My question is inspired by a particular single malt Scotch whisky that I don't need to name here. One of their products is aged and then bottled at 48 % ABV. This may seem to be a high alcohol content and it is, however one can sip this whisky and really enjoy it. There is little to none of the burning associated with high-proof spirits.

So what exactly happens when you age high-proof alcohol and why does non-aged alcohol burn and taste harsh as opposed to barrel-aged alcohol that tastes smooth and does not burn, despite being at the same ABV?

Hey all,

Theoretically, if I wanted to create a paste that could change the colour of tuned car exhaust flames what would be needed?

Were thinking that a binder or carrier material that can withstand high temperatures is needed. Such as a ceramic or clay powder mixed in with metal salts.

Obviously no harmful substances please, ie carcinogens, OR excessive emissions OR toxicity to any degree .

Thanks Guys

Hello! I have a question for you guys!

Could it be possible to synthesize nitroethane through a similar fashion as the following synthesis of bromoethane?

In a flask a solution of ethyl hydrogen sulfate is prepared by mixing sulfuric acid and ethanol. An excess of sulfuric acid is added. The mixture is then heated and sodium bromide is added. Sodium bromide reacts with the excess sulfuric acid in situ forming hydrogen bromide gas which rapidly reacts with the ethyl hydrogen sulfate forming bromoethane.

My question is: Is it possible by replacing the NaBr with sodium nitrite (NaNO2) to form nitroethane instead of bromoethane?

I’m thinking that the same principle is applied therefore nitrous acid gas is formed in situ which should react with the ethyl hydrogen sulfate to form the nitroethane.

Is this possible? If no, could you please explain why?

Thanks and have a great day guys!

Hi all,

I am a psychology major with very little scientific knowledge outside of basic neuroendocrinology. I am looking to broaden my holistic understanding and learn some basics of chemistry (not related to psych, just in general).

I am looking for book as well as textbook rec’s! I just want to get an introduction to chemistry as I have never taken a chem class and won’t have time to before I graduate :)

Thanks in advance!

Had one of those drives with the kids today where they threw questions at me to see if they could stump me. The 10yo asked “is a flame a solid, a liquid, or a gas?” Not the smoke, not the fuel, but the actual flame. And after a good ten minutes of discussion, we came up blank. Thoughts?

A chemical spill is potentially affecting the drinking water in much of Philadelphia. The statements from the company responsible and the media call it a "latex finishing solution" or a "water-soluble acrylate polymer," but I am trying to find out what the composition is. One article referred to the chemical spilled as butyl acrylate, but most of the coverage suggests it is not the monomer, but some form of polymer, potentially with some additives. I'm an organic chemist, but I don't work with latex polymers. I was curious if anyone has experience with this type of product and can lend some insight to the composition or at least process for generating this material.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/philly-officials-residents-may-not-wish-to-drink-or-cook-with-tap-water-following-bucks-county-chemical-spill/3532493/%3famp=1

Sorry for lack of coherence. Stupidity is my highest wisdom.

Fe2O3 has some catalytic properties and has been a candidate for automotive catalytic converters without noble metals. Its catalytic reactivity is about 1/3 of Rh-Pt, so we need a 3x longer passage.

What's the best way to make a really cheap Fe2O3 catalyst converter? Ceramic frame + Fe2O3 coating just like the noble metal ones?

Or, is there any easier ways to crap out a catalyst converter, can I soak a piece of ceramic fiber wool in a slurry of powder Fe2O3, and put it into the ceramic kiln? Will the powder bond to the kaowool?

Has to be cheap! Inflations are rising and we cannot afford catalytic converters.

Hey :) I am looking for an App for my iPhone that allows me to speech-to-text my observations in the lab. I often struggle with Writing down my thoughts/observations/measurements as I am wearing gloves, don’t have my hands free, etc you name it. So sometimes I wish there would be a reliable and intuitive (free) App that allows me to Make a Voice Command. I tried with siri but it’s not very accurate and smart and intuitive. Maybe someone here uses a good app that allows you to Make a Command, the App opens and then smoothly allows you to take a Note and also (!!) gets Numbers right. I also want to Make small tables with Voice commands and such … Google Docs doesnt do it. Same goes for the free version of Otter. I also have an Apple watch so it would be cool if the App would also work for this. I am really desperately trying to find a good Lab-journaling App! Thanks for any advice:)

Hi All, so I’m studying Biochemistry and Zoology (BS for both), I plan to go into a career involving research, pharmaceutical research being my top choice, and Genetics as a backup. I also do plan to go on to Grad School. I can graduate a semester early, but I’m not sure if I should or not. I don’t really know many pros other than having one less semester to pay for, but likewise I also don’t know the cons, like would I be able to start grad school a semester early? Or would I need to think about getting an internship? I’m just pretty lost with this so any advice would be much appreciated!!

