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Empirical Formula an be calculated by the following steps. •Assume a definite starting quantity of the compound, if not given and express the mass of each element in grams. •Convert the grams of each element into moles using each elements molar mass. This conversion gives the number of moles of atoms of each element in the quantity assumed in previous step. •Divide each value obtained in previous step by the smallest values. If the numbers obtained are whole numbers, use them as subscripts and write the empirical formula. •Multiply the values obtained in the previous step by the smallest number that will convert them to whole numbers. Use these whole numbers as the subscripts in the empirical formula.

            The technique uses a set of apparatus with which volumes of solutions can be measured to an accuracy of greater than 0.1 cm3. Three important pieces of apparatus are: •Burette - Measures accurately the volume of a solution added. Readings can be taken to an accuracy of half a division. •Pipette - Delivers an accurate volume of a solution. Often this is 25 cm3. •Volumetric flask - Used to make up an accurate g of a solution, for example, 250 cm3. This could be a standard solution (of exactly known concentration and known solute).

Electrolysis of dilute sodium chloride solution Electrolysis of concentrated sodium chloride solution   At anode :                       Anions :  OH-   and   Cl-   OH- ions are selectively discharge according to the position of ions in the Electrochemical Series, ES.   Gas bubbles are formed which lighted up a glowing wooden splinter. This gas is oxygen.   4OH- ---> 2 H2O  +  O2   +  4e   At anode :                       Anions :  OH-   and   Cl-   Cl- ions are discharged instead of OH- because of their higher concentration in the electrolyte.   A greenish-yellow gas with a pungent and choking smell is released. The gas turns the blue litmus paper red and then white.   2Cl-  --->  Cl2    +...

Acidic,Basic and Neutral Substances Acidic substances Materials that contain an acid in them are called acidic substances. Acids are of 2 types- •Mineral Acid •Organic Acid Mineral Acid A mineral acid is an acid derived from on or more inorganic compounds.They are not Organic. Examples are-Sulphuric Acid,Nitric Acid. Organic Acid They occur naturally in animal and plant materials Ex: Tartaric Acid from Grapes,Lactic acid from milk. Characteristics of Acidic Substances are- •They have a sour taste and are corrosive •They are soluble in water Acids can also be either dilute or concentrated. Acids with more amount of water are called dilute acids.Acids with less amount of water are called concentrated acids. Acids can also be either strong or weak. Strong acids are highly corrosive and can cause burns.Ex:Nitric,Sulphuric Acid Weak acids are not so destructive. Basic Substances Substances that contain a base are called basic substances. Examples are Sodium Hy...

Titration Formula A titration can determine the volume of one solution required to react exactly with a known volume of another solution. Titration frequently involve the reaction other than acid-base reactions, such as redox reactions and reactions involving precipitations. "A titration can determine the volume of one solution required to react exactly with a known volume of another solution." The equation for Titration Formula is expressed as Titration Formula Where •N = normality of titrant •V = volume of titrant •Eq.wt = equivalent weight of acid •W = mass of sample •1000 = factor relating mg to grams However in common the Titration Formula is written as Titration Formula Where •N = normality of titrant •V1 = volume of titrant •Eq.wt = equivalent weight of predominant acid •V2 = volume of sample

What  is glucose? What its formula?  Glucose is something which is very sweet and gives us instant energy.Its just like the process of photosynthesis.Glucose and sugar have a big difference.Glucos e is hydrated and more sweeter than sugar.It gives us instant energy cause it contains extr,a water.An example of glucose could be anything which contains sugar.Example :Glucond -d formula for glucose is C6H12O6. Glucose is the human bodies key source of energy because it is required for respiration. Through digestion, glucose is broken down into components the body can use to generate ATP from glycolysis and the citric acid cycle. ATP is the molecular unit of currency for a cell.  

Question 1 Balance the following equation: __ KOH + __ H3PO4 → __ K3PO4 + __ H2O Question 2 Balance the following equation: __ KNO3 + __ H2CO3 → __ K2CO3 + __ HNO3 Question 3 Balance the following equation: __ Na3PO4 + __ HCl → __ NaCl + __ H3PO4 Question 4 Balance the following equation: __ TiCl4 + __ H2O + __ TiO2 + __ HCl Question 5 Balance the following equation: __ C2H6O + __ O2 → __ CO2 + __ H2O Question 6 Balance the following equation: __ Fe + __ HC2H3O2 → __ Fe(C2H3O2)3 + __ H2 Question 7 Balance the following equation: __ NH3 + __ O2 → __ NO + __ H2O Question 8Question 9 Balance the following equation: __ B2Br6 + __ HNO3 → __ B(NO3)3 + __ HBr Balance the following equation: __ NH4OH + __ Kal(SO4)2·12H2O → __ Al(OH)3 + __ (NH4)2SO4 + __ KOH + __ H2O Answers 1. 1 SnO2 + 2 H2 → 1 Sn + 2 H2O 2. 3 KOH + 1 H3PO4 → 1 K3PO4 + 3 H2O 3. 2 KNO3 + 1 H2CO3 → 1 K2CO3 + 2 HNO3 4. 1 Na3PO4 + 3 HCl → 3 NaCl + 1 H3PO4 5. 1 TiCl4 + 2 H2O + 1 TiO2 + 4 HCl 6. 1 C2H6O + 3 O2 → 2...

