• Question: whats the difference between physics chemistary and biology

    Asked by 979furk43 to Chris, Joanne, Kathryn, Kieran, Sarah on 8 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Kathryn Schoenrock

      Kathryn Schoenrock answered on 8 Nov 2017:

      Each of those sciences is really important! They deal with different aspects of the world but are very closely related:

      Physics is maybe the most fundamental- without understand this we wouldn’t understand a lot of chemistry, and then biology. It describes the interactions of bodies, like air and water. It helps us understand how for instance an electron orbits a nucleus in a Hydrogen atom (quantum physics). Chemistry then describes the interaction of atoms like Hydrogen and Carbon with each other, such as the formation of simple sugars using enzymes (biochemistry). Biology then takes those chemical reactions and describes how sugars are created or eaten and what that means for the banana and the monkey eating it.

    • Photo: Sarah Guerin

      Sarah Guerin answered on 8 Nov 2017:

      Physics is the study of things like forces, movement, electricity and magnetism. Chemistry is about reactions, how mixtures and compounds are made. Biology is all do to with living things and how they work- the cells in your body, plants, DNA.

    • Photo: Chris Werner

      Chris Werner answered on 8 Nov 2017:

      Great question, and important to know the difference. Kathryn sums it up very well, as physics is the engine room of science, its goal is to understand the entire universe in a fundamental way. The ‘Holy Grail’ for physics is to find a theory of everything. Unfortunately the answer is not 42 (Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy). It explains everything from the tiniest particles known to exist all the way up to the largest things in existence, such as studying the origin and expansion of the universe itself

      Chemistry is focused on the state, composition, structure, and properties of matter and how it changes over time and through events like chemical reactions.

      Biology is the study of all living things.

      Here’s a rather amusing quote I found on a t-shirt explaining the difference between the three.

      “If it’s green or wriggles, it’s biology.
      If it stinks, it’s chemistry.
      If it doesn’t work, it’s physics!”

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