Organic chemistry is the study of long chains and rings of carbon atoms. Twenty-nine of the top 50 chemicals manufactured by the chemical industry are organic molecules. Almost all of the molecules associated with life are organic molecules. This left hand-right hand property imparts a three dimensional complexity and subtlety to organic chemistry. The large number of non-bonding interactions between organic molecules allows chemists, not to mention Nature, to design molecules with memory.
Inorganic chemistry is centers on the remaining elements.
Twenty-one of the top 50 chemicals manufactured by the chemical industry are inorganic molecules. Physical chemistry deals with the mathematical nature of the electron clouds holding molecules together, the most probable arrangements of atoms as they undergo changes in combination, the conversion of one state of matter to another, and the energy changes of these processes. Much of general chemistry is inorganic and physical chemistry. Analytical chemistry develops methods of determining what compounds are present in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. These methods, many using sophisticated computer controlled instrumentation, are becoming so sensitive as to measure contaminants previously undetectable.