Insights about Chemistry for Engineers in College

Chemistry, like other branches of science, is one important key to know and understand everything in this vast universe. Functioning as the foundation of all things around us which deals with the matter that form our environment and the transformation that the matter undergoes. It is therefore, serves as a useful weapon in understanding the changes taking place in the constituents of the environment and the resulting advantage.

As to how important chemistry is in the environment is also the same way it is reflected to us, humans. There is so much chemistry happening not only in our surroundings but also within us. We are living day by day dealing with chemicals, the impact and factor that affects our daily lives is mainly caused by the composition, structure and properties of a matter. In fact, this is why chemistry is called the science of atoms and molecules. As a college student, taking up a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, I am part of the biosystems where in the course itself is exposed in too many chemistry related concepts and ideas. Our agricultural industry plays a vital role in sustaining each living lives. The plants and animals along the process experiences several chemical reactions from which they are interacting to its nature.

The first semester is far gone and our subject “Chemistry for Engineers” left me with a lot of insights and realizations about the world we lived in. The subject is indeed a hard one for an average student like me. It is one of the feared subject in the higher years because of its very broad and complicated concepts and ideas that must be learned in a step by step procedure. The first few topics is the partial recapitulation to the basics of Chemistry. Starting from the atoms, molecules, elements, compounds, charges and many other terms and definitions. And the serious topics that we have focused on are all about the oxidation-reaction, the electrochemistry, thermochemistry and biofuel. We have also encountered and discussed the chemistry of water and the chemistry of soil. Lastly, the introduction and nature of the polymers and its several properties and uses. These topics are very hard to apprehend but once you knew what the topic is all about you will be able to realize how it is bounded with different law, theories, principle, rule and constants making it factual and reliable. The importance of these topics can be observed in too many ways that occur in a cycle of the environment. One of which is the great contribution of chemistry in the field of agriculture. The variety of learning chemistry can be applied to every aspect of agriculture especially in maintaining the health of the plants and animals.

In oxidation-reduction reaction where a type of chemical reaction takes place, the electrons are transferred between atoms. It is the gaining and losing of electron that changes the number of molecule, atom, or ion causing the oxidation and reduction in the process. Redox reaction is essential to living bodies and in the environment since plants and trees give rise to building most agricultural landfills. These plants undergo photosynthesis requiring it to use light energy of photons to combine carbon dioxide from the air with hydrogen taken from the water. In this process redox reaction occurs, and it is important as an agricultural engineering student to study the behavior of plants undergoing various processes of chemical reaction and also to provide us a helpful knowledge on how it is grown and maintain its good health. Another important lessons that is really helpful in our agriculture and biosystems are electrochemistry and thermochemistry. These two sub-discipline of science involves redox reaction that is used to create or produce energy. Electrochemistry deals with the relationship between chemical and electrical charges that causes chemical changes or produces electricity. Thermochemistry on the other hand, is a field of study that is associated with heat and certain chemical reactions in it. Applications of these topics can be utilized in the agricultural sector here in the Philippines since we are lacking in mechanization and modernization. It can be a useful tool to improve the machineries and instruments used in the field. With the background knowledge in electrochemistry and thermochemistry, we can make use of it to develop and innovate new technology that will lessen the production cost and also to save time and effort in working outdoors. We have also learned the things about biofuel, which is the fuel derived from living matter. The chemistry behind the process of making fuel is necessary to be known and studied. All biological processes is mostly happening in the agricultural fields, in that case we can make use of the biomass and agricultural wastes and convert it to generate fuel providing all the concept undertaking the chemical reactions or changes that is present in that specific method.

As an engineer in agricutlture, we need to nurture the nature especially the plants and trees, animals and every living organisms for these are the compononents that establish the wholeness of the system. Without any of these, agriculture cannot survive and humans cannot sustain their needs. There are so many factors that affect the life of biotic and abiotic organisms. I have learned it from the discussion about the chemistry of water and soil. Water and soil are of equal importance when it comes to the sustainability and stability of plants and animals. It serves as their habitat and they get their primary nutrition from it. Water or also known to its chemical description as H2O. Aside from being called as the universal solvent, water is very important in maintaining the cells, tisues and help regulate other bodily functions. All plants and animals must have water to survive. If there was no water there would be no life on earth. The use of agricultural water makes it possible to grow fruits and vegetables and raise livestock, which is a main part of our diet. Agricultural water is used for irrigation, pesticide and fertilizer applications, crop cooling and frost control. In irrigation it is a must that water is present to regulate the growth of crops and manage the agricultural landscapes. With proper use of water control equally divided to different area of the field can lead to production growth and can produce high quality products. Soil is like a water, without soil, plants can never grow and soil animals are functioning in several ways in which it has a vital part in maintaining our agriculture. Soil is one key element to see the success in agriculture, since this is the primary source of nutrients for plants. It is really important to know the chemical processes in soils, because the health and growing of various plants depend on the soil and other varieties. The soil and water conservation is one field of specialization in agricultural and biosystems engineering that refers to measures that control soil and water degradation and enhance farm productivity; and shall consist of small farm reservoir, farm ponds, small water impoundments, contour farming, and terracing, soil erosion control, land conditioning and mulching, and flood control. All of these apply to agriculture, either in chemical or physical manner. The last topic discussed is all about polymers or also known as plastics. The chemistry of polymers is quite complicated but is also helpful in agriculture. To build or make a certain prototype of machine, we can make use of the polymers to give a strong foundation. Polymers is gaining popularity in science and it is widely used in agriculture. The plastics can be used in structural materials that can help in the convenience of the work in the field.