 Like chemistry but don’t know what jobs you can do if you study it further? Explore our future careers pages.  Confused by the range of chemistry qualifications on offer? Not sure if you want to go to university or get on the job training? Learn more about your study options.  There are many reasons why you might want to study chemistry or a related subject further:  It helps you to be analytical and logical – these skills are useful for many careers, not just in science It helps in lots of different subjects, can apply to everything, great foundation It is a core subject that takes you wherever you want to go in science Compulsory for medicine and other degrees It is an impressive degree to get It can lead to so many careers You just love chemistry!  Whatever the reason you have for thinking about studying chemistry further, explore the website to help you learn more about the opportunities it can offer you.

Bacteria may have ability to reduce impact of diazepam on UK river environments.

Copper sulfate crystals are among the most beautiful crystals you can grow, but you might not have access to a chemistry lab or want to order the copper sulfate from a chemical supply company. That's okay, because you can make copper sulfate yourself using readily-available materials. Materials for Making Copper Sulfate There are actually a few different ways you can make copper sulfate yourself. This method relies on a little electrochemistry to get the job done. You will need:

Answer: Both baking soda and baking powder are leavening agents, which means they are added to baked goods before cooking to produce carbon dioxide and cause them to 'rise'. Baking powder contains baking soda, but the two substances are used under different conditions. Baking Soda Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate. When baking soda is combined with moisture and an acidic ingredient (e.g., yogurt, chocolate, buttermilk, honey), the resulting chemical reaction produces bubbles of carbon dioxide that expand under oven temperatures, causing baked goods to rise. The reaction begins immediately upon mixing the ingredients, so you need to bake recipes which call for baking soda immediately, or else they will fall flat!  

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Latest Hollywood, Bollywood movies free download: Al-Qur'an Bengali translation(PDF) : DownloaD

Latest Hollywood, Bollywood movies free download: Chutir Ghonta - Bangla Movie :  Chhutir Ghonta (1980): Based on a report covered by newspapers, the movie narrates the tragic end of child who gets locked in his school-to...

There's just something cool about layering colored liquids! This particular density column shows off the red, white and blue colors, plus (of course) you can light it on fire. I've got instructions for patriotic-colored liquid layers using common household materials, or you can make a layered mixed drink for a holiday celebration. Both alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions are simple to make!     Red, White and Blue Layered Mixed Drinks Red: food coloring with 151 rum or red fruit juice or grenadine White: Irish cream or half-and-half or milk Blue: food coloring with simple syrup or blue curacao

Did you know you can get a condition called "popcorn lung" from breathing the artificial butter flavoring from microwave popcorn? The artificial butter flavoring is a naturally-occurring chemical called diacetyl. Diacetyl causes no problems in the butter, milk, cheese, beer, and wine where it's found, but when vaporized it can cause damage to the bronchioles in the lungs, eventually deteriorating them into the serious irreversible condition called bronchiolitis obliterans. If you nuke a bag of popcorn every now and then, it's not a health concern for you, but workers in the factories producing the butter-flavored popcorn are at risk for lung damage, as are consumers who pop a couple of bags of corn daily. I would guess theater concession stand employees would also fall into this category.

May 21 st was the birthday of two men who invented two electric diagnostic devices that are often confused with each other. The EEG, or electroencephalogram device, was invented by German psychologist Hans Berger to record electrical signals from the brain. The ECG or EKG, otherwise known as electrocardiogram was invented by Dutch physician Willem Einthoven to measure the electrical current given off by heart beats. Perhaps nobody mixes these two devices up, but I sometimes do. All you have to remember: EEG - brain waves, ECG or EKG - heart beats.

Liquid nitrogen is literally cool! If you get hold of some, I expect you to be creative coming up with things to do with it. However, what if you're stumped for ideas? I'm planning to get some liquid nitrogen and want to make sure I don't miss any cool projects. Therefore, I've compiled a list of activities you can perform using liquid nitrogen, plus there is a section where you can read ideas for liquid nitrogen projects or add your own favorite project. Of course, you're welcome to post an idea right here.

013 marked professional networking site LinkedIn’s ten year anniversary.  By the end of its first decade, the company netted 225 million members, with a growth rate of over two members per second. [1] Now with 277 million members, LinkedIn has the largest number of users of any online professional network in the world. [2] “LinkedIn is, far and away, the most advantageous social networking tool available to job seekers and business professionals today,” according to Forbes. [3] “I’m often asked, ‘How important is it for those already near the top of their careers to be utilizing resource tools such as LinkedIn?’ Most times, these questions come out of not fully understanding what you can do with a LinkedIn account and profile,” says career coach John Crant of SelfRecruiter.com [4] So, how can you harness LinkedIn’s vast audience and  successfully showcase and disseminate your published content? Utilize your strongest promotional tool on LinkedIn – your profil...

