Science

The material we call steel is in fact an alloy, a mixture of different metals. The element iron (symbol Fe) makes up a large percentage of all steels, generally composing more than 75 percent of...

A vein is a blood vessel that carries carbon dioxide-rich blood away from the tissues in the body and toward the heart. The heart then pumps it into blood vessels in the lungs, which exchange...

As the United States, Australia and other developed countries search for alternative fuel sources, coal-to-liquid (CTL) plants have won considerable attention. Also known as "coal gasification,"...

Life as we know it is carbon-based. A carbon skeleton is the chain of carbon atoms that forms the "backbone," or foundation, of any organic molecule. Because of carbon's unique ability to form...

Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are gases that contribute to the "greenhouse" effect, in which heat becomes trapped within the earth's atmosphere and causes the temperature of the planet to rise. In an...

External respiration is part of a three-part process that includes external respiration, internal respiration and cellular respiration, which together constitute how we exchange gases with our...

When most of us think about respiration, we think about breathing, or the process of inhaling and exhaling. That's correct, but only partially so. Respiration involves both the acts of gas...

While iron has been used by humans for around 3,000 years, it has only been in the last 150 years that processing iron into its alloy steel has been commercially viable. Iron is a very common...

Saccharin is the oldest form of artificial sweetener discovered by Constantine Fahlberg, who accidentally spilled a chemical on his hand. While consuming bread at dinner, he noticed that the...

Also called sodium bicarbonate, sodium hydrogen carbonate is white compound formed from one sodium atom, one hydrogen atom, one carbon atom and three oxygen atoms. Sodium hydrogen carbonate is...

Active, or activated, carbon water filters are used to remove contaminants from water. In most cases, this filtration is done on water intended for drinking or cooking purposes, though it may be...

There are two types of compounds from which hydrogen is generally split---hydrocarbons and water---but there are many methods of doing so. The main method of mass-producing hydrogen is from...

Guar gum and xanthan gum are similar products in that they both have properties that make them efficient thickening agents. Both are complex carbohydrates and both entered the commercial world...

Salicylic acid (SA) is a weak acid used to make aspirin. Its chemical formula is C6H4(OH)COOH, in which the C6 forms a benzene ring with alternating double- and single-electron-pair carbon-carbon...

Steel is an alloy consisting of iron and carbon. The chemical and physics properties of steel are dependent on the chemical composition of the steel itself.

As Earth's population increases, many of the natural resources needed to sustain human life decrease. As a result, scientists have devised the concepts of the ecological and carbon footprint to...

A carbon sink is any mechanism that removes a greenhouse gas (GHG) from the atmosphere. The most important GHG is carbon dioxide. Carbon sinks can be either natural or man-made.

Your lungs are a pair of organs situated in your chest behind your ribcage. The primary function of your lungs is breathing, but they also play another vital role as part of your excretory system.

The process of making Damascus steel blades has been around for thousands of years. The steel used in the making of Damascus blades is composed of an alloy of metals that provide both strength and...

All living things have carbon in their molecular structure. Carbon 14 results from cosmic rays sending thermal neutrons toward Earth. These interact with nitrogen in the atmosphere to produce a...

Greenhouse gases are gases in the atmosphere that absorb and emit radiation within the thermal infrared range. As a result, they slow and block infrared radiation from getting from space to the...

Photosynthesis allows plants to convert light into food, removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and releases oxygen into the atmosphere. Without plants that perform photosynthesis, the oxygen...

The greenhouse effect begins with that part of the Sun's radiation that reaches the Earth's surface, and is not deflected either by the planet's magnetic sphere or it's cloud cover. Most of this...

Resistors are electrical components designed to limit the amount of current flow in circuits. The values of their resistance may be either fixed or variable. Fixed resistors share common elements...

"Dry ice" is a descriptive term applied to solid carbon dioxide gas, CO₂. Flakes of dry ice can be produced by rapidly expanding the pressurized gas (thus cooling it). The carbon dioxide...

