You’ve likely heard of the terrible water crisis currently afflicting the city of Flint, Michigan, in the United States. The city’s water supply contains very high levels of lead, which is well-known to cause serious health issues. This lead is coming from the pipes that bring water to the city from the Flint River, but how is it getting into the water that the residents are drinking? Here’s a few quick explanations to some of the chemistry-related questions surrounding the story.
If you take even the slightest interest in chemistry news, you’ll probably already have heard about the official confirmation of the discovery of four new elements, which even achieved widespread coverage in mainstream news outlets. IUPAC (the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) sneaked out the news just before New Year’s Eve without much prior warning, and without a great deal of fanfare, though some had already predicted that an announcement of the sort was imminent. So what do we actually know about these new elements?
