Back in school, you’ll have learned that the air in our atmosphere is composed primarily of nitrogen, at 78%, and oxygen, at 21%, with a number of other trace gases. It’s to these trace gases we’re looking today – more specifically, at how human activity can result in the release of air pollution in to the atmosphere. Here, we examine a number of different chemical compounds that contribute to atmospheric pollution, their specific sources, and their effects.
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.
Neonicotinoid pesticides have, not for the first time, been hitting the news over the past few weeks. The commonly used chemicals help keep pests from decimating crops, but have been linked with negative effects on other organisms, in particular bee colonies. This graphic and article take a look at what we know about the neonicotinoids, and the evidence for their suggested impacts.
Today’s post crosses over into the realm of biochemistry, with a look at the chemical structure of DNA, and its role in creating proteins in our cells. Of course, it’s not just in humans that DNA is found – it’s present in the cells of every multicellular life form on Earth. This graphic provides an overview of its common structure across these life forms and a brief explanation of how it allows proteins to be generated.
The metal reactivity series is a commonly taught concept in chemistry, placing the metals, as its name suggests, in order of reactivity from most reactive to least reactive. It’s also a useful tool in predicting the products of simple displacement reactions involving two different metals, as well as providing an insight into why different metals are extracted from their ores in different manners. This graphic places a selection of common metals into order of reactivity, as well as showing their reactions with air, water and steam.
It’s been a little while since the last post on chemical warfare agents on the site, in which we looked at the G series nerve agents, including sarin and tabun. The second of the two graphics looking at nerve agents focuses this time on the V series, including the infamous VX.
