One day I hope to be able to say this...
"Just for a laugh, we sealed a bottle of vodka with our membranes and found that the distilled solution became stronger and stronger with time. Neither of us drinks vodka but it was great fun to do the experiment." Dr Nair on his graphene membranes
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16747208
Question, Why not use an alcohol that they did drink?
Showing posts with label Chemistry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chemistry. Show all posts
Friday, January 27, 2012
Sunday, November 20, 2011
hand warmers
After a wonderful leaving party last night, I was wonder what to do with myself, after about 10 seconds of thought I decided to do and do the last of my Christmas shopping. So after church, I wondered into town and started looking about ... I didn't have a clue what I was looking for, so I was surprised when I found some pocket hand warmers (see example pic)
Mine look better than these bit I don't want to spoil the surprise! A friend had mentioned these to me so I knew what they did and thought they will make really good Christmas presents.
After buying a few other gifts and some travelling clothes, I headed home and have spent the afternoon wondering how they work. (Yes, I am chemistry geek and this is chemistry in action).
In fact it is wonderfully simply chemistry in action ...
The liquid is a highly concentrated solution of a salt (e.g. sodium acetate) in water, and a bit of colouring. There is so much salt in the solution that no more of the salt will dissolve. There is also a curved metal popper. A few crystals of salt form on this metal disc. When the popper is popped the crystal are dislodged into the solution, this triggers rapid crystallisation in the solution, the solution becomes a solid and heat is released. The temperature cools slowly (approx 1 hour).
So that is an hour of nice warm hands!
And to reuse you boil them (put the heat back in) the solid will become a liquid again, ready for their next use.
It is so simple it is brilliant!
Mine look better than these bit I don't want to spoil the surprise! A friend had mentioned these to me so I knew what they did and thought they will make really good Christmas presents.
After buying a few other gifts and some travelling clothes, I headed home and have spent the afternoon wondering how they work. (Yes, I am chemistry geek and this is chemistry in action).
In fact it is wonderfully simply chemistry in action ...
The liquid is a highly concentrated solution of a salt (e.g. sodium acetate) in water, and a bit of colouring. There is so much salt in the solution that no more of the salt will dissolve. There is also a curved metal popper. A few crystals of salt form on this metal disc. When the popper is popped the crystal are dislodged into the solution, this triggers rapid crystallisation in the solution, the solution becomes a solid and heat is released. The temperature cools slowly (approx 1 hour).
So that is an hour of nice warm hands!
And to reuse you boil them (put the heat back in) the solid will become a liquid again, ready for their next use.
It is so simple it is brilliant!
Monday, November 14, 2011
The Periodic Table of Element
Martyn Poliakoff and Brady Haran have made a whole series of video about all the elements of the periodic table
They also get to do a lot of fun things this one is quiet impressive
They also get to do a lot of fun things this one is quiet impressive
Saturday, November 21, 2009
ChemSpider
It runs around the web and finds out lots of information about any molecule you can think of and Links to papers important information.
If you have a need to know the met ling point of Sugar (glucose) or the pH of vinegar (acetic acid) or any other chemical based question then the ChemSpider will find it out for you
www.chemspider.com
check it out
(also available on iPhone)
If you are more interested in chemistry it also has molecular structure, and spectra, you can also uploads your molecular information and comment on unverified structures
If you have a need to know the met ling point of Sugar (glucose) or the pH of vinegar (acetic acid) or any other chemical based question then the ChemSpider will find it out for you
www.chemspider.com
check it out
(also available on iPhone)
If you are more interested in chemistry it also has molecular structure, and spectra, you can also uploads your molecular information and comment on unverified structures
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