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Chemistry History

Today in Chemistry History: Ahmed Zewail and femtochemistry

On this day (26 February) in 1946, Egyptian-American chemist Ahmed Zewail was born. Zewail pioneered femtochemistry, the use of laser pulses to see the movement of individual atoms during chemical reactions. This graphic gives an overview of the ultrafast laser spectroscopy that makes this possible.

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Chemical Reactions General Chemistry

A short guide to different arrows in chemistry

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.

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Physical Chemistry

Reversible Reactions, Equilibrium, and Le Châtelier’s Principle

When you think of chemical reactions, you might think of them as irreversible, permanently changing one substance into another. While this is true in some cases, some chemical reactions are reversible, and we can take the products of the reaction and turn them back into the reactants. These reversible reactions can, under certain conditions, reach what […]

Categories
Physical Chemistry

Making Reactions Faster: Factors Affecting Rates of Reaction

How different factors can affect how quickly a reaction happens is a common topic in the chemistry curriculum. This graphic serves as a convenient summary for teachers and students alike of what these different factors are, and how and why they affect the rate of a reaction. However, it’s not only of interest to those […]

Categories
General Chemistry

A Visual Guide to Chemistry Glassware

Glassware in the laboratory comes in a range of different shapes and sizes, and is used for a number of purposes. Don’t know your round-bottomed flask from your Florence flask, or your pipettes from your burettes? This graphic has you covered. Below there’s also a little detail on the usage of each.

Categories
General Chemistry

Mole Day – Avogadro & The Mole

Today, 23rd October, is Mole Day – which might put you in mind of small, furry, burrowing animals. However, they don’t even seem to have a commemorative day of any kind; we’re actually talking about the mole in chemistry, a concept that makes it easier for us to talk about the amounts of substances involved […]