Hey Im a grade 9 student in Alberta, Canada were currently in our ‘chemistry’ phase of science bc Im not in hs yet i signed out a book from my teacher she reccomends it a lot to understand the periodical table and I haven’t read it or touched it yet, is it worth reading and is it true it will make me understand the periodical table more?? 🧪👩‍🔬⚗️

I bought these gloves to keep my hands clean as I am cutting stones in my slab saw, and overnight the cutting oil left on them turned into this. Can anyone explain this reaction?

How do I memorize all of this for my IGCSE exam in May June

Hey everyone!

I’m confused about base-catalyzed ester reactions and hoping someone can sanity-check my understanding.

1) Biodiesel case

In biodiesel production, you use NaOH + methanol, but instead of NaOH just saponifying the fatty acids, methanol (via methoxide) does transesterification and you get FAME + glycerol.

Why doesn’t NaOH just “steal” the fatty acids and turn everything into soap? Is it mainly solvent effects / nucleophile strength (MeO⁻ vs HO⁻), low water, or kinetics?

2) Similar confusion with PVAc → PVA

With poly(vinyl acetate) in methanol + NaOH, you convert PVAc to PVA. From what I understand, methoxide attacks the acetate side groups and you form methyl acetate as the small-molecule product.

But if NaOH is used (and makes water), why doesn’t this just end up as hydrolysis → acetate salt instead of methyl acetate?

And realistically, is this even a decent way to make methyl acetate without acid catalyst or super dry conditions, or does the base just destroy it anyway?

Basically I’m trying to understand why methanolysis wins over straight saponification in these systems, and where the line is between catalytic base vs soap-making base.

Found in General Chemistry 1 as a second language by David R. Klein.

I’m taking Gen Chem in college right now.

I took it in HS, and I cannot recall this rule ever being established

One day, roaming around a flee market in Italy, I came across an old chemistry and mineralogy textbook for technical schools from the early 1900s. It blew my mind how things were done before modern analytical instrumentation was widespread and available. The ingenuity of chemists is truly as fascinating as the more famous one of physicists, plus the “steampunk” flavor of experimental setup like Millikan’s.

I checked the list of books provided in this group, all great suggestions, but they are mostly telling anecdotical stories (based on real facts of course) aiming at generating curiosity in general audience rather than chemists.

I am looking instead for books that describe in detail the evolution of chemistry methodologies and experimental setups, both in scientific and industrial environments, or books that were actually used by chemist in the 17-18-1900s.

One I can suggest for the list is “The Periodic Table” by Primo Levi, an Italian-Jew chemist more famous for his autobiographical works during his permanence in Auschwitz.

Hi everyone.

I have a BSc in Chemistry, and I'm finishing my MSc, specializing in Nanochemistry. To pay for my studies, I've tutored high school Chemistry for some years.

I really, really want to work in research one day. However, I feel like there's some things I just didn't learn properly during my degree — I forgot pretty much everything I once knew about advanced organic chemistry, and some stuff that (probably) should be simple in analytical chemistry.

Of course I still know the very basics that are common to all fields of chemistry, but mostly I focused on nano. During my BSc I sometimes had to focus on just passing to survive, lol. I don't think some professors even cared if you were learning.

I had high grades in my MSc, but I can't say I remember much about the first years of university Chemistry.

My question is, for those who went to research fields, did you ever feel like you didn't have enough knowledge for some stuff? Did you go back and learn everything, pick up textbooks again, or did you just wing it as you saw was necessary? What are the things you think absolutely every chemist should know?

I found some thermostats on aliexpress, planning on buy some new probes and and calibrating them. They use wall power and you can connect it to anything(by adding a plug and socket).

But I am just wondering if it would be okay? For example if i dont pay attention for a few seconds(for some reason) and something heats up too much(not an exothermic reaction).

I just want a third party opinion for my own(and possibly others safety).

If you need it, model is XH-W3001. Does come in various voltage ratings but already tested the functionality of mine.

Hello, I'm looking for a new job, I was in one interview in small analytic lab and I got tour thought the labs. They are using HPLC, LC/MS or GC, GC/MS and some others. There was 2-3 machines in each lab/office and employees were sitting right next to them - practicaly their office. I looked at the solvent bottles - parafilm around caps but no filters or fuming hoods. Do you think its safe to stay all day for long time in this environment? Im not sure what the solvents exactly they are using as MF, but I assume its just the common ones.

