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You just said it. Scientific fields are not differentiated arbitrarily; they drift apart as their experimental needs diverge. Chemistry and particle physics used to be one field, back before the cost of particle accelerators diverged from the cost of chemistry labs.

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Right -- so how do the different experimental needs of each field inform their different cultures?

Return on investment pays a role. The higher the profit margin, the more competitive and "locked down" the field is. But things like national prestige and space race type international politics comes into play. Very rarely is lots of money spent on pure science - there's almost always a catch.

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