Compound Interest
Has your local coffee shop recently switched to biodegradable cups? Or maybe your workplace canteen has made the switch to biodegradable cutlery? Perhaps the plastic packaging of your favourite magazine is now a biodegradable wrapper? You might wonder what materials are behind these biodegradable products, and exactly how much better they are for the environment […]
Even in the depths of winter, wildfires have been raging in some U.S. states. There were over 66,000 wildfires across the U.S. last year, and this month’s edition of Periodic Graphics in C&EN magazine takes a look at the products of these large-scale combustion reactions, as well as the effects that these products can have […]
In the heat of summer air conditioning units can help you beat the heat. This month’s edition of Periodic Graphics in C&EN looks at how air conditioning systems work and the changing compounds that help them cool you down! Click through the the C&EN site to view the full graphic.
Ocean acidification is often referred to as ‘the other carbon dioxide problem’. We’re all quite rightly concerned about the effects that rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels may have on climate, and the potential consequences of climate change are well documented: more frequent instances of extreme weather, and higher global average temperatures to name but two. […]
Green chemistry is a concept that crops up with increasing frequency; we’ve already discussed it here previously with reference to the Periodic Table’s ‘endangered’ elements, and the recycling rates of metal elements used in mobile phones. But what do we mean by ‘green chemistry’, and what’s required for chemistry to be considered ‘green’? That’s what […]
Regular readers will spot that today’s post is a bit of a twist on an old post from the site’s archives, which looked at the elements present in a smartphone and the roles that they play. In this updated version, I wanted to highlight which elements in your smartphone will actually get recycled at the end […]