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matt_black's user avatar
matt_black's user avatar
matt_black
  • Member for 11 years, 5 months
  • Last seen this week
  • London, United Kingdom
81 votes

Why can a diamond be broken using a hammer if it's the hardest natural substance known?

60 votes
Accepted

Is carbon dioxide organic or inorganic?

43 votes
Accepted

Why doesn't NASA or SpaceX use ozone as an oxidizer for rocket fuels?

40 votes

Why is chemistry unpredictable?

35 votes

Why does mercury decolourise a gold ring?

34 votes
Accepted

Why is snow white?

33 votes

Is it actually possible to dispose of a body with hydrofluoric acid?

33 votes
Accepted

How could the ideal gas law be discovered from experiments on real gases?

31 votes

Why does a 57.15% ABV spirit (ethanol+water) have a density of 923 kg per cubic meter?

29 votes
Accepted

How to determine number of structural isomers?

28 votes
Accepted

Why do some chemical reactions require many steps?

26 votes

Difference between Sildenafil and Sildenafil citrate

24 votes

Why are Silicates solid while carbon dioxide is a gas?

23 votes
Accepted

Is water a possible fuel for jet engines?

23 votes
Accepted

Is activation energy temperature-independent?

22 votes

What makes substances explosive

22 votes
Accepted

Toxicity of metallic lead (Pb)

21 votes
Accepted

Why do diamond and graphite have different structures, when they are both composed of carbon?

21 votes

What is the purpose of a boiling stick when heating a reaction mixture?

21 votes

Why did life end up with the big 4 elements, and specifically nitrogen?

21 votes
Accepted

Does a smell imply particles or chemicals in the air?

21 votes

Why is potassium ferrocyanide considered safe for consumption, when it is just one reaction away from the highly toxic potassium cyanide?

20 votes

In a saturated solution, why is there ongoing dissolution and crystallisation?

20 votes

Why are the boiling points of aldehydes less than those of ketones?

19 votes
Accepted

Mercury metal: Not toxic?

19 votes

Are all volatile liquids combustible?

19 votes
Accepted

If LPG gas burners can reach temperatures above 1700 °C, then how do HCA and PAH not develop in extreme amounts during cooking?

19 votes
Accepted

Does all fire only emit light on its outermost shell?

18 votes
Accepted

Chemical formulas with non-integer coefficients

18 votes

Why is black-body radiation curve smooth without a sharp cutoff?

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