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Chemistry is often called the central science because it connects other sciences together, such as physics, biology or geology. Chemistry encompasses many specific specialized sub-disciplines that often overlap with significant portions of other sciences. Sub-disciplines, however, are very specific to chemistry, for example, they allow the manufacturing and testing of stronger materials, the synthesis of pharmaceuticals to treat disease, and determination of the mechanisms behind life processes.

A fundamental component of chemistry is that matter is involved. Chemistry may involve the interaction of matter with matter, or, involve matter with non-material phenomena such as energy. Most central and traditional to chemistry is the interaction of one substance with another such as in a chemical reaction where one substance or substances is transformed into another. This may involve electromagnetic radiation (as in photochemistry) where a chemical reaction is driven by the stimulation of light. However the chemical reaction is only part of a larger field that also studies matter in other ways. Chemical spectroscopists for example study the interaction of light with matter often without any reaction occurring.

Scientists who profess chemistry are known as chemists. According to contemporary chemists all ordinary matter consists of atoms or the sub atomic components that make up atoms. Atoms may be combined to produce more complex forms of matter such as ions, molecules or crystals. The structure of the world we commonly experience and the properties of the matter we commonly interact with are determined by properties of chemical substances and their interactions. Steel is hard because its atoms are bound together in a crystalline lattice. Wood burns because it can react spontaneously with oxygen in a chemical reaction above a certain temperature. Water is a liquid at room temperature because its molecules move about more than in a solid but less than in a gas. One can see because of the interaction of light with protein molecules in the back of ones eye.

With such a large area of study, it is impossible to know everything about chemistry and very difficult to summarize the field concisely. Even the most knowledgeable, experienced chemist only knows a very narrow area of chemistry better than others, though most chemists have a general knowledge of many areas of chemistry. Chemistry is divided into many areas of study called sub-disciplines in which chemists specialize. The chemistry taught at the high school or early college level is often called "general chemistry" and is intended to be an introduction to a wide variety of fundamental concepts and to give the student the tools to continue on to more advanced subjects. Many concepts presented at this level are often incomplete and technically inaccurate, yet they are of extraordinary utility. Chemists regularly use these simple, elegant tools and explanations in their work because the best solution possible is often so overwhelmingly difficult and the true solution is usually unobtainable.

The science of chemistry is historically a recent development but has its roots in alchemy which has been practiced for millennia throughout the world. The word chemistry is directly derived from the word alchemy; however, the etymology of alchemy is unclear (see alchemy).