Category Archives: Chemistry

Why does striking flint against steel start a fire?

What’s the science behind starting a fire with flint and steel? Any outdoor survivalist worth [...]

World’s thinnest gold leaf, dubbed ‘goldene,’ is just 1 atom thick

Goldene is the latest 2D material to be made since graphene was first created in [...]

Roman glass keeps turning into photonic crystals. Scientists finally know why

Analysis of the microscopic structure of an ancient shard of Roman glass has revealed how [...]

Is glass a liquid or a solid?

Glass has unique properties, but is it a solid or a liquid, or does it [...]

What’s the highest temperature water can freeze, and the lowest it can boil on Earth?

Ice can form on Earth at temperatures above 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius), and [...]

For 1st time, scientists write words in liquid water

Scientists used a process called ‘diffusioosmosis’ to write words that lingered in liquid water. Scientists [...]

Nobel Prize in chemistry awarded to trio who discovered bizarre quantum dots

Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus and Alexei Ekimov will share the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for [...]

Nobel Prize in Chemistry: 1901-Present

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry includes famous winners such as Marie Curie and Otto Hahn. [...]

States of matter: Definition and phases of change

The four fundamental states of matter are solid, liquid, gas and plasma, but there others, [...]

Is hydrogen a metal?

Hydrogen is not a metal on Earth, but scientists keep trying to create metallic hydrogen [...]

Can foxgloves really give you a heart attack?

Foxgloves contain digoxin, a drug used to treat cardiac arrhythmia and heart failure that can [...]

Only 1% of chemicals in the universe have been discovered. Here’s how scientists are hunting for the rest.

Most chemical compouds are still unknown to science. How many new ones can we make [...]

Scientists get rare glimpse of ‘nesting doll’ isotope nitrogen-9

With five more protons than should be stable, the newly discovered nitrogen-9 isotope sits right [...]

Building blocks of life may have formed on dust in the cold vacuum of space

Far from any galaxy, icy grains of dust in deep space may be able to [...]

Why does ice float?

Why does ice float in water, instead of sinking to the bottom? It has to [...]