Physical and theoretical chemistry as a teaching subject
Physical chemistry represents a link between chemistry and physics. It attempts to understand the behavior of chemical systems based on fundamental physical laws.
Theoretical chemistry attempts to quantitatively determine the structures of molecules and their interactions based on fundamental physical principles through mathematical modeling and concrete calculations that are as precise as possible.
An example: The description of momentum and energy of moving masses is known from physics. These laws are used in physical chemistry in the so-called kinetic impact theory to describe, for example, heat conduction or the viscosity (viscosity) of gases. With the help of kinetic impact theory, the rates of chemical reactions in reaction kinetics can be derived from relatively simple microscopic, molecular relationships. A more precise model of molecular interactions, which is necessary for many specific applications, then requires more complex descriptions of the relationships from theoretical chemistry.
Physical and theoretical chemistry deals with application-oriented topics (e.g. the development of new lasers and their use in spectroscopy) on the one hand and investigates fundamental questions on the other, such as better models for describing the interaction of individual molecules in a gas or a surface.
Examples of typical questions in physical and theoretical chemistry from everyday life are
- Why does an ice skater glide across the ice? (Phase diagram of water)
- Why does the "carbonic acid" go out of the fizzy water in summer? (Solubility of gases in liquids)
- How does a laser pointer work? (Spectroscopy)
Physical and Theoretical Chemistry takes on teaching in the Bachelor's/Master's degree courses in Chemistry, Applied Science (Bachelor of Applied Science), Food Chemistry, Sustainable Chemistry, Master's Computer Simulation in Science and Teacher Training (Chemistry).
