stackyFACTSThe oldest trick in the chemistry book is knowing that different liquids give up and boil at different temperatures. Distillation heats a mixture until the most volatile part turns to vapor, which is then trapped and cooled back down. It is the fundamental science behind both modern chemistry and really strong whiskey.
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Who knew that making chemicals run a marathon through special paper would force them to split up? Chromatography separates mixtures by dissolving them in a…
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If you want to know what something is made of, simply vaporize it, zap it with a laser, and throw it through a magnet. Mass spectrometry separates ionized…
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In physics, the best way to figure out how strong something is, is to force it to run into a wall and explode. Calorimeters measure the total energy of a…
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The spray you casually use to protect your backyard tomatoes shares an uncomfortably dark family tree. Many early synthetic agricultural bug killers,…
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Despite the urban legends claiming this candy will blow up your stomach, the reality is just clever chemistry. The crackling effect comes from trapping highly…
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Some waves are too stubborn to be seen, so we simply catch them and see how much they warm things up. Bolometers absorb incident electromagnetic radiation and…
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