Category: Chemistry
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Scandium (Sc): Why Is Everyone Talking About It And How It Affects The Australian Industry?
“If you’re in the business of manufacturing products from aluminium, something very exciting is happening.”(1) Scandium has been shown to improve the strength of aluminium while simultaneously reducing its weight. Bike frame, boats, tennis rackets and even MiG fighter jets can benefit from this, as well as foil, screen doors, window frames, pots and pans,…
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Are synthetics overcoming the natural materials?
In 1935, Percy L. Julian (1899-1975) synthesized physostigmine, the compound that was only available in its natural source, the Calabar bean, now used in the treatment of glaucoma. This pioneering research opened a door to widespread usage of chemical materials; however, it also started a “synthetic versus natural” debate on whether and how synthetics substitute…
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Fun Facts about Baking Soda and Its Uses
Sodium bicarbonate or sodium hydrogen carbonate, better known as baking soda is a chemical compound with the formula NaHCO3 . It is primarily used in cooking and baking as a leavening agent, and as a very effective cleaning agent. It is mined in its natural form, nahcolite, as a white or colorless carbonate mineral. As…
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The Most Useful Science Student Books for AU Universities
Student life can be a bit of a struggle – you are at your prime, young and energetic, and you need to balance studying, fun and work, all the while trying to make ends meet on an often limited budget. Be that as it may, Australia still has some of the best universities in the…
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The elusive atmospheric molecule
Sometimes, the simplest things are the hardest to find. Out there, up there, in the atmosphere, amongst the things that fly around, are things that collide with other things and make other things. Small things crash into each other and produce other small things. The layman’s way of saying chemical reactions happen. This one, the…
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Weekly Science Picks
At the top of my list this week would have to be the ISS Commander Chris Hadfield from Canadian Space Agency wringing out a wet towel in zero gravity. If you haven’t watched it yet. Do it now. The explanation behind what happens is more in depth than “magic”. Cmdr Hadfield is right when he…
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Chemtrails – Conspiracy Theory?
We all know what contrails are: those long thin artificial clouds that form behind aircraft, most often as a result of the water vapour in the exhaust of the aircraft’s engines. But have you heard of chemtrails? I first learned of chemtrails after our editor asked if I would be interested in writing a story on…
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Weekly Science Picks
The midlife crisis is more complicated than first thought. It might be time to stop blaming troubled marriages and feeling obsolete in a sea of younger colleagues. A study published in the Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences has revealed that chimpanzees and orangutans also experience a midlife crisis. Having a midlife crisis may…