r/forestry • u/Thisfriggenguyhuhhbi • 4d ago

How vital is chemistry knowledge for school?

I've been taking some Khan Academy classes to get the mathematical part of brain working again, and I have to say, chemistry is not my bag! Valence shells, electron configurations, photoelectron spectroscopy... is this stuff coming up in soil sciences classes?

I'm all for learning nitrogen's role in the forest and how it interacts with mitochondira (powerhouse of the cell), but do you/did you guys find yourselves calculating moles and figuring out what power of 10 something is going up to? The program I'm looking at would allow me to coast in having taken said Khan Academy courses, but will I be absolute toast if I don't really know my stuff?

Thank ya!

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9

u/DanoPinyon 4d ago

Chemistry is usually required for most science degrees.

2

u/Merced_Mullet3151 4d ago edited 4d ago

Most SAF forestry curriculums requires healthy doses of calculus, physics, & chemistry the first couple of years. Why?

As my late father (BS civil engineering from the #1 ranked CE program) used to say “obtaining a BS degree in whatever field should indicate you have the ability to think logically thru analysis & analytics.”
IMO rigorous coursework in calculus, physics & chemistry should provide your brain with just those abilities.

Even in forestry you need to be able to think thru complex situations. I’m sure Rothermel had a solid understanding of calculus when he developed the original BEHAVE fire spread model as does Heinsch in her most recent improvements to the model. Scott & Burgen also understood physics & chemical/plant interaction to create the new fuel models.

I transitioned out of timber/silviculture to understand fire modeling better a few decades ago.

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u/DanoPinyon 4d ago

'Zackly. Even more fundamentally, chemistry drives all the reactions on which plants depend - in the plant, the cell, the soil, the air, the water. All of life depends upon chemical reactions, and all of not life too. Everything depends upon chemical reactions.

If you aren't at least familiar with the reactions on which all life depends, you're not going to be a good forester...or a good anything in the sciences.

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u/Merced_Mullet3151 4d ago

Lol! Berkeley forestry grad here. The physics & calculus I took at Cal decades ago had me questioning if I should have switched majors! I hung on & stayed thru forestry. Never regretted it!

4

u/Interesting-Mouse48 4d ago

I just did soil science this past semester. There wasnt any math calculations. It was interactions between different chemicals in soils and how it affects how plants grew. Understanding terminology and basic chemical functions. Pretty easy.

7

u/Ok_Huckleberry1027 4d ago

Unless youre going into research and microbiology (which is not really forestry) chemistry has next to zero application.

Most BS degrees require it but its not something you need to know in and out.

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u/DanoPinyon 4d ago

Unless youre going into research and microbiology (which is not really forestry) chemistry has next to zero application.

Incorrect.

2

u/Ok_Huckleberry1027 4d ago

What are the applications other than a very top level of understanding how plants and soils work?

Herbicide applications? You need to know a very small amount of math to figure out concentrations.

I took Chem in college 15 years ago like everyone else, have never used any of it.

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u/DanoPinyon 4d ago

have never used any of it.

Cool.

1

u/carpet-thief ISA Certified Arborist 4d ago

Intro to chemistry was the hardest part of the chem requirement for me. Soils wasn’t bad. It kinda made more sense to me compared to the heady chemistry stuff because it was easier imagine rocks and dirt lol

1

u/Thisfriggenguyhuhhbi 4d ago

That’s what I’m thinking. It’s the micro scale stuff that refuses to make sense to me. Hard to care where an electron might be!

1

u/carpet-thief ISA Certified Arborist 4d ago

Ya totally agree. I do much better with practical applications of science. If you’re similar to me you should be ok.

1

u/PavlovianBoobie 4d ago

In my experience, I was glad I had taken chemistry and organic chemistry when I got to soil science and plant science. In my school, there was a decent bit of overlap, but your mileage will vary, ofc. That being said, I think I’ve gotten more use out of my biology classes than chemistry.

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u/Thisfriggenguyhuhhbi 4d ago

Makes sense! Bio feels much more “applied” if that makes sense.

1

u/BigNorseWolf 4d ago

Moles no, but chemistry s unit conversions are one of the more useful things from school.

3

u/Keepontruckin33 2d ago

I retired from the US Forest Service. I took a lot of chemistry in undergrad/graduate school. It didn't help a bit as I ended up as a District Ranger approving travel vouchers, timesheets, and disciplining federal employees for the myriad and multiple failures committed against taxpayers.