Interesting facts about chemistry. Interesting organic chemistry that will not leave you indifferent
The closest subject of chemistry is the study of homogeneous substances, from the composition of which all the bodies of the world are made, their transformations into each other and the phenomena accompanying such transformations.
— DI. Mendeleev
For all chemistry lovers, site editors Self Hacker, I have prepared a small selection of interesting facts about chemistry.
Let's start with one of current issues, which concerns chemistry as a science.
In what case can ethyl alcohol serve as an antidote?
Methyl alcohol is indistinguishable from ethyl alcohol in taste and smell, but its effect on the body is much more threatening to our health. Even a small amount of methanol can lead to blindness, and a dose of 30 ml can lead to death.
This explains the frequent cases of methyl alcohol poisoning, either due to ignorance or in the case of drinking counterfeit alcohol. It is interesting that in the case of such poisoning, the antidote is ordinary, that is, ethyl alcohol. This is due to the fact that the processes of binding both alcohols in the body occur with the participation of one enzyme - alcohol dehydrogenase, but since the reaction with ethanol occurs faster, the result is much less harmful products of the breakdown of methanol in the blood.
We invite you to watch a video of how polystyrene foam is produced - it’s interesting and informative.
Hydrogel for healing fractures, a well-deserved invention in the chemical industry.
Bioengineers at Rice University have created a hydrogel that instantly changes from a liquid to a semi-solid state at temperatures close to human body temperature, and then breaks down at a suitable rate. The gel can be used as support for broken bones or other tissues in the patient's body. At room temperature, the hydrogel remains liquid, but when it enters the patient’s body, it hardens and fills the empty space, which will later be replaced by natural tissue.
The hydrogel can also be used to deliver stem cells to skeletal defects, which should cause accelerated bone tissue regeneration. After performing its functions, the gel decomposes and is excreted from the body. The authors of the discovery expect that the gel can be tuned so that its rate of degradation corresponds to different rates of bone growth.
And now interesting facts in chemistry that you definitely didn’t know:
- For example, when we cut an onion and “cry”, the merit of these fictitious emotions belongs to the sulfur that is absorbed into the soil where the onion grows.
- In the province of Indonesia there is a volcano completely filled with sulfur, which is called Kawa Ijen. It settles on the pipes, after which workers knock it down with fittings and carry it for weighing. This is how they earn their living there.
- Hygienic “products” based on sulfur created specifically for cleansing problematic skin from acne and rashes.
- Earwax, which we have been taught to remove since childhood with cotton swabs, “poisons” life with noble intentions. It contains special lysozyme enzymes; They are the ones who “keep out” all bacteria from entering our body.
- In 1985, a group of American and British researchers discovered molecular compounds made of carbon, which strongly resemble a soccer ball in shape. They wanted to name the discovery in honor of him, but scientists did not agree on which term to use - football or soccer (the term for football in the USA). As a result, the compound was named fullerenes in honor of the architect Fuller, who came up with a geodesic dome composed of tetrahedra.
- The French chemist, pharmacist and physician Nicolas Lemery (1645-1715) at one time observed something similar to a volcano when he mixed 2 g of iron filings and 2 g of powdered sulfur in an iron cup and touched it with a hot glass rod. After some time, black particles began to fly out of the prepared mixture, and the mixture itself, having greatly increased in volume, became so hot that it began to glow.
- The separation of fluorine gas from fluorinated substances turned out to be one of the most difficult experimental problems. Fluorine has exceptional reactivity; and often its interaction with other substances occurs with ignition and explosion.
- Iodine was discovered in 1811 by the French chemist B. Courtois. There is such a version of the discovery of iodine. According to it, the culprit of Courtois's discovery was his beloved cat: he lay on the chemist's shoulder while he was working in the laboratory. Wanting to have fun, the cat jumped onto the table and pushed the vessels that were standing nearby onto the floor. One of them contained an alcohol solution of seaweed ash, and the other contained sulfuric acid. After mixing the liquids, a cloud of blue-violet vapor appeared, which was nothing more than iodine.
