[lmpdev]

That’s why it’s meant to be taught in highschool

You needn’t be an expert but you should be able to read the chemical terms and data in a data sheet and not make a dangerous or sufficiently risky choice on component selection

This is especially important for hardware applications in adverse environments

For example, knowing that you need to use a tinned copper alloy if your device is going to be used in marine environments rather than pure copper due to it reacting to chlorides dissolved in sea water

Or realising that you would generally avoid using batteries as the energy source for mission critical activities in polar areas as the chemical reactions for SLA or Lithium batteries are dramatically inhibited at sufficiently low temperatures

These aren’t hard intuitions to grasp and follow when designing a system, but you can find your design can go catastrophically wrong even a few units outside every component’s operating temperature or overall environment

Graphs and performance on datasheets are generally linear but the consequences of erring too close to the metaphorical sun may be anything but linear!

[osigurdson]

I took chemistry in high school as well as one course in university. I'm not saying it isn't useful but doesn't feature prominently in an EE curriculum. It is mostly math, physics and EE specific courses.