Science

Helium is the sole unreactive gas used in modern airships. One could claim that nitrogen and argon, being the most common unreactive gases in the atmosphere, and therefore present in the air...

Potassium hydroxide is a strong base made from the alkali metal potassium, atomic number 19 on the periodic table. It is a useful starting material in the manufacture of most potassium salts. ...

When you diagnose problems in a natural gas system, it is very useful to know the rate of gas flow, or the velocity of the gas in the pipes. Because natural gas requires a precise mix of oxygen to...

Hydrogen is the first element on the periodic table and the most common element in the universe. A test tube can be checked for the presence of hydrogen using a lighted flint.

Bar is a unit of pressure that equals to 100,000 Pascal (Pa.) Pascal is a unit of pressure adopted by the International System of Units (SI). The conversion of pressure to the volume (in liters)...

The ideal gas equation discussed below in Step 4 is sufficient for calculating the pressure of hydrogen gas under normal circumstances. Above 150 psi (ten times normal atmospheric pressure) and...

Hydrolysis is the electrical process of separating hydrogen and oxygen gas from liquid water. By this electrochemical reaction, oxygen and hydrogen gases can be created for use as fuels....

Natural gas production is an important part of supplying the energy needs of the United States. This resource is also abundant domestically, and thanks to new technology developed by the...

Hydrogen is generally produced from one of two sources --- hydrocarbons and water. For each of these, there are several ways of extraction. The main method of mass hydrogen production is from...

Gas welding is the process of using a gas-fed flame for metal welding operations. A variety of gases can be used for gas-welding fuel.

Gas-discharge lighting was first discovered and commercialized in the early 1900s. When inventors ran high-voltage electric current through different gases, they discovered that some corroded the...

Plasma balls are globes that light up with streamers of plasma from the center radiating out to the edge of the glass globe. They can be found at almost any novelty shop as well as several...

Gas welding involves the use of a gas-fed flame torch to heat the metal work piece and the filler material to create a weld. The gas is generally a mixture of a fuel gas and oxygen to create a...

The compressor is one of the most important parts of the air conditioning system. Air conditioners work using the laws of thermal energy and heat transfer. The medium by which heat is moved around...

Although most people probably recognize hydrogen as the first element on the periodic table and part of the formula for water, hydrogen has a plethora of other uses. Hydrogen could potentially top...

Litmus has literally been used for centuries for testing substances of different kinds. It is still used today in countless schools and water-testing facilities. You may have even used litmus...

Hydrogen and oxygen are two very important elements: water molecules (H2O) consist of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atoms. When you perform an experiment to decompose water into these two...

Liquid oxygen is a man-made fluid derived from pure oxygen gas. While liquid oxygen has some applications, mostly as an ingredient in certain types of fuel, it is often converted to a liquid state...

Quiet, efficient Stirling engines are mechanically simple. Two pistons at opposite ends of a sealed tube drive a common rotor. One side of the engine is hotter than the other. Expansion and...

While most people probably cannot identify hydrogen sulfide by its official name, this compound has a smell that almost everybody would recognize. Hydrogen sulfide is a hazardous and potentially...

In a Stirling engine, a narrow channel connects two cylinders, allowing the gas (or liquid) contents to move freely between them. The pistons are coordinated so the "cold" piston lags the hot one...

Hydrogen was first discovered in 1766 by the English chemist Henry Cavendish. He was the first person to realize that hydrogen gas was its own substance rather than just a combination of...

When you drop a Mentos into a bottle of Diet Cola, it's said that the result will be a massive eruption of cola and CO2 gas. Countless videos on the Internet show this experiment done by people of...

There are several gas laws, three which were ultimately combined into one commonly used by introductory chemistry students. As the name implies, there are assumptions behind the ideal gas laws,...

Radon is a radioactive noble gas that garners much interest from homeowners. Radon gas can seep up from the ground and build up in enclosures like basements. It can be breathed into the lungs...

Fossil fuels are used around the world as a way to generate energy. The U.S. Department of Energy expects the use of fossil fuels to increase during the next 20 years because increasing power...

The storage of hydrogen is of vital concern if hydrogen-powered vehicles are to be a viable alternative to those that use fossil fuel. There are challenges that must be overcome to allow cars...

Helium is an element, atomic number 2, atomic weight 4.003. It is lighter than air, and is used to fill balloons because they will rise, whether party balloons, weather balloons, gas balloons...

In order to understand how air particles move, it is first necessary to understand what air is made of and how it acts. While the exact composition of air differs at any given place and time, the...

Hydrogen is an odorless, tasteless, highly flammable diatomic gas at normal pressure and temperature. Hydrogen is produced from water by electrolysis, when two electrons combine with two hydrogen...

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...

Whether for commercial-scale production or a school science demonstration, the simplest way to produce hydrogen gas is through the electrolysis (literally "separating through electricity") of...

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...

Of all the fossil fuels we use, natural gas is the cleanest burning and accounts for more than 20 percent of all energy consumed in the United States. The Energy Information Administration (EIA)...

Methane is a naturally occurring, combustible gas that is colorless and odorless. Methane is the primary component of natural gas; 97 percent (by volume) of natural gas is methane. The different...

The reaction that produces hydrogen gas was discovered by Robert Boyle in 1671. French chemist Antoine Lavoisier derived the name hydrogen from the Greek words for "water former." The atmosphere...

Methane is the simplest organic compound and hydrocarbon with the chemical formula CH4 and molecular weight of 16.043 g/mol. Methane is the main component (~90%) of the natural gas.

A vacuum can be described as either a volume devoid of matter, or a volume in which the pressure is significantly below that of atmospheric pressure. Since the former is only a philosophical...

Created by radioactive decay and in the cores of stars, helium gas is a valuable commodity on Earth. Though used to float party balloons and Thanksgiving Day Parade characters, it also supercools...

There are many steps to the water purification process, from first harvesting or piping the water to adding chemicals to give it a better taste or protection against contamination. The process of...

Hydrogen gas, with the chemical formula H2, is a colorless, odorless and highly flammable gas. Hydrogen is lightest of all known gases and the most abundant element in the universe. Hydrogen has...

"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...

Hydrogen gas, with the chemical formula H2, is a colorless, odorless and highly flammable gas. Hydrogen is lightest of all known gases and the most abundant element in the universe. Hydrogen gas...

With the threat of global warming close at hand, and the price of gas fluctuating wildly and climbing in general, many consumers, scientists and politicians are heralding the ever-incoming wave of...

Oxygen is a chemical element with the formula O2. It is a odorless, colorless gas. Chemically, oxygen oxidizes the majority of other elements and organic compounds forming oxides; for example,...

Hydrogen is one of the most important elements on the periodic table. While it is the the lightest element known, it is also the most abundant element in the universe making up nearly 90 percent...

Compressed gases are gases that have compacted down into a smaller space than they usually inhabit. This causes the molecules of the gas to move close together, vibrating and bouncing off each...

When we wonder why air expands with heat, it's like asking why volume is a function of temperature. The answer is because heat in a gas is the random kinetic energy of the molecules. Pressure is...

Argon is the most prevalent noble gas found on Earth. It has a variety of applications in areas that require a non-oxidizing atmosphere without nitrogen, particularly in welding. Since the 1920s,...

Greenhouse gases trap heat inside the Earth's atmosphere. In the United States, most of these gases are produced by the transportation and industrial sectors. The net impact of greenhouse gas...