- In the human brain, 100,000 things happen in one second. chemical reactions
- In 1903, in the American state of Kansas, a gas fountain suddenly erupted from an oil well. To the great surprise of the oil workers, the gas turned out to be non-flammable. New meeting with him occurred during the First World War. A German airship dropping bombs on London is hit by an incendiary shell, but the airship does not burst into flames. Slowly leaking gas, he flew away. The British secret services were alarmed: before this, German airships exploded when hit by shells, as they were filled with hydrogen. Chemical experts recalled that long before the war, German ships for some reason carried monazite sand from India and Brazil as ballast. This gas was helium. Monazite sand, which has long been the main helium-bearing raw material, contains the radioactive element thorium, the decay of which produces helium, which in density is second only to hydrogen, but has an advantage over hydrogen: it is non-flammable and chemically inert.
This concludes our interesting facts about such science as. If you know interesting facts from the field of chemistry, then write them to us in the comments and we will definitely add them to our list.
An amazing world is around us, a lot of interesting things surround a person, a lot of things he has no idea about, it’s enough just to remember interesting facts about chemistry and understand what a wonderful world a person lives in.
- Just remember gallium and the effect of a dissolving teaspoon immediately comes to mind.. Surprisingly, at room temperature this metal is similar to aluminum. It begins to melt at 28 degrees Celsius. Scientists chemists often joke about their comrades. They give them hebbled spoons, and then see the surprise of those who come when the metal device simply begins to “melt” in a mug of freshly brewed tea.
- Mercury in a thermometer remains liquid at room temperature.
- Everyone knows the fact that Mendeleev dreamed of the periodic table of chemical elements in a dream. But few people know that the scientist himself, when it came to his table, always said: “I worked on it for maybe twenty years, and you think that I sat down... and it just appeared.”
- Sometimes knowledge of chemistry helps to successfully fight wars. Suffice it to recall the example of a virtually unknown battle of the First World War. This battle was related to the extraction of the metal molybdenum. This metal was used in the construction of the legendary German "Big Bertha" cannon. It was used for a reason; this metal turned out to be so strong that the manufactured barrel, which was fired for several kilometers, was not deformed by the shells from overheating. The only place where molybdenum was mined was in the Colorado mine. Having learned this fact, a group from the German company Krupp, located in those places, took possession of this mine with a fight. The German army was supplied with such durable metal. The Allies did not attach any importance to this skirmish, and only towards the end of the war they realized how thoughtful this strategic move was.
- It is impossible to find water in its original pure form (H2O) in nature.. Water absorbs everything it encounters on its way. Thus, after drinking well water, we consume a “compote”, the composition of which no other person could replicate.
- Water reacts to the world around us
. Scientists used water from the same source in different containers. Classical music was played next to one, and the other was placed in a room with people swearing. As a result, based on the composition and structure of the water, it was possible to determine which container with liquid was located where.
- A mixture of bitter, sweet and sour is exactly how you can describe the taste of grapefruit. After processing 100 liters of this juice, scientists were able to isolate mercaptan. He is a taste record holder. A person can feel the taste of such a compound already at a concentration of 0.02 ng/l. To obtain such a concentration, it is enough to dilute only 2 mg of mercaptan for a tanker of water of 100,000 tons.
- An interesting process can be observed in the symbiosis of the fig tree and fig wasps that live in the fruits of this tree. A ripe berry increases the concentration of carbon dioxide by 10%. This is enough to put female wasps to sleep. The males remain active, fertilize the females and fly away, making a hole in the fruit. CO2 comes out, the awakened females fly away and take the pollen with them.
- The scientific name for oxygen is dephlogisticated air..
- Air is 4/5 nitrogen. If you get into a chamber with nitrogen, such chambers are found, for example, in mines, a person finds himself trapped. Nitrogen is colorless and odorless; it seems to a person that he continues to breathe, not realizing that in a few seconds he will fall dead from lack of air.
- Interesting facts found in the lives of great chemists. For example, in 1921, two young men came to the famous artist Dmitry Kustodiev and asked him to paint their portraits. Their desire was not without reason, Kustodiev painted exclusively famous people at that time, and the young men were sure that this is exactly what they would become in the future, even though they were still unknown to anyone. The artist agreed, and the payment was a bag of millet and a rooster. The young people turned out to be Nikolai Simenov and Pyotr Kapitsev, who later became great scientists and Nobel Prize laureates in physics and chemistry.
- Great chemist unknown to anyone. One day, King Gustav III of Sweden visited Paris. French scientists came to him for an audience and began to admire the work of the great Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele. The king was happy, but did not understand who he was talking about, and ordered Scheel to be elevated to knighthood. But the Prime Minister also did not know such a person, and by chance another Scheele, an artilleryman, was elevated to this rank. The chemist remained an unknown chemist to everyone.
