Svante Arrhenius was born on this day (19 February) in 1859. He’s famous for his eponymous equation and for suggesting in 1896 that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere might affect the Earth’s climate. He also clarified our understanding of solution chemistry and acids and bases.
Happy Valentine’s Day! Here’s a brief look at some of the many chemicals involved in the feeling of love. For more on neurotransmitters in general, there’s also this post. Download link for this graphic below, along with links to some extra reading on the topic!
Note: This is an updated version of a graphic originally published in 2016.
2022 was a significant year for nuclear fusion, touted as a future solution to our energy problems. First came the announcement, in February, that a record for power generation that has stood for 24 years had been surpassed. Then, in December, for the first time ever, more energy was output from a fusion reaction than was put in (with the caveat that accounting for the full energy costs of the process still led to more energy being used than was produced).
In the latest edition of Periodic Graphics in Chemical & Engineering News, we look at fusion reactors and their history. View the full graphic on the C&EN site here.
Along with universal indicator, litmus paper is one of the most commonly encountered pH indicators in school chemistry lessons. Unlike the range of colours produced by the former, litmus is pink-red in acidic solutions and blue in alkaline solutions. This graphic highlights its complex origins in lichens and the chemical changes that account for its colour change.
On this day (9th January) in 1868, Danish chemist Søren Sørensen was born. He’s best known for developing the pH scale, which we’ve likely all encountered, to measure the acidity or alkalinity of solutions. This graphic gives a brief overview of the pH scale and what it means.
For the first time since the onset of the pandemic, COVID’s domination of the science news cycle waned in 2022. The focus increasingly shifted to the longer-term crisis we face: that of climate change and taking steps to make components of our modern lives more sustainable. This graphic summarises some of the key chemistry news over the past year, with more detail and links to related articles below.