How organic chemists tweak existing molecules and build new ones from scratch Natural products—molecules originally isolated from bacteria, fungi, plants, and other sources—often have medicinal values that can be enhanced by careful

Malaria has been a problem for people for all of history. It usually causes symptoms a lot like flu, fevers, chills and nausea--even causing death. The term malaria or mal aria means "bad air". Medieval doctors thought there was something in the air that causes the disease. On May 13, 1857, Ronald Ross was born. Ross was an Anglo-Indian physician who discovered malaria is caused by the parasite Plasmodium . This parasite would be spread by mosquito bites. A female mosquito would bite an infected animal or person, get infected itself, and infect everyone it bit afterwords. Describing the life-cycle of Plasmodium would earn Ross the 1902 Nobel Prize in Medicine. 1975 - Marguerite Catherine Perey died. Perey was a French physicist who discovered the element francium. She found the elusive element while investigating lanthanum samples. Francium is produced by the alpha disintegration of actinium and has a very short half-life of only 22 minutes.

Did you know that you can make a polymer from an element? It's really easy to turn ordinary yellow sulfur into plastic sulfur! As an added bonus, you'll get to experience a couple other interesting properties of sulfur. The yellow solid melts into a blood-red liquid. When it is heated, it may ignite with a blue flame... Make plastic sulfur Materials 50 g sulfur [Compare Prices] test tube (25 mm x 200 mm) burner test tube clamp beaker of water (500 mL or so) tongs Procedure You'll melt the sulfur, which changes from a yellow powder into a blood-red liquid. When the molten sulfur is poured into the beaker of water, it forms a rubbery mass, which remains in polymer form for a variable length of time, but eventually crystallizes into a brittle form. Fill the test tube with pure sulfur powder or pieces until it is within a couple of centimeters of the top of the tube. Using a test tube clamp to hold the tube, place the tube in a burner flame to melt the...

 A soap bubble consists of a thin layer of water trapped between two layers of soap molecules. The liquid layer is thin, but it is still affected by gravity, so as a bubble floats, the water is drawn to its base. The film at the top of the bubble thins, even as evaporation removes liquid from the entire surface, until finally the bubble pops -- from the top. If you freeze bubbles with dry ice, you can pick a bubble up to examine it more closely to verify this for yourself. Another fun way to view bubbles is to color them.

May 12 th is Dorothy Hodgkin's birthday. Hodgkin was the British chemist who developed three dimensional x-ray crystallography. X-ray crystallography involved growing a crystal of the sample you wished to investigate, beaming x-rays through this sample, and recording the diffraction pattern made by the atoms of the crystal. The pattern would reveal the structure of the crystal's atoms in two dimensions. Hodgkin aimed her x-rays through crystals at multiple angles and compared the differences in diffraction patterns to find the three dimensional structure. This technique showed atom positions, length of chemical bonds and the relationships between individual molecules in the crystals. She found the structures of penicillin and insulin, but the structure of vitamin B12 would earn her the 1964 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Sparklers are small handheld fireworks that give off fiery sparks rather than explode. Sparklers consist of a thin metal or wooden stick coated with a simple pyrotechnic mixture. Colored sparklers really are as easy to make as regular sparklers. The difference lies in the oxidizer that is used. You're basically replicating a flame test, except in reverse since you know the colors to expect from various metal ions. Potassium nitrate or saltpeter will impart a violet color. Barium nitrate burns green. Strontium nitrate burns red. Aside from ordering from a chemical supply store, you can find strontium nitrate in emergency flares and potassium nitrate at some garden supply stores (or you can make it yourself). You can mix in other metal salts from the flame test or colored fire list, but only go for one color. If you try to mix colors, you'll likely wind up with a basic golden sparkler. There are several recipes for colored sparklers. Here are some examples. Ingred...

Forget the Cutting Edge – Embrace the Old-Tech Fut...:   By Josh Kearns Our society is pathologically enthralled with “the new.” As scientists and engineers, we’re inculcated starting from v...j

I-stacking better without the aromatics?: 08 July 2011 Scientists in the US have discovered that electrons confined to their double bonds can sometimes deliver stronger pi-stacking...

One of the more popular beach accessories where I live is a mood toe ring. These are similar to the 1970s mood rings, except they are smooth bands of color instead of the classic rounded domes. Also, I've seen reddish tones in the newer rings that weren't available in the first rings. The original mood rings had a nasty habit of self-destructing if you got them wet, which I can verify isn't a problem with the modern rings. Mood rings supposedly change color to show your emotions.

