Ask A Scientist© Chemistry Archive

name         Zoe
status       student
age          12

Question - What do chemistry workers do?
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Let me start by stating that nearly everything you see has been made or made
more useful by people working in the field of chemistry.  Our field includes
the work of not only chemical engineers, chemists and laboratory
technicians, but also that of physicists, biologists, geologists,
criminologists, metallurgists, agronomists, doctors, nurses, chefs, bakers,
foresters and farmers.  We cannot pass a waking minute without sensing
evidence of the effects of chemistry on our lives.  With this preface,
chemical workers combine substances to obtain more useful materials, they
test substances to determine "what kind(s)" and/or "how much", and in some
cases,they combine substances to see if predicted outcomes occur.  Outside
of geologists employed in mining, scientists rarely get to "blow up"
anything.


Tim Spry
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Hi Zoe!
There are different kind of chemistry workers, since there are different
levels of study one can choose.
Let's see:
1- technical chemistry- performs chemical operations at labs or
industries under the supervision of a higher technical person;
2- as you can imagine there are different levels also for
a technical worker;
3-the lab or industry must have a person responsable for the main
operations, that person must have at least a College degree;
4- the lab or industry can have research labs, where some operations
can be done by technical people, but the "thinking", planning,
and data/results interpretation must be done by persons with a
University degree, either a Master or a PhD.
5- There are other persons that have at least a College degree> >and choose to teach Chemistry at different education levels. Their> >own degree and capacity to teach will indicate where they are able to >teach.
OK? Want to be a chemist? Welcome to the club!
And thanks for asking NEWTON!
Mabel
(Dr. Mabel Rodrigues)
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