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Chemist
Studies matter and its properties — develops new materials, drugs, and chemical processes.
Did you know?
The element helium was discovered on the Sun (via spectroscopy) before it was found on Earth
How subjects help
- Chemistry: Mix and heat substances in careful steps to build a new molecule, such as a medicine.
- Mathematics: Calculate exact amounts of each ingredient so a reaction makes as much product as possible.
- Physics: Shine light through a sample and read the pattern to work out which atoms it contains.
- Biology: Test how a new compound acts on living cells before it can become a medicine.
A famous name
Dmitri Mendeleev: Published his periodic table of the elements in 1869 and predicted elements not yet found.
Try it yourself: Run a fair test with sugar
- Guess first: will sugar disappear faster in cold or warm water? Write your guess down.
- Fill one glass with cold water and one with warm tap water, the same amount in each.
- Tip a spoon of sugar into each at the same moment, stir each the same way, and time how long until it has gone.
- Was your guess right? What did you keep the same so the test was fair?
Chemists and researchers test ideas this way: change one thing, keep everything else the same, measure.
Also try: Look closer: kitchen powders.
Known for it in
USA, Germany, UK, Japan, Switzerland