• Question: I am studying Maths, Further maths, physics and Chemistry and am going to do engineering maths. How relevant is chemistry to that degree?

    Asked by kerenhb to Jack, Fiona, David, Dave, Chris on 21 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Jack Miller

      Jack Miller answered on 21 Jun 2013:


      Hi Kerenhb,

      The answer to your question really depends on the exact content of the ‘engineering maths’ degree you’re looking at. There’s actually a lot of overlap between physics and chemistry: nature doesn’t care what department looks at her, and it’s possible for both physicists and physical or inorganic chemists to end up working on the same sorts of problems.

      I’m conjecturing wildly, but I suspect that the bits of chemistry that might end up being most related to an engineering-type course are actually the inorganic bits. Most materials we use to make stuff are either metals, ceramics or polymers, and chemistry (along with condensed matter physics) give great explanations of the relationship between the atomic structure of those materials and their physical properties (such as their melting/boiling points, tensile strength, and so on).

      Maths, further maths, physics and chemistry are a great set of A-levels to set you up for pretty much any scientific subject (and they happen to be the ones I did).

      Hope that helps!

      — Jack

    • Photo: David Freeborn

      David Freeborn answered on 21 Jun 2013:


      Hi kerenhb,

      From my experience as a physicist, I would say maths and further maths were the most useful subjects by far. Taking further maths is a really great idea, and I really recommend it for anyone wanting to do a subject like maths, engineering, physics or chemistry.

      Chemistry was useful, mostly by the way of general knowledge. There were a lot of areas of physics with a lot of chemistry crossover (thermodynamics, materials, condensed matter), and chemistry left me ready-prepared and knowing more background about these subjects. But I wouldn’t have said chemistry was necessary: I wouldn’t have really felt disadvantaged if I hadn’t studied chemistry.

      I think it is much the same in engineering. I know some engineering courses do have sections that are chemistry focussed, but these are often optional, so it might depend on your specific course. I guess I’d say chemistry is useful and interesting, but not in any way necessary.

      As Jack said, those are a great set of A-levels!
      Hope that helps!

    • Photo: Fiona Coomer

      Fiona Coomer answered on 21 Jun 2013:


      I think that my answer may be somewhat biased (as I am a chemist), but studying chemistry will help with your understanding of the properties of materials, which may be relevant for your degree. If you are able to study all 4 subjects to a high level at school, they will keep your options as broad as possible at university level.

    • Photo: Dave Farmer

      Dave Farmer answered on 21 Jun 2013:


      Hi kerenhb,

      I would say of the four subjects, Chemistry is possibly the least relevant to your degree. However, I would say it is still very useful in general. As Jack points out, there’s lots of crossover, I often do things that would probably be regarded as Chemistry under the A-level syllabus, even though I count my self very much as a Physicist.

      If possible, I’d keep going with all four, that’s exactly what I did.

      Dave

    • Photo: Chris Mansell

      Chris Mansell answered on 21 Jun 2013:


      Hi kerenhb,

      If you look in the material that universities write about themselves and the degree subjects they offer (i.e. university prospectuses), then it will almost definitely tell you. This material can be found in your school careers library (if you have something similar to that) or online.

      I stopped studying chemistry after my GCSEs and then did physics at university. I think chemistry would have helped me. Nowadays, I try to read popular science articles about chemisty so that my knowledge as a scientist isn’t too lopsided.

      Hopefully, this answer, combined with those of the other scientists, has been helpful.

      Cheers,
      Chris

Comments