physical chemistry

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun Scientific analysis of the properties and behavior of chemical systems primarily by physical theory and technique, as, for example, the thermodynamic analysis of macroscopic chemical phenomena.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun chemistry, physics The science that uses theories and techniques from physics to study chemical systems.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the branch of chemistry dealing with the physical properties of chemical substances