Volatility (chemistry) Volatility (chemistry) In chemistry and physics, volatility is quantified by the tendency of a substance to vaporize. Volatility is directly related to a substance's vapor pressure. At a given temperature, a substance with higher vapor pressure vaporizes more readily than a substance with a lower vapor pressure. The term is primarily written to be applied to liquids; however, it may be used to describe the process of sublimation which is associated with solid substances, such as dry ice (solid carbon dioxide) and osmium tetroxide (OsO), which can change directly from the solid state to a vapor, without becoming liquid. The
Comparison of chemistry and physics Statistics (United States Department of Labor), there are 80,000 chemists and 17,000 physicists working in the United States as of May 2010. In addition, 21,000 chemists and 13,500 physicists teach in high school. Chemistry is the only science that has an entire industry, the chemical industry, named after it, and many chemists work in this industry, in research and development, production, training, or management. Other industries employing chemists include the petroleum, pharmaceutical, and food industry. While there is no industry named after physics, many industries have grown out of physics research, most notably the semiconductor and electronics industry. Physicists are