62
votes
Accepted
Why can we still breathe in valleys?
It does. You would find the average percentage of the atmosphere that is argon is very slightly higher at the floor of valleys. However, bear in mind first of all it wouldn't be anywhere near a ...
- 1,673
16
votes
Accepted
Are there any significant uses of the compound formed by magnesium and anthracene?
It seems like an idea of using magnesium anthracene systems for the $\ce{MgH2}$ production persisted since 1980s [1] till late 2000s, when new more efficient method with better scalability for ...
- 37.4k
13
votes
Accepted
How could I cause metal to rust rapidly?
Here are factors that would speed up rusting:
Presence of water: make sure that the iron is wet.
Presence of oxygen: make sure the iron have access to air (the dissolved oxygen in water also works).
...
- 5,005
10
votes
Accepted
Does selenium sulfate corrode or otherwise react with metals?
Yes, selenium sulfide is well known and it is used in anti-dandruff shampoo but other sulfur-containing selenium compounds are not really well known. Selenium sulfate, properly selenium(II) sulfate, $\...
- 25.1k
9
votes
Can olivine be used to make glass?
You could proceed from either end member of the olivine solid series and yield $\ce{SiO2}$ as you suggest.
However, I'd consider mechanisms that have been researched in the course of studying so-...
- 10.6k
9
votes
How could I cause metal to rust rapidly?
Here's a less-known effect: Iron or steel exposed to iodine vapors will rust within hours.
Also, in a draft-free room, iodine crystals placed well above an iron object will evaporate, creating a ...
- 401
8
votes
Accepted
Could a lead-acid battery electrolyte be replaced by hydrochloric or nitric acid?
In the lead battery it is very important that the electrodes transform into insoluble lead sulfate when discharged, especially at the cathode where lead(IV) oxide is turning into lead(II) sulfate. ...
- 129
7
votes
What is CuCl · CO · 2 H₂O?
The compound is called copper(I) chloride dihydrate - carbon monoxide adduct. It is formed during the Gatterman-Koch reaction.
Gatterman-Koch reaction is a reaction that produces aromatic aldehyde ...
- 25.1k
6
votes
Can glass be made with anorthite?
In theory, yes it is possible. In practice, not really.
First of all, the anorthite on the moon is never pure anorthite ($\ce{CaAl2Si2O8}$) but rather an anorthite-albite ($\ce{NaAlSi3O8}$) solid ...
- 5,214
6
votes
Accepted
Why was rhenium used as an igniter in flash bulbs?
New tungsten alloys containing rhenium were developed as a filament material in flashbulbs for the purpose of improving their reliability. Weak batteries (anything but rare in the carbon-zinc era) ...
- 76
5
votes
Accepted
Can olivine be used to make glass?
The previous answer is not really helpful because you would need huge amounts of CO2 which are not available on the moon. You need 2 moles of CO2 to generate 1 moles of SiO2. You simply do not have ...
- 5,214
5
votes
What does 1:4 t-BuOH/H2O mean?
As @MaxW already pointed out, 1:4 means that you have to use four times as much water as t-BuOH. But I also want to explain why this is, because you'll probably see this more often.
In fact, 1:4 is a ...
- 1,247
4
votes
Constructing a grenade (for a novel I'm writing.)
In short-no your technique will not work. Reacting limestone with acid does not release enough energy to reach an appropriate temperature to ignite gunpowder and the acid would hinder combustion.
...
- 12.4k
4
votes
How can I make a better whiteboard cleaning solution?
Andselisk's recommendations are great, but you'll save yourself a lot of trouble if you just throw all the erasers out. They get crud on them quickly and after a while, they put more back on the board ...
- 121
4
votes
How can I make a better whiteboard cleaning solution?
Scrubbing the surface with an abrasive (powder) only makes it worse -- micro-scratches will accumulate pigments and dirt and overall promote further surface degradation. I would try the solvents (test ...
- 37.4k
4
votes
Accepted
Synthetic ruby - damaged by heat less than its melting point?
However, would there be any damage to its optical properties?
It is almost guaranteed. Corundum is incredibly sensitive to thermal shock and unless you can do this in a furnace that heats very slowly,...
- 12.4k
3
votes
Baking soda + oil solubility
The baking soda grain size might be bigger in this new brand. When you sift, you break up individual grains that have clumped together due to moisture or being pressed together tightly but there is a ...
- 1,482
3
votes
Accepted
What can be a harmless electrolytic additive for water for creating an oxy-hydrogen flame?
Electrolysis of water has become an increasingly common means of creating torches for soldering and welding, and there are commercial devices available as well as plenty of internet do-it-yourself ...
- 17.4k
2
votes
Rotovapping Aqueous Solutions - Need a cold trap?
You will always want a cold trap not only to protect the pump but also to make sure it's running at peak efficiency at all times. Especially when you push the vacuum and heating to try to expedite the ...
- 2,100
2
votes
Constructing a grenade (for a novel I'm writing.)
I agree, your technology will not work. A good place to start is the US army field manual "Improvised Munitions Handbook". They describe methods that known to work.
Can you say more about the time of ...
- 1,980
2
votes
Is N-methylimidazole an unusual solvent, or are there more common substitutes for it?
From what I see in the paper they likely wanted a basic solvet, and pyridine may have had a high enough dipole moment. For quantities this small you are going to pay a bit more than you would in bulk,...
- 12.4k
2
votes
Lubricants and rubber
The simple version:
Petroleum-based rubbers can be dissolved by petroleum jelly eating away at the mechanical integrity.
The slightly longer version:
Petroleum jelly incorporates its way into the ...
- 6,596
2
votes
Accepted
Why do cookies prevent toothpaste from foaming?
My first take on this is that the cookies contain fat, which "consumes" the surfactants in the toothpaste (like sodium lauryl sulfate) so it does not foam up the way it normally would. You might want ...
- 9,216
2
votes
formaldehyde strong odor neutralization
Ammonia water, AKA ammonium hydroxide ($\ce{NH4OH}$), reacts with formaldehyde to form hexamine, a comparatively innocuous solid (though it is flammable when dry).
Safer might be Neutralization of ...
- 30.4k
2
votes
experimentally determine oxidation state of Iron compound
In all the (physical) experimental literature I've read, at least for biomolecules (usually enzymes), the technique of choice is Mossbauer spectroscopy. Here is a good starting point.
- 7,438
2
votes
What is CuCl · CO · 2 H₂O?
By dissolving mixture of ammoniacal cuprous chloride solution with carbon monoxide, the reaction that occurs is the formation for copper(I) chloride dihydrate carbon monoxide adduct:
$$\ce{CuCl + CO ...
- 21
2
votes
Using quantiative analysis to find empirical and molecular formula
The problem you gave doesn't quite work out, so I searched it up; did you perhaps mean $0.115 \space \text{g}$ of the sample were used in finding the sulfur content (you said $0.15 \space \text{g}$ ...
- 86
2
votes
Accepted
Why is antimony oxide used as a flame retardant?
According to FLAME RETARDANT THEORY:
Antimony oxide by itself is not a fire retardant, and the halogens by themselves, mainly bromine and chlorine, are weak fire retardants. However, when they are ...
- 40.2k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible