Chemistry news, research and opinions | Chemistry World
WEBFrom tipsy worms to pigeon missiles: the quirky triumphs of the 2024 Ig Nobel awards. Water-splitting reaction reversal could extract lithium more sustainably and cheaply. Teaching enzymes new reactions through genetic code expansion and directed evolution. Peptide bond interactions explain collagen’s ‘impossible’ longevity in dinosaur bones.
Chemistry research news, scientific research from across the …
WEBElectrons play a far more significant role than photons in creating molecules that might have kick-started life on Earth. Super-fast setting sticky polymers can suture tricky internal wounds. Discovery of ‘NO burst’ could help save world’s favourite banana from deadly fungus. The world’s tiniest batteries could power robots the size of ...
Explainer: The science of alkyl nitrites aka poppers
WEBSep 16, 2021 · Inhaling alkyl nitrites feels like becoming instantly drunk according to some users, although the effect lasts for only a few minutes. Also known as poppers, these chemicals have been taken recreationally since the 1960s. Although they are sold openly, usually in small brown bottles with enticing brand names such as ‘liquid gold’, their ...
150 years of helium | Feature | Chemistry World
WEBJul 23, 2018 · 150 years of helium. Humanity took a long time to notice the second most common chemical element in the universe, James Mitchell Crow notes. Today we would struggle to do without it. The voyage that French astronomer Pierre Janssen undertook from Europe to the eastern Indian province of Madras during the …
Approval of nuclear pilot plant that uses molten salt coolant …
WEBFeb 6, 2024 · Kairos Power, a Californian startup, has received approval for the construction in Tennessee of its Hermes demonstration reactor, which uses molten fluoride salt – rather than water – as a coolant. Molten salt-cooled reactors are considered inherently safer, more flexible and more efficient than their water-cooled equivalents as they operate at much lower pressures.
Explainer: Why is mixing cleaning chemicals such a bad idea?
WEBApr 23, 2020 · Chlorine gas is toxic, forms acids on contact with wet surfaces, such as home plumbing but also living tissue, such as the lungs. Heating or contact with metals can also cause bleach to decompose via a different route. 2NaOCl → O 2 + 2NaCl. Mixing hypochlorite with ammonia would see the breakdown of the hypochlorite to generate hypochlorous ...
History of noble gases | Feature | Chemistry World
WEBSep 9, 2016 · Pushing the limits. Ramsay retired in 1912, but his love of hands-on experimental work, which was the key to his success, was also fatal. No precautions were taken in handling the radioactive material; radium was even put into cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, and Ramsay’s notebook from that period is still radioactive.
What it takes to make a new element | Feature | Chemistry World
WEBNov 30, 2016 · Results of fusion reactions were decreasing sharply as the atomic number grew higher. The cause was the high excitation energy (40–50MeV), which increased the chance of the element breaking up. To create new elements, the excitation energy needed to be minimal, or ‘cold’.
Can acid dissolve a body? | Opinion | Chemistry World
WEBJun 16, 2017 · The annals of crime are filled with gruesome tales of using chemicals for body disposal. In the mid-to-late 1940s, one of England’s most notorious killers, John Haigh, used sulfuric acid to dispose at least six victims’ corpses – a method that led to him being dubbed the ‘acid bath killer’. The Arellano-Félix Organization, a real-life cartel that inspired a storyline in the 2000 ...
Nanoparticles in full flow | Business | Chemistry World
WEBOct 28, 2021 · This flow process is designed to create a super-saturated solution for just the briefest moment, allowing nanoparticles to form. The technology is the brainchild of the company’s founder, chemical engineer Ed Lester, who painstakingly fine-tuned the reactor in the early 2000s. The sticking point was avoiding blockages, remembers Selina ...