The first of the two is hydrogen peroxide. The most common application of this compound is hear bleaching. In such products it has a concentration between 3% and 12%. Even more diluted solutions of this compound are used for wound disinfection. Hydrogen peroxide, when pure, is a very pale blue liquid that is slightly more viscous than water, and it is known to appear colorless in dilute solutions. It has strong oxidizing properties, and is a strong bleaching agent, as we mentioned, even in lower concentrations. Beside the mentioned applications it is also used as an antiseptic, an oxidizer and a propellant in rocketry.

The second of the two, acetone, is a chemical that is often the main ingredient in nail polish removers. It is often used because it is a relatively good solvent, and is fairly capable of removing pigments and other chemical compounds that stay on one’s nails after applying nail polish or similar products. Acetone in nail polish removers is often mixed with a certain amount of water, and sometimes parfumes or pigments may also be added, but these compounds usually don’t change the properties of acetone as a solvent. Acetone is a flammable and colorless liquid, and is the most simple compound in the group of ketones. It has a lower density than water, and boils already at 57°C.

Acetone and hydrogen peroxide were just some of the most well known chemicals that we usually use very often. If one is also interested in founding out more related to the chemicals that have been mentioned in this article, or other substances that are also commonly used in our everyday lives, there are many pretty useful and interesting sites that can be found online with various data related to common and basic chemsitry related tutorials, and other interesting information regarding chemistry as well.

This type of self darkening glass basically works by reacting to ultraviolet rays that come from the sun. This principle was invented during the middle of the last century. The main characteristic of the early versions of this kind of glass was the relatively slow darkening or lightening period, and often, the darkness of the lenses would remain at some constant level after some time has passed. This however, wasn’t desirable, so with time, better lenses were developed. Basically, the principle remained the same, but the materials used for the substrate of the self darkening material was changed, along with the matarial that causes the darkening by itself.

However, the early type was based on silver halide crystals which where added to the glass substrate. As has already been mentioned, the presence of ultraviolet light coming from the sun causes the glass electrons to combine with the silver cations, and thereby the ionic silver particles pass into their elemental form. Because of that, the glass gradually appears darker. The process is reversible, as soon as there is no more ultraviolet light present.

Self darkening glass also has many more interesting and fascinating properties, and if someone is perhaps interested in learning more about this type of glass or similar materials, it’s always a good idea to start with some of the basic chemistry tutorials.

Glass is a material in which sodium and calcium silicate prevail. There are several different types of glass, some of which bear the name of the glass but do not really belong in that group regarding their composition. However, the characteristics of these materials are very similar to those of real glass. Glass is very viscous liquid with a non crytalline structure, and it has no defined melting point. Slow increase in temperature softens the glass, and then it slowly passes into the liquid physical state. When the cooling takes place, the reaction that we described earlier takes an opposite direction – the glass hardens gradually and than takes on a solid state. Glass is a poor conductor of heat. As the surface of a glass object is basically always cooled faster than its interior, a certain amount of tension within the glass matter is created. With the help of rapid cooling of glass, one can achieve an extremely hard surface of the glass object. This kind of glass is resistant to shock, but with some limits however. Although it is very hard, when it breaks, it gets shattered into thousands of small pieces. This feature is used in auto industry, where a glue layer is added to this kind of glass. Because of the mentioned occurence, in the moment when the glass breaks, it is shattered into small pieces, but they are held together because of the mentioned glue layer.

Glass in the modern life has a very big role. First of all, glass is very hygienic. Then, glass is a good insulator, and it has high transparency. Usually, glass also blocks UV radiation. Glass also has many more interesting properties, and if one is interested in learning more about this or similar materials, it’s a good idea to start with some of the basic chemistry related tutorials.

Some clean it by using toothpaste, some clean it with a variety of other cleaning products, and one of the more known methods of cleaning, is by using the ashes of tobacco. Tobacco is a plant that is very rich in lithium as a mineral. When the cigarettes are burning, many compounds are formed during this process, and one of them is a cyanide compound, which is linked to the mentioned lithium. Therefore, the ashes of cigarettes, along with a smaller amount of clean water cleans the silver from all the compounds that formed on it. In addition to acting as a very fine abrasive, the chemical of tobacco ashes chemically effects pure silver in a positive way.