The baking soda and vinegar volcano is a popular science project, but the science part of the project involves explaining how the reaction models a real volcano or explaining the science behind the reaction that produces the lava. In a nutshell, the reaction between baking soda and vinegar produces sodium acetate, water, and carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide is trapped by detergent to form bubbly lava, which flows down the side of the model because carbon dioxide is more dense than air. However, sometimes you'll want to explain or write the chemical reactions that occur to produce the carbon dioxide. Here's a look at ways to write the reactions.

It's very easy to make a glow in the dark crystal geode. The 'rock' is a natural mineral (eggshell). You can use one of several common household chemicals to grow the crystals. The glow comes from paint, which you can get from a craft store. Glow in the Dark Geode Materials eggs glow in the dark paint (I used GlowAway™ washable glowing paint) very hot water (I used my coffee maker) borax, alum, epsom salts, sugar, salt, or use another crystal recipe food coloring (optional -- I used neon green coloring) Prepare the Glowing 'Geode' There are two ways to crack your eggs. You can carefully crack the top of the egg by tapping it on a countertop. This will give you a deep geode with a smaller opening. Alternatively, you can crack the equator of the egg or carefully cut it with a knife. This will give you a geode you can open and put back together. Dump the egg or make scrambled eggs or whatever. Rinse out the inside of the eggshell with water. Pee...

May 2 nd is George Pimentel's birthday. He was an American chemist who produced the first chemical laser. Chemical lasers rely on an exothermic reaction to pump the necessary energy to create the coherent light of a laser. They are some of the most powerful lasers in use today with outputs in the megawatt range. They are used as industrial cutting or drilling tools, research and military weapons. To give an idea of the power - energy per unit area - of these lasers, the laser in your DVD player, computer mouse, or laser pointer has a power rating in the milliwatt range or 1/1000 th of a watt. A megawatt laser is 1,000,000,000 or 1 billion times more powerful.

Trick birthday candles are the sort that mysteriously re-light themselves a few seconds after being blown out. If you put them on your birthday cake, especially if you are... how shall I put it... using lots of candles... then blowing out all of the candles at once can be a discouraging exercise.

Did you know you can burn driftwood, especially from the ocean, to get a fire with blue and lavender flames? The colored fire comes from excitation of the metal salts that have soaked into the wood. While the flames are pretty, the smoke given off of the fire is toxic. Specifically, driftwood releases a lot of dioxin from combustion of salt-soaked wood. Dioxins are carginogenic, so burning driftwood from beaches is not recommended. Some coastal communities have considered burn bans on driftwood to reduce the levels of pollution from the smoke. All smoke contains particulates which can cause health problems when the smoke is inhaled, but you may have been unaware of the additional issue with burning driftwood.

mr-chemist: Claisen Condensation: The Claisen condensation (different from  Claisen rearrangement) is a C-C bond forming reaction that occurs between two esters or one ester...

Acyloin Condensation: Acyloin Condensation is a coupling reaction in which two carboxylic acid esters couple in the presence of metallic sodium under inert atmos...

Wayward Black Bear Returned Home: Credit: Boise runner, Alexander Ford, snapped Blackie on Aug 22.     After a short visit to the city of trees and the Fort Boise area, a...

Just So You Know: Recently Gabriela Solano and Alvin Menezes have joined our HR team. Initially, they will be staffing our internal positions and then p...

Solvent Effects and SN2 and SN1 reactions: Nucleophilic Substitution SN2 reactions and solvent effects Polar aprotic solvents – solvents that do not have acidic proton such as DMSO, DMF, CH3CN, HMPA - accelerate the rate of SN2 reactions by solvating the cation thus making the nucleophile more available to react. On the contrary, protic solvents such as alcohols or amines decrease the rate of SN2 reactions since they tend to solvate nucleophiles (Fig. 1). The partial positive charge that exists in the O-H hydrogens solvate the negative charge of the nucleophile (Nu:-).Solvated nucleophiles are held tightly and are unable to react with the electrophilic substrates – compounds that have leaving group. Fig. 1: Partially positively charged hydrogens from polar O-H bonds solvate partially negative charge of the nucleophile. Solvated nucleophiles – as the one shown above – are unable to react with electrophilic substrates. The effect of solvents on the rate of SN2 nucleophilic substit...

Solvent Effects and SN2 and SN1 reactions: Nucleop...: S N 2 reactions and solvent effects Polar aprotic solvents – solvents that do not have acidic proton such as DMSO, DMF, CH 3...

Chemistry in our life: Loudspeakers in your window: 08 July 2011 Korean scientists have used graphene sheets to make a transparent and lightweight loudspeaker which, they say, can be attache... This lesson will introduce you the student to basic chemistry principles. An understanding of this basic information will allow you to learn the more advanced topics in your course lectures. This lesson focuses on a number of areas related to basic Chemistry. You should review each page in order as they build upon one another. Many of these topics will be review. Others may be new to you. Either way you will learn the fundamentals of chemistry needed in this course. ATOMS AND IONS Atoms Atoms are the basic unit of chemistry. They consist of 3 smaller things: *.Protons- these are positively charged (+) *.Electrons- these are negatively charged (-) *.Neutrons- these have no charge These 3 smaller particles are arranged in a particular way. In the center is theNucleuswhere you find the p...