If you where to leave liquid nitrogen in a pressure vessel and allow it to warm up to room temperature it would turn back into a gass but if you do the same with liquid nitrous oxide it will remain as a liquid. Is this true and if so why? Would the nitrogen change to a super critical phase as it reaches its vapor pressure at room temp? I have heard people refer to nitrous as a self pressurizing or regulating gas, what does this mean? I'm just trying to get a better understanding of pressurized system and fluid storage so any information helps.

If someone is eating at a calorie deficit and works more than remains sedentary what are the chances they gain fat?

If Carbohydrates and fat get processed into sucrose and glycerol and enough vitamins, minerals and proteins are ingested to support healthy function: functional or structural compounds, what are the chances of no growth or lack of energy in the situation strenuous labor is performed?

If there is an ai in your head that acts petty and makes you fat, physically feel the shirt and pantline tighten, while in line for food, what are the chances people's brains fire correctly enough to understand what you're saying?

On linked in I look for and apply to chemistry internships and jobs and typically for any kind of chemistry job or internship there will only be a few applicants according to linked in but then for computational chemistry there is always over 200 a few hours after posting.

I don’t understand why this is considering computational chemistry is a graduate field and the other internships I see require less education. Shouldn’t the positions with less qualifications have less applicants?

My theory is that a bunch of computer scientists who lost their jobs are going after these, but they are internships so I’m not sure. Can someone help me understand why computational chemistry is so over saturated and also if they believe it will continue to be like this in the future?

I know there is a weekly career discussion threat but I’ve asked this there before and no one saw my question.

Does anyone out there have any links or anything about oxidative cleavage with copper salts? Specifically enamines. It's my understanding the CUCl is a lewis acid and amine groups are lewis bases so, in an enamine, the CuCl forms a "complex" with NH making the alpha carbon more nucleophilic. The an O2 swings by bonding to that juiced up carbon cleaving off the amine with a unhindered carbon that knocks into one of those oxygen and bonds because the NH is still in a complex with the CuCl. Hope I'm understanding right??? Anyone following or am I nuts haha

Hi,

In our house we have a fireplace and to feed the fire my father puts all the packaging he can find: aluminum, plastic, .... . Is there a chemical risk?

I'm looking at doing an extraction with some solvents and then clean up the extract with a sulfuric acid solution, finally analyzing the cleaned up extract on a GC/ECD. I can't find any really clear info on if this will work without some kind of major problem (reactions, creating some kind of polymer, how it will potentially affect the instrument etc.). Basically I'm wondering if I can do this without doing a solvent exchange first to pure hexane. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Hi, recently there was a mass mortality of antelopes in mongolia near to a oil pump that is operated by chinese company, people say they were using some kind of prohibited chemicals for pumping oil. Can someone tell me what chemicals would that be? Thank you!

I’m wanting to remove vast amounts of dried glue from the chassis of my car. This was the glue under the sound proofing material.

When I apply regular acetone it just evaporates too quickly to do anything to the glue. I was hoping there would be a goopy acetone product that would allow it to dissolve over a few hours but I cannot find anything.

As stated in the title. From what I’ve read magnesium and chloride are considered kosmotropic on their own but MgCl₂ seems to be widely recognised as a chaotrope.

I would like to separate camphor and methyl eugenol however camphor has a melting point of 175c so distillation isn’t possible because it will crystallise in the condenser. It has a lower boiling point than methyl eugenol so it can’t be distilled off it seems.

Anyone know a way?

Yesterday I tried electrolyzing two stainless steel electrodes with 56V in a NaCl solution and it resulted in the formation of Iron hydroxide since the chlorine ions lose an electron at the positive electrode but rip off iron atoms to form FeCl3 then in the same solution undergo a reaction with NaOH which is produced at the other electrode to produce FeOH + NaCl
The FeOH is insoluble in water and precipitates out

Today I tried the exact same experiment, however instead of Iron Hydroxide (Orange-Brown color) I got presumably Chromium Hydroxide (dark green color). I am wondering if this experiment did not produce any hexavalent chromium compounds. There isn't an article on wikipedia about Cr(OH)6 so I'm wondering if what I got is safe to handle, and what should I do to make sure the Iron reaction takes priority over the chromium reaction.