Flesh-Destroying Chromic Acid - Periodic Table of Videos

In posting this video, I went looking for the original video that I was sure I had posted on the blog. Turns out I hadn't, so I'll go ahead and post that below. Might be worth watching it first, though you will get the general gist by watching the above video.

I remember chromic acid being around the stock room of Wabash's chem department - and also around Pru Phillips's stock room when I student taught for her. Pru kept the chromic acid around for when her glassware got too stained for acceptable use.

I'm passingly familiar with the dangers of chromic acid, however, so I don't have it around, and Flinn Scientific doesn't even sell it anymore.

After watching this video, I think that's a good choice on their part.

The Difference Between High Explosives and Low Explosives

I never considered that high explosive was a technical term and that consequently there must be low explosives.

To quote Stephen Miller, the explosive expert from the video...

• Explosives are a mixture a fuel and an oxidizer.
• With low explosives these are roughly mixed together...when a low explosive reacts, it's a thermal reaction
• A high explosive is also a mixture of a fuel and an oxidizer...down on the molecular level, the atoms [?] of the materials are in such close proximity that they are linked together within the molecule and...they can react a whole lot faster...It's actually a shockwave reaction.

I didn't know those distinctions, and I really didn't know that high explosives can be safer for transportation because they're more stable, requiring a shockwave to set them off.

So you've learned to teleport

Yeah, suck it, Nightcrawler...Pixie...America Chavez...Lockjaw...

You should be making perpetual energy for the planet, and you're just off saving the universe or fighting crime.

The 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry - Periodic Table of Videos

I know, a rare Sunday post.

I figured it wasn't worth posting this explanation of this past week's Nobel Prize in Chemistry in January when I next had an open spot in the queue of scheduled videos.

So check this out. It's one of the better explanations of why asymetric organocatalysts are Nobel-worthy.

How Professional Fireworks Work

Probably twenty years ago I took a week long workshop "Chemistry of Pyrotechnics" at Miami University in the summer. It was a great explanation of the science that goes into creating everything from tiny backyard sparklers all the way up to giant fireworks shells.

The course was taught by people who normally taught science to fireworks makers, and they said that the workshop was their first time teaching the fireworks side to people who already knew the science. That made for a really interesting cross-educational experience.

Coincidentally, it turns out that Ed Escudero and Beth Eddy - both of whom I would later work with through ASM - took the same class.

The above video takes you through more of the mechanics of a large, professionally made pyrotechnics shell than it does the chemistry of pyrotechnics (I'm going to look for that video in a minute), but the mechanics includes a bunch of chemistry from controlling the rate of a reaction to producing the various colors. 

And I just put in a request to get a copy of this textbook from the University of Akron library. Thank you, OhioLink.