Chemistry vs Physics. A few questions. (1 Viewer)

[7neoxis1337]

Im looking to pursue either Physics or Chemistry as part of my dual degree (B.Eng and B.Sci).

1) Which would go well with a Mechanical Engineering major looking to work in the mining industry? (Speaking in terms of job opportunities, and just general cohesion with each other)

2) At an undergraduate level, which is harder? Physics (with focus on Quantum, relativity and photonics) vs Organic Chem.

3) Your general experiences doing these subjects?

- Loved and was good at Chemistry in HS but hated Physics with a passion and dropped in year 11 (because Teacher sucked and the subject bored me)
- But was forced to do Physics in uni and found that I now actually like doing it and quite good at it (81.5 average for the physics subjects so far)

PS: 2nd year @ MQU

 

[Silly Sausage]

If you want to work in engineering, then a single BE is sufficient. Adding another degree may not be so advantageous. Subjectively speaking, physics would be a lot harder in undergraduate and I've heard the difficulty jumps significantly during the later years (conceptually and mathematically) whilst organic chem is notorious for the amount of memorisation involved. But if you're interested and willing to spend an extra year at MQ then by all means have a shot.

 

[OzKo]

I'd probably recommend Chem considering it's fairly handy for any environmentally-inclined roles. Would give you a broader range of skills imo.

 

[Silly Sausage]

I would also recommend a geophysics major for the mining industry.

 

[7neoxis1337]

Thing is, I really want to do one of the sciences to expand my knowledge...and Physics (Especially relativity) and Chemistry sounds really brain fucking and I love thinking.

 

[anomalousdecay]

Physics can be a very good combo with Electrical Engineering if you do the correct Physics courses to complement. There is a lot of basic theory in Electrical Engineering which can be covered in Physics.

In saying that, you can expand into a few minor technicalities which may be somewhat relevant to where you work as a Mechanical Engineer (you could end up working in an environment requiring Manufacturing and/or Electrics where this could be helpful).

However, Chemistry can be directly relevant to Mechanical Engineering if you do the correct courses to also complement (albeit Materials Science would be the better choice in this respect). Knowing the properties of materials and how they can be applied is a useful tool in Mechanical Engineering.

Both Physics and Chemistry go into a lot more detail on specific points and might be a bit too theoretical in comparison, however they can cover different points which can be of benefit later on. By benefit, I mean as in some day down the track in your career you will need to do something which involves them and it will come in handy because you have learnt it before.

So yeah, overall Chemistry would be directly applicable the properties of materials and that side of things for materials, whereas the Physics side might be helpful (big emphasis on might as you have to do the correct courses) in expanding into the photonics, telecommunications, computing or microscopic sides of things which can be encountered in jobs later on for you.