Chemistry in our life: Pi-stacking better without the aromatics? : 08 July 2011 Scientists in the US have discovered that electrons confined to their double bonds can sometimes deliver stronger pi-stacking...

Online Islamic Books Library: Zina (Adultery) | Solution In Islam : Zina is an immoral act which is condemned by all the religious scriptures.This act is also disliked by all philosophers and intellectuals...

Analytics Blog: New: AdWords Reports for App download campaigns : Today we’re happy to announce a deeper integration between AdWords and Google Analytics for Mobile Apps that will help advertisers make fa...

Analytics Blog: New tools to grow your mobile app business : Today at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco we will be announcing two key launches powered by Google Analytics and Google Ta...

PRETTY LITTLE LIARS BOOM: Review 3x18 - Dead To Me : Parece que foi ontem que todos nós estávamos desesperados de ansiedade para que a fase 3B começasse logo. Pois a fase 3B começou e já está ...

Chemical & Physical Properties   Zinc Atomic Number: 30 Symbol: Zn Atomic Weight: 65.39 Discovery: known since prehistoric time Electron Configuration: [Ar] 4s 2 3d 10 Word Origin: German zinke : of obscure origin, probably German for tine. Zinc metal crystals are sharp and pointed. It could also be attributed to the German word 'zin' meaning tin. Isotopes: There are 30 known isotopes of zinc ranging from Zn-54 to Zn-83 . Zinc has five stable isotopes: Zn-64 (48.63%), Zn-66 (27.90%), Zn-67 (4.10%), Zn-68 (18.75%) and Zn-70 (0.6%). Properties: Zinc has a melting point of 419.58°C, boiling point of 907°C, specific gravity of 7.133 (25°C), with a valence of 2. Zinc is a lustous blue-white metal. It is brittle at low temperatures, but becomes malleable at 100-150°C. It is a fair electrical conductor. Zinc burns in air at high red heat, evolving white clouds of zinc oxide. Uses: Zinc is used to form numerous alloys, inclu...

You may have heard that is is unhealthy to reboil water or even to boil it away when cooking. Unless your water is exceedingly pure, reboiling water drives off the gases dissolved in the water and evaporates away some of the water, concentrating minerals and contaminants. There are two safety concerns with reboiling water. The first is that reboiling water increases the chance you'll get burned. With the gas bubbles removed, reboiling water can cause it to superheat and suddenly splash out when disturbed. The other safety issue concerns the chemical composition of reboiled water.

From my list of quick crystal projects, here's a favorite. This one takes a minute to set up, yielding a mass of needle-like crystals after about three hours in your refrigerator. All you need is a cup or small, narrow bowl, epsom salts, and water. Grow Crystals in a Cup...

Have you heard of the Darvaza Gas Crater or The Burning Gate to Hell? It is a massive burning crater that resulted from a natural gas accident that occurred in either the 1950s or else 1971, depending on who tells the tale. The drilling rig fell into a natural cavern, which was set alight. It still burns today. I don't see myself planning a vacation to the Karakum desert in Turkmenistan anytime soon, but if I went there, I would be sure to check this out. Photos of the Darvaza Crater are stunning. There are also some YouTube videos of the so-called "Door to Hell" out there. Pretty cool, don't you think

chemistry learn center : Happy Earth Day! : Happy Earth Day! The purpose of the day is to inspire appreciation for the earth's environment and awareness of issues that threaten...

April 22 nd is the birthday of Rita Levi-Montalcini. She was awarded half the 1986 Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of nerve growth factors. Upon graduation in 1936 with a medical degree, she was denied an academic or professional position in her native Italy under Mussolini's anti-Jewish laws. Instead, she set up a home laboratory in her bedroom and began researching nerve growth in chicken embryos. The paper she wrote on chick embryos earned her an invitation to a research position at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri in 1947 where she stayed for the next 30 years. The Italian government recognized her by making her a member of the Italian Senate for life in 2001. She was a respected and active member of the Senate until her death in 2012 at the age of 103.

Happy Earth Day! The purpose of the day is to inspire appreciation for the earth's environment and awareness of issues that threaten it. With that in mind, here's a look at some environment-related chemistry. I selected features that focus on cool features of the environment, like snowflakes and changing leaves, as well as issues, such as the greenhouse effect and fluoridation of drinking water.