Probably everyone at school studied important facts in chemistry. However, not everyone knows that chemistry surrounds us everywhere. It's impossible to imagine life modern man without the use of chemical elements that are of great benefit to humanity. In addition, interesting facts about chemistry in human life will help you learn more about this amazing and useful science. Everyone should learn about chemical elements and their invaluable benefits to humans. Next, we will take a closer look at interesting facts about chemistry and how it is useful for human life.
1. To ensure the standard flight of a modern aircraft, about 80 tons of oxygen are required. The same amount of oxygen is produced by 40 thousand hectares of forest during photosynthesis.
2. About twenty grams of salt are contained in one liter of sea water.
3. The length of 100 million hydrogen atoms in one chain is one centimeter.
4. About 7 mg of gold can be extracted from one ton of the waters of the World Ocean.
5. About 75% of water is contained in the human body.
6. The mass of our planet has increased by one billion tons over the past five centuries.
7. The thinnest matter that a person can see includes the walls of a soap bubble.
8. 0.001 seconds - speed of bursting of a soap bubble.
9. At a temperature of 5000 degrees Celsius, iron turns into gaseous state.
10. The sun produces more energy in one minute than our planet needs for a whole year.
11. Granite is considered the best conductor of sound compared to air.
12. The largest number of chemical elements was discovered by Carl Shelley, a leading Canadian researcher.
13. The largest platinum nugget weighs more than 7 kilograms.
15. Joseph Black discovered carbon dioxide in 1754.
16. Under the influence of soy sauce, a chemical reaction occurs that makes the killed squid “dance” on the plate.
17. Responsible for the characteristic smell of feces organic compound skatol.
18. Pyotr Stolypin took the chemistry exam from Dmitry Mendeleev.
19. The transition of a substance from a solid to a gaseous state in chemistry is called sublimation.
20. In addition to mercury at room temperature in liquid substance goes into francium and gallium.
21. Water containing methane can freeze at temperatures above 20 degrees Celsius.
22. Hydrogen is the lightest gas.
23. Hydrogen is also the most common substance in the world.
24. Lithium is considered one of the lightest metals.
25. In his youth, Charles Darwin was famous for his chemical discoveries.
26. In a dream, Mendeleev discovered a system of chemical elements.
27. A large number of chemical elements have been named after countries.
28. Onions contain a substance called sulfur, which causes tears in humans.
29. In Indonesia, people extract sulfur from a volcano, which brings them great profit.
30. In addition, sulfur is also added to cosmetics that are designed to cleanse problem skin.
31. Earwax protects a person from harmful bacteria and microorganisms.
32. French researcher B. Courtois discovered iodine in 1811.
33. More than 100 thousand chemical reactions occur every minute in the human brain.
34. Silver is known for its bactericidal properties, therefore it can purify water from viruses and microorganisms.
35. The name “sodium” was first used by Berzelius.
36. Iron can be easily turned into gas if it is heated to 5 thousand degrees Celsius.
37. Half the mass of the Sun is hydrogen.
38. About 10 billion tons of gold are contained in the waters of the World Ocean.
39. Once upon a time, only seven metals were known.
40. Ernest Rutherford was the first to be awarded Nobel Prize in chemistry.
41. Dihydrogen monoxide is part of acid rain and is dangerous for all living organisms.
42. At first, platinum was cheaper than silver due to its refractoriness.
43. Geosmin is a substance that is produced on the surface of the earth after rain, causing a characteristic odor.
44. Chemical elements such as ytterbium, yttrium, erbium and terbium were named after the Swedish village of Ytterby.
45. Alexander Fleming first discovered antibiotics.
46. Birds help determine the location of a gas leak due to the presence of the smell of raw meat, which is added artificially.