The cells in our bodies require certain elemental molecules to function, reproduce and repair themselves. Sometimes these molecules are energy structures such as the ATP molecule that are pulled...

Hydrogen is the lightest and simplest element known to exist in the universe. A hydrogen atom is composed of a single electron orbiting a single proton. It is a gas at normal temperature and...

The distinction between organic and inorganic chemistry is not a trivial one. Courses of study in universities throughout the world are structured based on the distinction. And even among those...

Photosynthesis is the process by which plants convert solar energy into the life-sustaining chemical energy called ATP. Photosynthesis occurs in plants and some species of algae that are...

Dry ice is frozen solid carbon dioxide, CO2. It sublimates directly from a solid to a gas, which makes it an interesting item for experiments. According to Brian Rich's science website, a pound...

Linolenic acid, strictly speaking, is not one acid but two. When the name is generically used, the one usually meant is alpha-linolenic acid (Figure 1). Found in many foods and food-based...

Phytoplankton are tiny photosynthetic organisms that are the major producers of marine life. They form the foundation of the food web for most marine life. They are responsible for half of the...

For many years scientists had to be content only with theories on how plants created energy. Only with modern age equipment have scientists been able to prove that photosynthesis takes place and...

"Dry ice" has nothing to do with water. Dry ice is solidified carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is the gas produced by our bodies when it oxidizes carbon-containing food we have consumed. We breathe...

Although videos on YouTube seem to glamorize dry ice explosions, be assured that dry ice is no joke. Dry ice is solid carbon dioxide used to transport lab specimens or food items. Though it's...

A large block with two steel coil terminals, the 6-volt battery may look like a heavy-duty lead battery but is actually just four 1.5-volt carbon-zinc battery wired in a series and stored inside a...

Propane is a gas derived from fossil fuel and is used for cooking and heating. Analysis shows it is made completely of carbon and hydrogen; its basic formula is C3H8.

Carbon atoms can bond to themselves essentially endlessly. This makes a huge variety of molecules possible possessing all sorts of chemical properties. In addition, there are a variety of...

The simplest element in a class of organic compounds called "alcohols," methanol (CH4O) is widely used as a building block in organic chemistry and occasionally as fuel or a solvent. Poisonous to...

Fire utilizes three separate components to perform a chemical process. These components, including oxygen, heat and fuel, must all be present in sufficient quantities for a fire to take place....

Among the many ingredients of Coca-Cola and Diet Coke is one specifically designed to give the beverage a fizzy bite. Carbon Dioxide--a clear, odorless gas in its natural state--is compressed by a...

Greenhouse gases are those gases in the atmosphere, mostly carbon dioxide, that absorb heat and then trap it to keep the Earth warm. Unfortunately, it can be too much of a good thing when there...

Dry ice is a popular commercial and industrial cooling agent. It has been used for the flash freezing of food products, carbonation of beverages and in medical applications. It was first...

Millions of years ago, the animals and plants which were usually from the plankton community (water organisms) would decompose after death and settle at the bottom of the seabed. This is the...

Biodiesel is a form of fuel used to replace petroleum-based gasolines to power automobiles and other gas-powered devices. There is some debate about biodiesel because of the implications involved...

In order to understand why dry ice fogs up, we must first look at what exactly dry ice is and how how it is manufactured. Dry ice is a solid version of carbon dioxide (CO2). It is the same gas...

Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe. Stars use hydrogen as their primary fuel source, burning through it with nuclear fusion reactions, while on Earth hydrogen is present in water,...

Originally, a mix of carbon pigmentation and wax was applied onto the backs of sheets of paper with brushes. However, modern carbon paper utilizes machines to add a consistent layer of carbon and...

Global warming has been an ongoing topic of conversation and a political hot-button issue for years. Although alarmists claim fossil fuels and human impact are the primary causes of global...

Fossil fuels have been the world's dominant energy source since about 1800 A.D. Before the advent of these fuels, humans relied primarily on energy generated from other humans, commonly in the...