One of the biggest reasons to make your own shampoo is to avoid unwanted, potentially toxic chemicals. Another reason you might want to make your own shampoo is so you can customize the formulation for your hair's needs and your preference for fragrance (or lack of fragrance). Here's a recipe for a gentle vegetable-based shampoo. It's similar to my earlier shampoo recipe except this one uses potassium hydroxide instead of lye, which produces a shampoo that lathers better and rinses more easily. Mix the shampoo in a well-ventilated room or outdoors and be sure to read all of the safety precautions on the ingredients. Readers have recommended triethanolamine or diethanolamine in place of sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide. Choose the formulation that works best for you. Shampoo Ingredients 2 lb 10 oz olive oil 1 lb 7 oz of solid-type vegetable shortening 1 lb coconut oil 14.4 oz potassium hydroxide 2 pints water 1-1/2 oz glycerine ( glycerol )...

I think the only good thing about old permanent press fabrics is that they tended to disintegrate pretty quickly so you never had to wear them for long. They were itchy, smelly, and toxic, thanks to the presence of formaldehyde in the treatment that made them wrinkle-free (much like flame retardant clothing in those respects). Of course, modern wrinkle-free fabrics aren't nearly as heinous as their predecessors. Advances in polymer chemistry have led to significant improvements. The key to both the cause of wrinkling and its solution lies in understanding chemical bonds. Wrinkles form when you break chemical bonds within fabric polymers and then reform them when the fabric is crumpled up. You can break bonds by heating fabric. Other polymers use hydrogen bonding, so getting those materials wet allows the hydrogen bonds in water to restructure the molecules. When you press clothes with a steam iron, you have both heat and water, so you can effectively remove wrinkles....

Today's date is 4-20, which means it's 420. What is 420? It's a sort of counterculture holiday which is associated with cannabis or marijuana. Wikipedia has a good overview of various 420 observances around the world. If you're interested in learning more about marijuana and its chemical properties and physiological effects, be sure to check out my Marijuana Facts page.

April 20 th marks the passing of the man who first brought table sugar to the masses. Before Franz Achard came up with his refinement process, sugar was a luxury item available only to the wealthy. His process removed sucrose from common beets. This provided usable table sugar at such a low price where anyone could afford to keep sugar in their house.

Glow sticks are pretty cool on their own, plus you can use them as the basis for other projects. For example, you can use the liquid inside glow sticks to make decorative lights or lanterns to use around your home or yard... wherever it is dark!

Glow in the dark ice is really easy to make. How did I do it? I opened up a bottle of tonic water, poured it into an ice cube tray, and stuck it in the freezer. Tonic water glows vivid bright blue under a black light. The glow is activated by other sources of ultraviolet light, such as fluorescent lights or sunlight, though the glow won't appear as bright in part because the room won't be as dark. If you want to duplicate the effect in the photo, you just need a black light somewhere in the room with the ice. Glowing Ice Flavor Tips Personally, I think tonic water tastes vile, so I have a couple of tips for improving the flavor of the ice cubes. The first tip is to dilute the tonic water. If you mix the tonic water with normal water your ice cubes will last longer (pure tonic water cubes melt fairly quickly) and won't taste as much like quinine (the ingredient responsible for the glow). Otherwise, you can cut it with lemonade or another sweet-sour drink that...

March 15 th is Josef Loschmidt's birthday. Loschmidt was an Austrian chemist who is best known for his close estimation of the size of air molecules. His value was nearly twice the actual size, but the correct order of magnitude. He also is known for the Loschmidt constant which sets the number of particles in a given volume of an idea gas as a constant. This value of 2.687 x 10 25 particles per cubic meter at STP is occasionally confused with Avogadro's number in textbooks.

Can you tell by looking at this plume from this factory whether it is releasing smoke or steam? Both smoke and steam can appear as clouds of vapor. Here's a closer look at what steam and smoke are and the difference between them. Steam Steam is pure water vapor, produced by boiling water. Sometimes water is boiled with other liquids, so there are other vapors with the water. Ordinarily, steam is completely colorless. As steam cools and condenses it becomes visible as water vapor and can produce a white cloud. This cloud is just like a natural cloud in the sky. It is odorless and tasteless. Because the humidity is very high, the cloud may leave water droplets on solids that touch it. Smoke Smoke consists of gases and soot. The gases typically include water vapor, but smoke differs from steam in that there are other gases, such carbon dioxide and sulfur oxides, plus there are small particles. The type of particles depend on the source of the smoke, but usually you...