47. Charles Goodyear first invented rubber.
48. It is easier to get ice from hot water.
49. It is in Finland that the most clean water in the world.
50. Helium is considered the lightest among the noble gases.
51. Emeralds contain beryllium.
52. Boron is used to color fire green.
53. Nitrogen can cause clouding of consciousness.
54. Neon can glow red if current is passed through it.
55. The ocean contains large amounts of sodium.
56. Computer chips use silicon.
57. Phosphorus is used to make matches.
58. Chlorine can cause allergic reactions in the respiratory system.
59. Argon is used in light bulbs.
60. Potassium can burn with a violet fire.
61. Dairy products contain large amounts of calcium.
62. Scandium is used to make baseball bats, which improves their impact resistance.
63. Titanium is used to create jewelry.
64. Vanadium is used to make steel stronger.
65. Rare cars were often decorated with chrome.
66. Manganese can lead to intoxication of the body.
67. Cobalt is used to make magnets.
68. Nickel is used to produce green glass.
69. Copper conducts current perfectly.
70. To increase the service life of steel, zinc is added to it.
71. Spoons containing gallium can melt in hot water.
72. Germanium is used in mobile phones.
73. A toxic substance includes arsenic, from which poison for rats is made.
74. Bromine can melt at room temperature.
75. Strontium is used to produce red fireworks.
76. Molybdenum is used to produce powerful tools.
77. Technetium is used in x-rays.
78. Ruthenium is used in jewelry production.
79. Rhodium has an incredibly beautiful natural shine.
80. Some pigment paints use cadmium.
81. Indium can produce a sharp sound when bent.
82. For production nuclear weapons use uranium.
83. Americium is used in smoke detectors.
84. Edward Benedictus accidentally invented impact-resistant glass, which is now widely used in various industries.
85. Radon is considered the rarest element of the atmosphere.
86. Tungsten has the most high temperature boiling.
87. Mercury has the lowest melting point.
88. Argon was discovered by the English physicist Relay in 1894.
89. Canaries sense the presence of methane in the air, so they are used to find gas leaks.
90. Small amounts of methanol can cause blindness.
91. Cesium is one of the most active metals.
92. Fluorine reacts actively with almost all substances.
93. About thirty chemical elements are part of the human body.
94. B everyday life a person often encounters hydrolysis of salts, for example, while washing clothes.
95. Due to the oxidation reaction, colored pictures appear on the walls of gorges and quarries.
96. It is impossible to wash stains from protein products in hot water.
97. Dry ice is a solid form of carbon dioxide.
98. The earth’s crust contains the largest number of chemical elements.
99. With the help of carbon dioxide, you can obtain a large number of other substances.
100. Aluminum is one of the lightest metals.
10 facts from the life of chemists
1. The life of the chemist Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin is connected not only with chemistry, but also with music.
2.Edouard Benedictus - a chemist from France who made the discovery by accident.
3. Semyon Volfkovich was engaged in experiments related to phosphorus. When he worked with him, his clothes were also saturated with phosphorus, and therefore, when he returned home late at night, the professor emitted a bluish glow.
4.Alexander Fleming discovered antibiotics by accident.
5. The famous chemist Dmitry Mendeleev was the 17th child in the family.
6. Carbon dioxide was discovered by the English scientist Joseph Priestley.
7. Dmitry Mendeleev’s paternal grandfather was a priest.
8.The famous chemist Svante Arrhenius with early years was becoming full.
9.R. Wood, who is considered an American chemist, originally worked as a laboratory assistant.
Like imperfect knowledge English language helped discover one of the sugar substitutes?
One of the most effective sugar substitutes, sucralose, was discovered by accident. Professor Leslie Hugh of King's College London instructed his student Shashikant Phadnis to test the substance trichlorosucrose obtained in the laboratory. The student knew English at a level that was far from perfect and instead of “test” he heard “taste”, immediately tasting the substance and finding it very sweet.
Which car part was invented by accident?
Unbreakable glass was invented by accident. In 1903, French chemist Edouard Benedictus accidentally dropped a flask filled with nitrocellulose. The glass cracked, but did not shatter into small pieces. Having realized what was going on, Benedictus made the first modern windshields to reduce the number of victims of car accidents.
What was the profession of the man whom Muscovites called the luminous monk in legends?
Academician Semyon Volfkovich was among the first Soviet chemists to conduct experiments with phosphorus. At that time, the necessary precautions had not yet been taken, and phosphorus gas soaked into clothing during work. When Wolfkovich returned home through the dark streets, his clothes emitted a bluish glow, and sparks shot out from under his shoes. Each time a crowd gathered behind him and mistook the scientist for an otherworldly creature, which led to the spread of rumors throughout Moscow about the “luminous monk.”
How did Mendeleev discover the periodic law?
There is a widespread legend that the idea of the periodic table of chemical elements came to Mendeleev in a dream. One day he was asked if this was true, to which the scientist replied: “I’ve been thinking about it for maybe twenty years, but you think: I sat there and suddenly... it’s ready.”
Which famous physicist was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry?
