The last two in many places, including the NTU, are often taught together. Analytical Chemistry is the scientific discipline which develops and applies methods, instuments and strategies to obtain information on the composition and nature of matter in space and time. Environemntal chemistry applies aspects of all the other four divisions of chemistry in studying environmental processes. Inorganic chemistry is the study of the synthesis, structure, and properties of substances formed by metal and non-metallic elements such as nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus and chlorine. Industrial inorganic compounds include fertilisers, ores, acids, alkalides and salts.
Organic chemistry is concerned with carbon compounds.
Physical chemists use physical and mathematical methods to study the laws that govern the nature and the rates of chemical reactions and the energy available from them, the forces that bind atoms together, and the effects of electricity and radiation on chemical substances. In every field of chemistry the varied nature of the work challenges young chemists to thought and experiment. The solution of chemical problems gives them a sense of achievement, and the need to find solutions stimulates their intellectual development. The chemist must assess the results obtained from them. The bunsen burner and test tube may still be used, but they are no longer the appropriate symbols of modern chemistry.