What do the various different arrows used by chemists all mean? That’s the question this short summary graphic aims to answer, by highlighting the most common arrows encountered in chemistry lessons and textbooks and giving a brief explanation of their use with examples.
This week I was lucky enough to be sent a silvered bottle, shown in the graphic, by Andres Tretiakov. If you’re a chemist you’ll already be familiar with the chemical reaction used to produce this effect, but if you’re not you might be wondering how it’s accomplished. Though sadly it’s not one that can be easily carried out at home, this graphic gives an insight into the chemistry involved!
Here’s the start of a new series of collaborations with MEL Science, looking at a number of fun chemistry experiments and the explanations behind them. Today’s initial offering looks at how zinc pellets can be transformed into tin hedgehogs with some simple chemistry. Click through to the MEL Science site to see the experiment and read more about how you can get hold of an experiment set to try it for yourself; alternatively, read on below for some extra information and links to further relevant graphics!
Kicking off an occasional new series of graphics with today’s post, which’ll be looking at common chemical reactions encountered in schools. Today kicks off with one of my favourite reactions, the ‘Golden Rain’ demonstration, which involves the synthesis and recrystallisation of lead (II) iodide, and is commonly used to illustrate the recrystallisation process, as well as to demonstrate differences in solubilities.
Here’s the second part of the Chemical Reactions posters, this time featuring condensation, hydrolysis, displacement, oxidation, and reduction reactions. Click the image above to enlarge and read the text, or, as previously, I’ve included the text separately in the post below. Print-friendly versions are again available to download at the foot of the page.
Recently, some of my classes have been revising types of chemical reactions, which inevitably set me thinking about how to represent them visually in an easy to understand way. These are the first few posters I’ve come up with – each has a large icon representative of the reaction type, as well as a short description of the reaction, and an example. Hoping to add a few more over the next few days! Click the image to enlarge and make it readable, or, alternatively, I’ve copied the text from the posters into the post below. You can download printable versions at the foot of the page.
