An Argument for the Next Generation

of Computer Scientists to Study More

Chemistry

Signature Project for Chemistry 1010

by
Andrew Montgomery

Computers have long been the domain of mathematics majors and for good reason. Computers
are at their heart sill merely tools for carrying out calculations. We can trick these calculations into
creating elaborate displays of color or interactive games but every single thing a computer can do is still
simply a mathematical expression. Has processing power has increased weve molded the math to mimic
reality, we see this in the ability to 'digitize' music and movies but perhaps more impressively in the areas
of computer games and simulations for scientific advancements.
Interactive simulations have become increasingly realistic in terms of physics because physics is
the most math friendly of all real world sciences. Any modern physics engine worth anything allows for
simple implementation of physical properties. For example one can create a ball and simply input its
weight, size, elasticity and friction. The ball will now roll, fall, bounce and react in amazingly realistic
ways because the physics equations for this sort of thing have been done and redone and refined by
several generations of math savvy computer scientists. However to bring these engines to the next
generation of realism will require a detailed understanding of the next most real world math friendly
science, Chemistry.
Chemistry is the bases for understanding how liquids will move and react, under what
circumstances a substance will freeze, boil and burn. The creation or implementation of a 'chemistry
engine' is the next major inevitable step in the creation of simulated reality. This would allow for simple
inputs that allow for specifying exactly these sorts of things. Implementing calculations for things like
the average bond strength between molecules would allow for liquids to move, shift, slosh drip,
evaporate and freeze realistically where current software relies on trickery animations and special effects
to create illusions that are ultimately limited to what the programmers intended instead of creating the
maximum freedom possible for the user to manipulate the environment. Even the simple act of elevating
the standard physics engine to allow for realistic water manipulations would allow hundreds of hours of
perfecting the illusion of water to be reduced to merely placing water in the environment. The water
would then evaporate at realistic rates collect into clouds eventually rain causing swells in rivers and so
forth leading to far more realistic effects then current illusions can create and with much less effort on
the part of the middle-ware user. The processing required for this one edition would be extreme by
todays standards but it is not unrealistic to expect the power of the average computer to be capable of
this in the next decade. These sorts of emerging fields are not limited to mere video games either, higher
degrees of molecular understanding added to computer simulations can lead to more advanced software
for meteorology, architecture, engineering, environmental models, predictions and a host of other
possibilities.
This is not to say that computers are not already being used in many of these capacities but
rather no one has yet laid the groundwork for a universal engine for it has completely as the engines
already made for physics.
Outside the realm of virtual environments and simulations is the very real and evolving fields
associated with nanotechnology, especially for medical application. Many computer scientists working in
these fields work in conjunction with biology and chemistry experts to advance this kind of research and
development. However it should stand to reason that an individual that is fluent in both computer
science and chemistry will not only be more capable of creating solutions that few if any others would be
capable of finding but more importantly such individuals will start being in higher and higher demand.
The demand for these individuals will increase exponentially in the pharmaceutical industry once the

technology becomes advanced enough for use with the general population. It is a very real possibility
that this break through in technology will occur in the next decade.
In conclusion, in my own opinion, the computer field is evolving down a natural progression of
simulating reality from the most math like aspects to the least and since each new generation of software
engineers is now standing upon the shoulders of the last generation there will be a shrinking need for
programmers of any kind to be experts in physics and a growing one for programmers with specialties in
various forms of chemistry.