Why Is Milk White?: & 200 Other Curious Chemistry Questions (2013)
8. Chemistry in the World
How many types of chemistry are there?
There are five main branches of chemistry, and then there are many subdivisions of chemistry that cover specialized fields.
The five main branches are inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, analytical chemistry, physical chemistry, and biochemistry.
Biochemistry and organic chemistry have been discussed already. Inorganic chemistry is usually described as the chemistry organic chemistry does not deal with. Analytical chemistry is the study of the properties of matter and tools to discover those properties. Physical chemistry applies physics to the study of chemistry, including thermodynamics and quantum mechanics.
Sub-branches of chemistry include astrochemistry (the chemistry in stars and interstellar gas and dust), electrochemistry (what happens when electrical currents flow though chemicals), food chemistry, geochemistry (the study of the composition of the Earth), nuclear chemistry, polymer chemistry, spectroscopy, theoretical chemistry, and many more.