Kemia

Kemia is the Finnish word for chemistry, the science that studies matter, its composition, properties, and the changes it undergoes. It underpins many practical applications in industry, medicine, energy, and the environment, and is taught as a core subject in schools and universities in Finland.

The term kemia belongs to the same linguistic family as the English chemistry and related European terms. It derives from older concepts of alchemy and chemical knowledge traced through Latin and French into modern languages.

Chemistry comprises several branches, including organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, physical chemistry, analytical chemistry, and biochemistry. Interdisciplinary areas such as materials chemistry, medicinal chemistry, and theoretical or computational chemistry connect chemistry to biology, physics, and engineering.

Practically, chemistry employs synthesis, measurement, and characterization of substances. Techniques such as spectroscopy, chromatography, electrochemistry, and crystallography are standard, supported by instruments like NMR, mass spectrometry, and X-ray crystallography. Safety, ethics, and environmental considerations are integral to practice and education.

Historically, chemistry developed from alchemy into a rigorous science during the 17th and 18th centuries, with Antoine Lavoisier helping establish a modern chemical framework and the law of conservation of mass. The periodic table by Dmitri Mendeleev and advances in quantum theory shaped 19th- and 20th-century chemistry and its continuing evolution in research and industry.