I had some time to kill while waiting for the aurora borealis in Fairbanks, Alaska, so I got some bubble solution and went out into the subzero weather to blow bubbles. Here's a Lytro lightfield photo of a frozen bubble. If you look closely, you can see the front of the ice crystal growth. If you want to make frozen bubbles with pretty crystal patterns, my recommendation is to find a cold, still day, blow bubbles, recapture the bubbles on the bubble wand, and set them down on a level surface to watch them freeze. You want the temperature to be below freezing, but not so cold that the bubbles freeze almost instantly

If you play ping pong or table tennis, you used to have to carry around several balls, since they would occasionally ignite or explode upon contact with the paddle. It's unlikely a modern ping pong ball would ignite during a game, but they remain extremely flammable. If you touch a flame to a ball, it burns from the point of contact evenly around to the other side, leaving only a delicate mesh, the strip of adhesive used to join the halves of the ball, and a fairly vile stench. Except for the smell, it's actually kind of cool! Some people think the balls are filled with flammable gas, while others think it has something to do with the plastic used to make the balls... Find out who is right

Putty, specifically Silly Putty but if you have putty, you only need one more ingredient to make DIY magnetic Silly Putty. , is a cool toy that was originally marketed as an Easter novelty (which is how it came to be sold in eggs). The newest version of the toy is magnetic putty, which is a viscoelastic polymer, just like regular and glowing putty, plus it's magnetic. You can't make Silly Putty yourself unless you have some silicone oil and boric acid to produce polydimethylsiloxane DIY Magnetic Silly Putty You will need: putty magnetic iron oxide powder strong magnet (recommend neodymium rare earth magnet) paper face mask so you don't breathe in the iron oxide dust disposable gloves because it's a messy project You can find iron oxide powder online or at some craft stores, where it may be sold as a black pigment. This is basically ground magnetic hematite. There are other forms of iron oxide, too, which are not magnetic, so be sure to get the ri...

One interesting science mystery involves the aurora borealis or Northern Lights. Some people report hearing a sound when the auroral display is visible in the sky. Scientists have not detected a sound emanating from the aurora, at least within the range of human hearing, and any sound coming directly from the aurora would be delayed, yet the reports are too frequent and credible to be discounted. Right now, the thinking is the best way to determine the mechanism for the sound is to collect more reports of experiences. So, if you have heard the aurora, take a moment to share your story.

When you picture a snowflake, you probably envision a six-sided shape. Because of the angle of the bonds between hydrogen and oxygen in water , that geometry is greatly favored over other forms. However, snowflakes come in other shapes besides hexagons. For example, there is pentagonal ice . A team of scientists led by the London Centre for Nanotechnology (LCN) discovered a linear chain built from ice pentagons. The chains were formed on a nanoscale across a flat copper surface. Scanning tunneling microscopy was used to image them. While you shouldn't expect to see pentagonal snowflakes any time soon, the research might be used to find new materials to initiate nucleation of water to form clouds and precipitation and also to better-understand how these processes occur naturally.

Some of the most beautiful crystals are made entirely of pure metal elements. For example, this dainty crystal is a crystal of pure gold. Metal crystals often have lacy or interesting geometric structures. You can view other types of metal crystals in the Metal Crystal Photo Gallery .

March 6 th is Joseph von Fraunhofer's birthday. Fraunhofer was a German physicist who discovered thin dark bands while investigating the sun's spectrum. Bunsen and Kirchhoff later discovered that they corresponded to the wavelengths of the absorption of common elements like hydrogen, helium and iron. The energy from the sun would pass through the upper layers of the sun and get absorbed, causing the dark lines. These lines are now known as "Fraunhofer lines" in his honor.

I'm in the airport awaiting a flight to Alaska to see the sights and try out some science projects that only work when it's really cold. Of course, at the top of my list of things to do is to watch and photograph the aurora borealis. March is a perfect month to view the lights in Alaska because the nights are still long and often clear and for some reason, the aurora seems to do well close to the equinox. We're also near the peak of the solar cycle, so chances are good I'll enjoy the northern lights. I'll be posting pictures of my adventures, so stay tuned!

March 2 nd marks the passing of Heinrich Olbers. Olbers was a German physician and amateur astronomer who devised a simple method to calculate the orbits of comets and discovered two large asteroids, Vesta and Pallas. He also believed the asteroids were remnants of a wrecked planet that orbited the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. Olbers is also known for the question "Why is the night sky dark?". If you assume that the universe is infinite and filled with stars, you should see light from stars in all directions and the night sky should be as bright as daylight. As we all know, the night sky dark with many points of light. This question is known as Olbers' Paradox and had no simple answer. The Big Bang Theory tries to answer the question by stating there is a finite number of stars and the universe is constantly expanding. 1972 - NASA launches the Pioneer 10 space probe. NASA Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to pass through the asteroid belt and tak...

Are you seeking a ghostly blue glow, for your hands or other skin? It's easy to get a vivid blue glow using either of two common household chemicals.  Give your hands or any other skin a ghostly blue glow! It's easy to do. Glowing Hands - Method #1 Rub petroleum jelly on your hands. They will glow bright blue under a black light. This is a great way to make any skin glow, including skin on your face. Just be sure to avoid getting petroleum jelly in your eyes, since it will sting. Glowing Hands - Method #2 Rub laundry detergent on your hands. They will glow very bright blue under a black light. It's not actually the detergent that makes your skin fluoresce, so you won't get the same effect from dishwashing detergent or most soaps. The brightening agent added to prevent clothes from appearing dull and gray is the active ingredient. Laundry detergent may irritate your skin, so you may wish to put on plastic gloves before coating your hands with the dete...