Silver also has many more interesting properties, and if one is interested in learning more about this or similar materials, it’s a good idea to start with some of the chemistry tutorials.

Ammonium chloride can be found in the nature, in form of a mineral called sal ammoniac, but here we will talk a bit more on how this compound can be synthesized in a laboratory.

Basically, two substances are needed – ammonium gas and hydrogen chloride. Ammonia, also known as ammonium gas, has a specific and strong smell and is soluble in water. Hydrogen chloride also has a specific and sharp smell, and is also soluble in water. If ammonia is dissolved in water, we will get an alkaline solution. However, if hydrogen chloride is dissolved in water, the result is an acid known as hydrochloric acid. Using these two solutions, a interesting experiment can be made. One takes two bottles and pours in one of them a warm hydrogen chloride solution, and in the other bottle, warm ammonia. Then a glass stirring rod is dipped in one of those solutions, and is brought to the bottleneck of the bottle with the other solution. In that moment, a smoke-like effect will happen while the gaseous hydrogen chloride and ammonia are forming very small particles of ammonium chloride in the air where the mentioned compounds got in contact, and that is what we see as “smoke” during this experiment.

There are also many more interesting properties that this compound has. If one is interested in finding out more about the chemistry of this or other compounds, it’s a good idea to start with chemistry tutorials.

Ammonium chloride can actually be found in the nature, in form of a mineral known as sal ammoniac, but here we will talk a bit more about a interesting experiment in which we show how this compound can be synthesized in a laboratory.

Basically, two substances are needed – ammonium gas and hydrogen chloride. Ammonia, also known as ammonium gas, has a specific and strong smell and is soluble in water. Hydrogen chloride also has a specific and sharp smell, and is also soluble in water. If ammonia is dissolved in water, we will get an alkaline solution. However, if hydrogen chloride is dissolved in water, the result is an acid known as hydrochloric acid. Using these two solutions, a interesting experiment can be made. One takes two bottles and pours in one of them a warm hydrogen chloride solution, and in the other bottle, warm ammonia. Then a glass stirring rod is dipped in one of those solutions, and is brought to the bottleneck of the bottle with the other solution. At this moment, a smoke-like effect will occur while the gaseous hydrogen chloride and ammonium gas are forming small particles of ammonium chloride in the air, and that is what we see as “smoke” during this experiment.

There are also many more interesting properties that this compound has. If one is interested in finding out more about the chemistry of this or other compounds, it’s a good idea to start with basic chemistry tutorials.

Steel is a basically a material that, in most cases, contains up to 5% of carbon that, in the combination with iron, forms a very hard iron carbide. In the process of hardening, the metastable structure is created, which is the main reason of the hardness of steel. Chemically pure iron is somewhat resistant to corrosion, but already very small amounts of any kind of pollution in form of particles of some of the precious metals on the surface of this metal can cause the formation of galvanic process, whose activity leads to the destruction of the mentioned metal. Because rust has a higher volume than the iron would have by itself, it peels off in the continuing process of deterioration of iron. But the corrosion of iron is in fact not as simple process as it may seem.

In addition to the galvanic destruction, the process of oxidation due to the atmospheric oxygen is certainly present as well. This oxidation process is pretty slow and only because of that it is not accompanied by the formation of great amounts of heat (remember that iron wool burns easily and violently in oxygen, and the reaction temperature in this case can be even higher than 1000°C). If you’re wondering where from do the precious metals in steel come from, the answer is as follows: Steel is a metal that is produced in very large quantities and it is getting more and more difficult and in its production the steel industry leans towards easier and cheaper process. After leaving the furnace, steel almost always goes to the refining process in which impurities that might have a negative effect on its properties, are released. In doing so, some other metals can be added instead (if we have a case of further alloyed steels). However, all these processes are far from being chemically clean and sterile. And because of this: in the steel you can find precious metals, of course, in extremely small quantities.

