics-based fields & disciplines:

  • particle physics: the study of the interaction of fundamental particles & subatomic particles

  • plasma and fluids: the study of the physics of plasma, known as the “fourth state of matter”, including plasma theory

  • scattering: the study of the dispersion of light when atoms/molecules absorb light energy and re-emit it (niche, yes)

Space Science

Dreaming of another world? Dreaming of things beyond our reach? Space sciences have got your back! Learn chemistry, physics, or biology in the universe in astrochemistry (the study of molecules, chemical reactions, and the chemical makeup of stars in space), astrophysics (the study of the physics of the universe and how it contributed to the creation of the universe), and astrobiology (the study of evolution and the past & future of life in the universe).


If you’d like something more broad, check out astronomy or planetary science. Astronomy is the study of space and celestial entities regarding how they came to be, as well as how they’ve evolved. Planetary science focuses on studying planets, asteroids & comets, solar systems, and how it all came to be.


If you’ve heard of cosmochemistry, here’s where it differentiates from astrochemistry. Cosmochemistry is more about the distribution of elements and their isotopes throughout the universe, as well as their creation in the universe.


More on space science fields & disciplines:

  • comet research: researching comets, their makeup, origins, and their role in outer space

  • theoretical astrophysics: astrophysics, but using computer models and simulations

Earth Science

If you’re passionate about Earth systems, there’s a whole list of scientific disciplines for you to consider. There’s climatology, hydrology, oceanography, physical geography, volcanology, and more.


Let’s begin with geology and its many branches. Geology is the study of rocks and the physical processes that change them over time. Mineralogy, a subcategory of geology, studies minerals, their composition, chemistry, and properties. There’s also planetary geology, which is geology regarding celestial bodies, and petroleum geology, the study of geology in relation to hydrocarbon fuels. Petrology deals with how rocks come to be—basically a professional study of the rock cycle. Ever heard of economic geology? Me neither! Turns out, it’s all about mineral deposits. A lot of the work of economic geologists benefits mining companies, which warrants the “economic” part of the subdiscipline’s name.


Curious about earthquakes? Check out seismology, which gets its name from seismic waves, the result of earthquakes. Seismology is closely related to volcanology as well.


It’s apparent that earth sciences would use models for a variety of reasons, and the following two disciplines are closely associated with computer models. They’re used to take a look at past, present, and future climates to deepen our knowledge of how the climate works in climate modeling and analysis. In addition, geographic information science uses geographic information systems (systems that visualize information attributed to geographic locations) and computer technology to make decisions based on what is mapped out in the systems.


More on earth science fields & disciplines:

  • geomorphology: the study of the change of landforms near Earth’s surface

  • geochemistry: how chemistry influences geological processes, mechanisms, and systems

  • geophysics: using physics to study natural processes on Earth

  • atmospheric sciences: the study of the physical processes that occur in the atmosphere, including meteorology

  • meteorology: the study of weather

Paleontology

Paleontology actually falls under a bigger category, which is historical geology, the study of Earth’s changes and forms over time. Paleontology is about studying fossils and life on Earth. Some of its subdisciplines include paleobotany (the study of plant fossils), paleoecology (the way organisms and the environment interact over geological time), paleozoology (the study and recovery of fossils to put together prehistoric events), and taphonomy (the study of the process of fossilization).


More

  • forensic science: where crime and science intertwine

  • materials science: the study of matter and its properties in real world applications such as in metallurgy and ceramics

It is clear that this one post cannot cover all the different fields of study and disciplines that are under the title of physical sciences. However, hopefully this was helpful in deepening your understanding of the various options you have in terms of post-secondary studies of physical sciences. There’s much more to come for STEM fields of study, so stay tuned!

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