Compound Interest has come a way since I started it back at the tail end of 2013. It’s now got almost 200,000 people following its posts on Facebook alone, there’s a book on some of the food chemistry graphics from the site, and plenty of other fun projects in the works too! The latest of these is Chemunicate: a new site side-project which I’m hoping to use to make chemical research easier to understand for chemists and non-chemists alike.
Know your sulfates from your sulfites, and your chlorates from your perchlorates? This graphic gives a helping hand with remembering the names, formulae and charges of various different polyatomic ions. The selection covers all of the ions GCSE students are likely to come across, as well as the vast majority of those that will be encountered by A level students.
Summer’s fast approaching in the northern hemisphere, and after the surprising early arrival of summer-like weather in the UK this past weekend,…
Early in the morning on 26 April 1986, a safety system test at the Chernobyl power plant in Pripyat, now part of Northern Ukraine, ended in a nuclear disaster with catastrophic consequences for both those working at the plant and those living in the surrounding area. The narrative seems to be a classic cautionary tale against the utilisation of nuclear reactors to generate power, but the reality is more nuanced. Here, we look at how nuclear reactors work generally, what led to the accident at Chernobyl 30 years ago, and the differences between Chernobyl and modern reactors.
You might remember a short while back I started creating a series of posters featuring everyday chemical molecules to help decorate my classroom. Here are the next six in this ongoing project! As before, they’ll very shortly be available to purchase as posters, mugs, and more in the site’s Redbubble store (not sure why anyone would want a mug with urea on, but who knows!).