Self-tutoring about chemistry: a drug question arises. My son and I were watching a video about police seizing drugs. One person had heroin on them – “a gram,” they called it. “What does a gram of heroin look like?” was…
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Category: chemistry
Chemistry: soap vs detergent
Self-tutoring about soap and detergent: the tutor begins… I recall hearing, as a kid, a product’s being “real soap.” What is a real soap, vs a detergent? My research tells me this: Soap is made from oil produced during the…
Chemistry: sulfurous acid: doesn’t exist?
Self-tutoring about chemistry: the tutor mentions sulfurous acid. H2SO3, aka sulfurous acid, isn’t known, for sure, to exist in that form. Dissolving sulfur dioxide in water is meant to produce sulfurous acid, but seems immediately to produce the equilibrium SO2…
Chemistry: hygroscopic
Tutoring chemistry, definitions are important. The tutor mentions the term hygroscopic. hygroscopic (adj):readily collecting water, including water vapor. A sample of hygroscopic material can draw in water from the air, thereby gaining mass invisibly as it sits, uncovered, on the…
Chemistry: anhydrous
Tutoring chemistry, definitions are always of interest. The tutor brings up the term anhydrous anhydrous (adj): containing no water. As I understand, the particles of an anhydrous substance are not associated with water, but likely would be if not for…
Chemistry: what is a zeroth-order reaction?
Tutoring chemistry, reaction order is a topic. The tutor mentions the idea of zeroth-order reaction, with an example. A zeroth-order reaction is one that proceeds at the same rate even if the concentration of reactant is increased. Of course, there…
Warming ice, melting ice, and cooling water
Tutoring chemistry, heat flow between hot and cold substances might be studied. The tutor mentions a reflection about water and ice. Today, while thawing chicken breasts in water, I wondered how much water would be needed to supply the necessary…
Natural gas vs propane: part 0
Self-tutoring about common fuels: the tutor makes an initial comparison of natural gas to propane. Natural gas is chiefly methane, CH4; propane is C3H8. The combustion equation for methane: CH4 + 2O2 → CO2 + 2H2O Propane’s combustion equation, on…
Flash point vs fire point: what is the difference?
Self-tutoring about safe temperature to heat cooking oil led the tutor to seek the difference between flash point and fire point. At the flash point, the vapor is ignitable but will only burn with a continuous source of ignition. At…
Chemistry: acid nomenclature: hypo acids
Tutoring chemistry, naming acids might arise. The tutor brings up a time to use hypo in naming an acid. From a simple point of view, the hypo acid has one less oxygen than the -ous acid. For example: chlorous acid:…
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