Answer: According to Lenntech, a water treatment and purification company, it's easy to remove iodine from water. Simply pass the water over activated carbon. Most water treatment pitchers will remove iodine from water or you can find activated carbon sold by itself. How Iodine Gets in Water Iodine occurs naturally in water. It is added to water from volcanic activity, weathering of rocks and waste from medical applications. In some cases it is purposely added to water to disinfect it to make the water safe for human consumption. Radioactive iodine enters water from medical waste and nuclear accidents.

On March 1, 1896, Antoine Henri Becqurel discovered radioactivity. Earlier in the week he planned an experiment to expose sunlight to uranium and then store the uranium in a black bag with a photographic plate. Earlier trials of the experiment resulted in an image of the uranium crystals on the photograph. He believed uranium absorbed sunlight and released the energy slowly by fluorescence. He planned to repeat his experiment on February 26, but it was cloudy with little sunlight. Becqurel decided to postpone his test and placed his uranium and photographic plate in a black bag and stored it in his desk. When the weather cleared, he collected his materials to perform his experiment and discovered his photographic plate contained a clear image of the uranium crystals. The uranium did not need an external source to produce the image, but something inside the uranium gave off energy. This discovery marks the beginning of the nuclear age and would earn Becqurel the 1903 Nobel...

Dord is a noun in physics and chemistry that means density. At least, that's what it meant for nearly 5 years. On February 28, 1939, the word 'Dord' was discovered to be an error in the second edition of Webster's New International Dictionary published in 1934. Dord is an example of a ghost word, or a word that was never actually used, but appeared in dictionaries. The first edition of this dictionary had common abbreviations listed together with words alphabetically. The second edition would move the abbreviations to the back in their own special section. The the card for the abbreviation 'D or d' for density went into the wrong pile and was mistakenly combined into 'Dord'.

February 27 th could be considered aspirin's birthday. The process to make aspirin was patented in 1900 by Felix Hoffman on behalf of the German pharmaceutical company, Bayer. Hoffman's aspirin was a stable form of acetylsalicylic acid and named in three parts for this active ingredient. The 'A' was from acetyl, 'spir' was from the source of slaicin, the spirea plant, and 'in' was tacked on the end to give it a good pharmacological sounding name.

There are all kinds of rumors about ways you can beat a drug test. Obviously the easiest way to pass the test is to avoid taking drugs in the first place, but that's not going to be much help if you've already taken something and are facing a test. According to Snopes, some people drink bleach believing it will somehow clear their system of drugs. While it is unclear where this idea originated, the rumor is out there. Will it work? Will drinking bleach hurt you or kill you? Here's the lowdown: Drinking Bleach to Pass a Drug Test Household bleach consists of about 5.25% sodium hypochlorite in water. Specifically, Clorox says their bleach contains water, sodium hypochlorite, sodium chloride, sodium carbonate, sodium hydroxide and sodium polyacrylate. They also make scented products that include fragrances. Bleach also contains small amounts of impurities, which aren't a big deal when you're using the product for disinfection or cleaning, but could prov...

Most people have seen colored fire, which can be used as a flame test to help identify the ions in a sample. The bead test is a related qualitative technique that involves heating sample-infused borax, microcosmic salt, or sodium carbonate beads in a flame to produce colored 'jewels' or beads representative of metal ions. You can make blue borax jewels, plus I've got instructions for producing other colors of beads... learn how

Before refrigeration became common, salt was a popular food preservative. It is still used in many products, including bacon, ham, pickles, and jerky, but modern versions of these foods actually contain much less salt than the level needed to prevent microbial growth. Seawater tastes salty, yet it is only about 3.5% salt. A 10% salt concentration is needed to prevent bacterial growth and 20% salinity is required to actually kill bacteria and molds. Yet, salt does work as a preservative.

Here's a fun chemistry demonstration that's perfect for Valentine's Day or to illustrate an oxidation-reduction reaction. The Vanishing Valentine involves shaking a solution, causing it to turn pink. If the pink Valentine solution is left undisturbed, it will become colorless. The color change cycle can be repeated several times. It is caused by the oxidation and reduction of resazurin. an indicator that is pink or colorless depending on its oxidation state. Vanishing Valentine Materials 100 ml of a 0.133 M dextrose solution (C 6 H 12 O 6 ) 100 ml of a 1.0 M sodium hydroxide solution (NaOH) 1 ml of a 0.1% resazurin solution a 250-ml or 500 ml Erlenmeyer flask or separatory funnel (resembles a heart) stopper for the flask dropper or pipette Prepare the Solutions Dextrose Solution: Dissolve 2.4 g of dextrose in distilled or deionized water to make 100 ml of solution. Sodium Hydroxide Solution: Prepare the 1.0 M sodium hydroxide solution by dissolvin...