chemistry

Derek reports (again) today on the perils of the internet for people who try to fraudulate results and publish same. Lovely example of why you had better be careful doctoring/manipulating your photos of results!!! Here 'tis...

Not really a sceptical question, but does anyone have a simple definition of a mole, in chemistry for my daughter, who is very confused about what it means? We've googled it but most of the definitions are complex (though correct, I'm sure) and difficult to understand for one who is just...

For my Technical Writing class, I had to contact a local organization, preferably one related to my field, and interview them, asking them some major problems they have. I then recommend a solution by the end of the semester. I just recently switched to Mechanical Engineering as my major, and I...

So I took Chemistry in HS, but I was not good at it. Something's occurred to me recently that I can't figure out, so I'm hoping someone can help me with. Obviously helium is the most inert of the noble gasses since the completed sphere orbital is very stable, also explaining why hydrogen is so...

Continuation of title: Early-Earth Cells Modeled to Show How First Life Forms Might Have Packaged RNA Just found this interesting. Anyone get Nature Chemistry able to give us a more in-depth run down of the significance of this? The gaps keep closing, which I personally find satisfying...

Hello all, Recently I've read a lot about "Occult Chemistry" and find such polirized opinions.Most defenders of theosophy assert that too many of "occult chemistry" predictions later confirmed,that is impossible to dismiss Leadbeater&Besant.Other say it is not the case.Still others claim that...

For the last 10 years or so, I've been collecting the coins from my pocket and tossing them into a gallon jar. Its our nest egg. When it became full, I took it to my bank, which provides the service of a coin-counter. Unfortunately, my stash of clunky currency was rejected, due to some...

I came across this article in the Journal of Apocryphal Chemistry titled "A Simple and Convenient Synthesis of Pseudoephedrine From N-Methylamphetamin". http://heterodoxy.cc/meowdocs/pseudo/pseudosynth.pdf For those who are unfamiliar, pseudoephedrine is the active ingredient in Sudafed, and...

Right now on the Science Channel is a (apparently) new series about the history of chemistry called Unlocking the Universe. It's hosted by Jim al-Khalili. Steve S

Maybe some other chemistry teachers here can help me out. As part of the electrochemistry course my students are doing I want to show the ability to light a small (2.2V, .25A) lightbulb using an electrochemical cell. This *should* be possible, after all, its just a battery. Using copper in 0.1M...

I'm probably overcomplicating this but I'm hung up on a chemistry problem. Say the hydrolysis of a chemical proceeds in two steps as follows: P3O105- + H2O > P2O74- + PO43- + 2H+ P2O74- + H2O > 2PO43- + 2H+ The respective reaction rates are k1 = 2.3E-6 s-1 and k2 = 1.0E-6 s-1. These...

I was speaking to a friend of mine about photovoltaic cell chemistry, and to be honest the majority of it went way over my head, but the issue of efficiency came up. As I was able to comprehend it, the issue is that once the electrons get bumped around by the incoming photons, the resultant...

This is a very simple chemistry question, but I've failed to find an unambiguous answer to it in any of my textbooks: Are the valence electron the electrons in the outermost shell, or the outermost subshell? For example, does oxygen have 6 valence electrons – all the ones in the L shell – or...

HI chaps, quick question - I know say rubidium reacts violently with water. My question is why is the reaction so violent? In chemical terms that is, say at electron level? I'm puzzled and trying to get my head round the chemistry. Anyone help...

...it's Elementeo! Check out the card names. Sodium dragon! Carbon conqueror! Er, Rubbing Alcohol! Don't try and tell me it doesn't look like teh awesome.

On my work forum today, I saw this (initially) startling post: Now, this was from our technical expert. So he should, in theory, have a full grasp of technical issues. Admittedly, these issues mostly relate to building regs and planning stuff. Still, I found this surprising. But then, the...

Could someone explain simply what happens when salt is dissolved in water? Like in steps, from 'putting the salt in the water' to having it fully dissolved? Thanks

Hi everyone. Next semester I'm going back to college part time. I will need to take some physics and chemistry classes. It's a long story, but I never took either in high school, which was 10 years ago anyhow. Can anyone recommend any books that are good for taking someone from square 1...

Professor Levy: We're all faced throughout our lives with agonizing decisions, moral choices. Some are on a grand scale, most of these choices are on lesser points. But we define ourselves by the choices we have made. We are, in fact, the sum total of our choices. Events unfold so unpredictably...

My friend recently told me an odd story about playing with an old chemistry set. Apparently this person (who unfortunatly doesn't remember the actual set or what specific chemicals it came with) got bored and poored everything into a single test tube. Apparently this dissolved the entire tube...

So, my wife is a Chemistry teacher, and has just given me a copy of the new Edexcel GCSE syllabus. She thought it might provoke me a little. They are teaching homoeopathy in the "Chemical Structures" section. The context is that chemical-based therapy [their term] has to be tested for...

I'm trying to do an article on monatomic gold, and there's just too much woo for one man. It breaks down into (1) Health claims. (2) Raiders of the Lost Ark style pseudohistory. (3) Physics / chemistry claims. Part three has me stumped. Here is the inventor's account of his discovery. This...

before I run home to stuff myself on something fattening. Is it possible to calculate the properties of molecules/compound materials given the composition and the properties of the parts? I.e. Can the properties of water be deduced from the properties of Oxygen and Hydrogen? If yes, does...

…and other sciences. Checkout The rediscovery Institute Hilarious site. Check out their revised periodic table: Especially, check out their ”Take Action” page. Click on the links, copy their pro-forma emails, and send emails to a number of creationist idiots.

I was wondering, since when listing the elements a molecule is made up of the one on the left comes first, (H2O, for example), how is it written if two elements of a same family (Famille...does it translate directly?) form a molecule? Or does it happen?

Fill me in on this one...I'm assembling some ammunition for (?) someone who only believes the science that backs her particular view, which means there's a whole lot of incomplete and out of context stuff here. Homeopathic dilutions: X = 10, C = 100, M = 1,000 A 5X dilution is Y/10/10/10/10/10...