Theoretical chemistry seeks to provide theories that explain chemical observations. Often, it uses mathematical and computational methods. Quantum chemistry, the application of quantum mechanics to the understanding of valency, is a major component of theoretical chemistry. Other major components include molecular dynamics, statistical thermodynamics and theories of electrolyte solutions, reaction networks, polymerization and catalysis.
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Famous quotes containing the words theoretical and/or chemistry:
“There are theoretical reformers at all times, and all the world over, living on anticipation.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“For me chemistry represented an indefinite cloud of future potentialities which enveloped my life to come in black volutes torn by fiery flashes, like those which had hidden Mount Sinai. Like Moses, from that cloud I expected my law, the principle of order in me, around me, and in the world.... I would watch the buds swell in spring, the mica glint in the granite, my own hands, and I would say to myself: “I will understand this, too, I will understand everything.””
—Primo Levi (1919–1987)