Boundaries of chemistry and physics

In 1893, Charles Friedel sought to persuade his Sorbonne colleagues of the need to teach physical chemistry, saying that there are new theories and new needs in the teaching of chemistry each day "this is especially true for phenomena on the boundaries of chemistry and physics, and where considerations of the chemical molecule intervene, which appears to be, in a lot of cases at least, identifical with the physical molecule [my emphasis], "Rapport par Charles Friedel," 109110, in Pieces-annexes Proces-Verbaux de la Faculte des Sciences de Paris, dated June 1893. 

In developing his later views on the social practice of science, Polanyi explicitly drew upon his earlier career experiences in the 1920s and 1930s. Two series of investigations at the boundaries of chemistry and physics were prominent among his examples of scientific practice and the distribution of merit within the scientific community. I turn now to these two cases the potential theory of adsorption on solid surfaces and X-ray studies of the solid state. 

Polanyi s innovative work on solid materials, at the boundary of chemistry and physics, like the work on surface adsorption, simply did not seem to fit into the principal preoccupations considered to be the leading edge of innovation and originality among physical chemists and physicists of the 1920s and 1930s. 

Therefore, it seems expedient to propose the name fluorochemistry as descriptive of this branch of science. The term fluorochemistry is in order with other terms created to identify highly specialized fields which are still within the boundaries of chemistry and/or physics, eg., photochemistry, physical optics, and so on. 

These binary mixtures exhibit phase boundaries on temperature-composition phase diagrams, as summarized in Table 29-2. Data are available which indicate that methyl acetate (Tbou = 57°C) and water (Tbou = lOO C) exhibit a minimumboiling azeotrope at 56.1°C when the mole fraction of methyl acetate is 0.95 Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 1974-1975, p. D-30). Since the two-phase... 

We now use the pressure-temperature map in Figure 4.18 to determine the temperature of our destination. Our condenser maintains 1 atm total pressure, so we plot a path of constant pressure. We move horizontally on the map until we reach the two phase boundary between vapor and liquid, also known as the dew point. One finds in the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (59th edition, p. D-246) that the dew point of benzene at 10 torr is — 12°C. Thus at 10 torr and — 12°C benzene begins to condense from the air and the partial pressure of benzene falls. The total pressure in the system, however, falls little because the system is predominately (98.7%) air. 

Although much has been discovered during late years, yet it seems highly probable that only the boundaries of the subject have been skirted, and that the vast field of research on the borderland, so to speak, between chemistry and physics, is almost virgin soil, holding out a bountiful harvest to those who, not content with treading the... 

Such attitudes highlight a long-standing tension between the disciplines of physics and chemistry. How did boundaries come to be drawn, and redrawn, between the two fields or disciplines Who drew them What changing aims and strategies were used to distinguish chemistry and physics What should we make of the claim that physics has pride of place over chemistry in the logic or in the history of the sciences ... 

At present the boundary between the sciences of physics and chemistry has been completely bridged. Men [s/ c] who must be classified as physicists on the basis of training and of relations to departments or institutes of physics are working on the traditional problems of chemistry and others who must be regarded as chemists on similar grounds are working in fields which must be regarded as... 

The modification of polymers is interdisciplinary in nature cutting across traditional boundaries of chemistry, biochemistry, medicine, physics, biology and materials science and engineering. Because of this interdisciplinary nature, persons involved with polymer modification should be broadly trained to permit the best application of revealed information. 

The determination of the ground state energy and the ground state electron density distribution of a many-electron system in a fixed external potential is a problem of major importance in chemistry and physics. For a given Hamiltonian and for specified boundary conditions, it is possible in principle to obtain directly numerical solutions of the Schrodinger equation. Even with current generations of computers, this is not feasible in practice for systems of large total number of electrons. Of course, a variety of alternative methods, such as self-consistent mean field theories, also exist. However, these are approximate. 

Experts in the field of biology, chemistry, and physics know very well that boundaries must be crossed, which can only be done effectively with the present and emerging concepts of dynamical systems, quantum theory, electrodics, and the solid state, among others. Submolecular biology is becoming more accessible by means of sophisticated research methods based on microtechniques, microcircuitry, and computers. The steps from in vitro to in vivo experimentation, although still tentative, have already taken place and will accelerate rapidly. 

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