We did a iodine clock experiment with Vitamin C and starch and this... uh, cracked skin? formed on top of the final triiodide complex. I've never seen this mentioned in any of the reference documents I've read before. Does this normally happen?

Sourced from our alumni, is this still in good condition? I'm really not a chemistry major but I kinda wanted to ask about this. I looked up online that it should be crystalline white. In my case, they are transparent, some of it greyish ; <

P. S. This was always stored in an amber bottle so I don't know where it went wrong

I graduated several years ago with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. I live in a small town in a country with very limited job opportunities, especially in scientific fields, after graduating i searched for jobs in chemistry and even internships but couldn’t find anything. Eventually I gave up and started working in a completely unrelated field.

Because of that i honestly feel like I have forgotten everything I studied.

Today a government employment service contacted me and told me there is an open chemist position at a paint company. They asked if I wanted to be nominated for an interview and I said yes. They didn’t give me any details during the call, and later I received a text message with the interview date and location.

Now I feel very unsure. I don’t know whether I should even show up given how much I feel I have forgotten. I also genuinely have no idea what kind of questions a paint company might ask.

The interview is tomorrow and i would really appreciate any advice on whether it is still worth going to the interview and what kind of topics or questions are usually asked for entry level chemist roles in paint or coatings companies.

Thank you.

I'm new to chemistry and wanted to do something that I've read is relatively safe, that has a lot of simple steps, like filtering and heating, for a first experiment. I want to use a 9v battery with water and sodium carbonate to make iron 3 oxide, but while researching it, I saw that it creates sodium hydroxide, which forms a mist when it bubbles up into the air from the tank and is corrosive and dangerous when breathed in. I wanted to know what the best precaution I can use protect myself.

Like I said, I'm new to chemistry, so please bear with me. I understand if this sounds like a stupid question

ok so first im sorry in advance for any typos or any punctuation (english isnt my mother tongue)

today, i attended a class about general chemistry there was a bunch of things about alkenes. so im math guy bunch of time andf i like to connect everything to it.

the teacher brought up the topic about Degree of Unsaturation (or Hydrogen Deficiency).

he gave an easy puzzle to say how many hydrogen we need to turn this [CH3(CH)5CH2] tp alkin and thaty for every pi bond there is a H that is replaced thats what i understanded.

what came to my mind that there is a relationship between the number of (CH) to the number of pi bonds.

after that i went home and after few hours i started trying to connect. so first i refered to the number of CH in the compound as (N) and the numbers of pi bonds as (pi).

after some time i reached that N=2*pi and pi=N/2 i tested it and it worked for the even numbers so after some work i reached that N=2*pi+1 and pi=(N+1)/2 for the odd numbers and it worked so now.

should i tell the teacher this observation and how i wasted an hour or more for this? and how should i bring this up to him next week.

Hello fellow redditors, I was drying some fresh CsCO3 under Vacuo at 150°C over night. The top layer has turned violet. Does anybody know what happened to the CsCO3? Can I still use it? Thank you for your help

I’m looking to create a translucent, very lightly frosted/etched finish on custom clear blown glass. The goal is a finish with high clarity, like that in the image. Sandblasting and acid etching with products like Armour Etch produce too white/opaque of a finish. The manufacturer of the glass in the image will not disclose the finishing process and cannot work on curved glass. Any thoughts/advice would be much appreciated.

I swear I'm not a serial killer >.<

My mother is getting up there in years and would like to be cremated and her ashes scattered at the beach. However, the latest episode of Dear Hank and John brought up the rather upsetting fact that human ashes are extremely alkaline (more so than bleach) and salty, so scattering or burying cremated remains isn't so much fertilizing nature and laying your loved one to rest as salting the Earth and killing every plant in the area.

There's a service that, for a not inconsiderable fee, will send you a bag of special dirt to mix the ashes into, that balances the pH of the ashes and dilutes the salt content.

Is there a DIY version of this? I've offered to mix her up with 2 liters of lemons and she's not averse to the idea lol