Ernest Rutherford's research was primarily in the field of physics and once stated that "all sciences can be divided into two groups - physics and stamp collecting." However, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry, which came as a surprise to both him and other scientists. Subsequently, he noticed that of all the transformations that he was able to observe, “the most unexpected was his own transformation from a physicist to a chemist.”
What birds helped the miners?
Canaries are very sensitive to the methane content in the air. This feature was once used by miners who, going underground, took with them a cage with a canary. If singing had not been heard for a long time, then it was necessary to go upstairs as quickly as possible.
How was vulcanization discovered?
American Charles Goodyear accidentally discovered a recipe for making rubber that does not soften in the heat and does not become brittle in the cold. He mistakenly heated a mixture of rubber and sulfur on the kitchen stove (according to another version, he left a rubber sample near the stove). This process is called vulcanization.
What creatures are responsible for the color of Bloody Falls in Antarctica?
In Antarctica, the Bloody Falls sometimes emerge from the Taylor Glacier. The water in it contains divalent iron, which, when combined with atmospheric air, oxidizes and forms rust. This gives the waterfall a bloody red color. However, divalent iron does not appear in water just like that - it is produced by bacteria living in a reservoir isolated from the outside world, deep under the ice. These bacteria were able to organize life cycle in complete absence sunlight and oxygen. They process organic residues and “breathe” ferric iron from surrounding rocks.
We live in a time when chemistry as a science has become omnipotent and has penetrated into all spheres of human life. Therefore, it could not help but arouse the deepest interest among ordinary people, which have nothing to do with science.We will present it in a way that everyone can understand. One of the relevant and useful questions concerns methyl alcohol.
This substance is almost impossible to distinguish from ethyl alcohol, but the effects of the former are very harmful to human health and its use can be fatal.
A very small dose of methanol can deprive a person of his vision, and drinking more than 30 ml of alcohol leads to death.
Now it becomes clear why people get poisoned when they drink low-quality alcohol. And the most amazing thing is that there is an antidote and it is ethyl alcohol.
Let's start with historical information. We are used to thinking that Mendeleev dreamed about the table of chemical elements, but one day he was asked this question, to which he clearly answered: “I’ve been thinking about it for maybe twenty years, but you think: I sat there and suddenly... it’s done.”
At what temperature do you think water freezes? At 0°C? But no. Water can turn into ice even at +20°C if it contains an admixture of methane. That is, water forms a gas hydrate with methane. Water molecules are pushed apart under the pressure of methane molecules. As a result, the internal water pressure decreases and the freezing point increases.
As a rule, they are most often obtained by accident. Charles Goodyear from America, through his carelessness, created a recipe for durable rubber. It does not crack at sub-zero temperatures and does not soften in extreme heat. His mistake was to leave a heated mixture of sulfur and rubber on the stove, a process now called vulcanization.
The Lego children's construction set is made of plastic containing barium sulfate.
This salt is absolutely harmless to the body and does not dissolve in water. Moreover, it is well defined x-rays, so the part swallowed by the baby can be easily found by taking a photo.
Don't miss it! Interesting facts about Moscow
There are interesting facts about chemistry related to the plant world. As is known, plants protect themselves from strong impact ultraviolet rays and heavy precipitation, but this is not the only one natural feature. They are able to protect themselves from animals and insects with the help of specific odors and enzymes that they secrete when they see danger. In this way, plants can even kill the animal that eats them.
It’s unlikely that everything can be covered in a short article, so we will briefly look at its most important elements.
- It is difficult to imagine that the human brain carries out 100,000 chemical reactions per second;
- US residents add to the gas pipeline chemical element with a pronounced smell of rotten meat. This is necessary in order to quickly detect a leak, since vultures flock to this smell;
- About 90% of all atoms in the Universe are occupied by Hydrogen;
- Gold is not such a rare metal as we think earth's crust this metal is enough to cover the entire surface of the planet;
- Technetium (Tc) is used to detect bone cancer using x-rays;
- Triiodine nitride NI3 is a very dangerous explosive. Its temperature may rise even if a fly lands on it, resulting in an explosion.
- Many elements and substances of chemistry were discovered by accident, and antibiotics are no exception. Alexander Fleming accidentally left a test tube containing staphylococcus bacteria unattended. This led to the rapid proliferation of mold fungi, which began to destroy the bacteria. After this, Fleming received penicillin.
Don’t leave science unattended, because we contain the entire periodic table; learning interesting facts about chemistry means learning something new about yourself.