Although there are some problems related to steel, it is still one of the most important and most commonly used materials that humans use as to this date.

Steel also has many more interesting properties, and if one is interested in learning more about this or similar materials, it’s a good idea to start with some of the chemistry tutorials.

One of the major problems with early incendiary compositions and mixtures was that they splashed and drained far too easily. Because of that, a gasoline gel has been developed with time, in order to increase the range and effectiveness of flamethrowers, but its manufacture was difficult because it often involved natural rubber (also known as latex), which, at that time, was expensive and was already in high demand for other war effort purposes (for example, truck tires). Napalm presented a cheaper alternative to latex (rubber-based) incendiaries.

There are also various additional substances that can be added to napalm. If one would add a alkali metal (potassium or sodium) to napalm, one would get a mixture that would react explosively with water, because these metals in contact with water produce hydrogen gas, which is flamable and explosive if enough oxygen is provided, so it further enhances combustion.

White phosphorous has also been added to napalm sometimes. When the mentioned element is added, the napalm based mixture burns at a much higher temperature but it doesn’t burn as long as in the case when no phosphorus is added. However, since white phosphorus is toxic to this form of napalm presents an even more powerful weapon.

Napalm with added thermites (a mixture of iron oxide and aluminum powder) produces an extremly hot flame. The result of the combustion of thermite is glowing red and hot melted iron at temperatures over 2500°C. It is also interesting and important to mention that in this case, a special kind of igniter is needed because normal napalm does not burn at temperatures high enough to ignite the thermite composition.

There are also many other interesting properties of napalm. If one is interested in learning more about this and other interesting compounds, it’s a good idea to start with some of the basic chemistry tutorials.

All of us probably know well the phenomenon of glass fogging, for example, inside a car. Glass is an insulator and thus very slowly reacts to changes of temperatures. If it is cold outside, it will eventually cool down the internal side of the glass too. By breathing, water vapor is released in the air and it comes into contact with the cold glass, and at that moment the vapor is condensed on the surface of the glass in the form of fine droplets that create the effect that we see as fogged glass.

You can reduce this effect by using an old trick. Take a bit of soap or better still, a bit of detergent used for dish washing and brush it in a thin layer over the glass. Let this layer dry, and your glass is ready. However, this method of preventing fogging has two disadvantages: one is that the glass should not be touched with fingers and the other that this way of protection against fogging doesn’t last very long.

And how does it work, you may ask?

In this case, in contact with cold glass, water vapor is excreted in the form of a bit larger droplets of water in which the melted soap or detergent dissolve gradually. Because of that, the water vapor doesn’t get as evenly distributed as in the case with no detergent or soap, and because of that, there is no fogging of the glass.

There are many more interesting effects and situations that chemistry can give as answer too, and if someone is interested in learning more about this interesting science, it’s a good idea to start with chemistry tutorials.

It is interesting to mention that potassium chlorate can be extracted by dissolving matches in hot water because of its large solubility in warm water, while in the cold water, this compound is much less soluble.

And now that we have already mentioned phosphorus, we should say something about this chemical element. Phosphorus is known to have three modifications: white phosphorus, red phosphorus and black phosphorus. Black is the most stable form, red is stable enough for everyday use, while the white phosphorus is unstable. White phosphorus is also a deadly poison, but red phosphorus is not toxic. White phosphorus has a point of ignition at about 30°C. If one would dissolve white phosphorus in carbon disulfide, and pour the solution on a paper and let the solvent evaporate (which happens very quickly), one would get a fine and even distribution of white phosphorus on that paper. In this state, the temperature on which it selfignites is much lower. White smoke that occurs when such paper is ignited is due to the oxide of phosphorus. It strongly binds moisture from the air and creates a fog-like effect, and because of that it has been used as a weapon to create artificial fogs in battles.

There are also many other interesting properties that this element has, and if one is interested in finding out more about the chemistry of phosphorus, it’s a good idea to start with basic chemistry tutorials.