As in all fields, personal qualifications, experience and ability determine what the individual does. At the university level, chemists conduct research in addition to their teaching and administrative duties. Pure research is also conducted in government and industrial laboratories. For example, nylon and other polymers and plastics resulted from fundamental studies of large molecules in industrial laboratories. A great deal of applied research is also carried out in nonacademic settings.
Chemists apply their knowledge to problems of the environment, energy, medicine and agriculture.
About ten percent of all chemists work in production and inspection. They may also monitor automated processes to ensure proper product yields and quality. At each stage samples are tested for quality control. Chemists who support technical sales spend much of their time in the laboratory working on chemical problems encountered by the sales force. They may go into the field as consultants on these problems.