Maggie Koerth-Baker has written a chemistry and combustion rundown of ammonium nitrate, the chemical believed to be behind the devastating blast yesterday in West, TX: “Ammonium nitrate fertilizer isn’t really a dangerous explosive (most of the time)”. Ammonium nitrate, a primary ingredient in synthetic fertilizers, isn’t itself very explosive. Accidents involving it are actually pretty rare, although incidents like the Oklahoma City Federal Building bombing in 1995 have given it quite a reputation. However, like anything, it’s the dose that makes the poison.  When it burns, it creates its own oxygen, which can lead to a runaway fire. In those runaway fires, the chemical can bind together from pellets into a massive plug, allowing it to trap huge amounts of hot gases beneath the weight of burning material. You can guess what happens when hot gases build up with no place to go. More details at Boing Boing. Stay strong, West, TX.
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Maggie Koerth-Baker has written a chemistry and combustion rundown of ammonium nitrate, the chemical believed to be behind the devastating blast yesterday in West, TX: “Ammonium nitrate fertilizer isn’t really a dangerous explosive (most of the time)”.

Ammonium nitrate, a primary ingredient in synthetic fertilizers, isn’t itself very explosive. Accidents involving it are actually pretty rare, although incidents like the Oklahoma City Federal Building bombing in 1995 have given it quite a reputation. However, like anything, it’s the dose that makes the poison. 

When it burns, it creates its own oxygen, which can lead to a runaway fire. In those runaway fires, the chemical can bind together from pellets into a massive plug, allowing it to trap huge amounts of hot gases beneath the weight of burning material. You can guess what happens when hot gases build up with no place to go.

More details at Boing Boing. Stay strong, West, TX.

Source: Boing Boing

Redefining The Kilogram

Veritasium takes you through the history of the kilogram standard, a block of metal locked in a basement that defines the most important international standard that we have. 

Unfortunately, the mass of the current standard is changing thanks to … well, something not entirely known. Atomic evaporation maybe? What is definitely true is that a new kg standard is needed.

The replacement candidate is a nearly perfect sphere of a single isotope of crystalized silicon. It is the world’s roundest object! If this sphere were the Earth, the highest mountain and the lowest valley would only be a few meters apart.

An awesome chemistry and physics lesson from Derek!

Source: youtube.com

What’s in a flame? The chemistry and physics of fire are surprisingly complicated for something so ubiquitous, but there’s a pretty easy answer for “what’s in a flame?” Ions. When a candle flame is placed between two contacts holding a about ten thousand volts, the flame is pulled to the positive and negative side like a flickering butterfly. The air, usually a good insulator, allows the ions within the flame to jump to either side, allowing an arc to form.  Check out the full video from Veritasium. Spark more interest with this winning video from The Flame Challenge, explaining what fire is in simple terms. (This GIF isn’t animating on the Tumblr dashboard for some people. Click through to see the glory)
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What’s in a flame?

The chemistry and physics of fire are surprisingly complicated for something so ubiquitous, but there’s a pretty easy answer for “what’s in a flame?”

Ions.

When a candle flame is placed between two contacts holding a about ten thousand volts, the flame is pulled to the positive and negative side like a flickering butterfly. The air, usually a good insulator, allows the ions within the flame to jump to either side, allowing an arc to form. 

Check out the full video from Veritasium. Spark more interest with this winning video from The Flame Challenge, explaining what fire is in simple terms.

(This GIF isn’t animating on the Tumblr dashboard for some people. Click through to see the glory)

Cthulhu rises as a copper sulfate plasma When a pulse of high voltage is released into a pool of copper sulfate, the energy causes the electrons of the oxygen, hydrogen, sulfur and copper atoms to become temporarily displaced, and a plasma is formed. This cloud of energized atomic material float up like an energized gas, a mixture of positively charged copper and negatively charged hydroxyl (OH) groups … existing for less than half a second. (via io9)
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Cthulhu rises as a copper sulfate plasma

When a pulse of high voltage is released into a pool of copper sulfate, the energy causes the electrons of the oxygen, hydrogen, sulfur and copper atoms to become temporarily displaced, and a plasma is formed. This cloud of energized atomic material float up like an energized gas, a mixture of positively charged copper and negatively charged hydroxyl (OH) groups … existing for less than half a second.

(via io9)

Source: io9.com

How polarity makes water behave strangely

Polarity can be a bad thing when we’re talking about politics or family drama, but it’s essential to the workings of the chemical world.

That’s especially true for water, whose uneven distribution of positive and negative charges is quite literally the reason that life exists in Earth. It makes everything from our DNA to proteins stay soluble, it helps balance the salts and minerals that are essential to our most core functions, and it’s a sidekick to almost every biochemical reaction.

And it’s not just essential on the smallest scale! Insects use surface tension to walk across its surface, and fish survive frozen winters thanks to its density. It’s no coincidence that water is the key ingredient for life. And it’s polarity that made it so.

Enjoy this lesson by Christina Kleinberg by TEDEducation. Try to overlook the fact that she says “wooter” :)

Source: youtube.com