Science

The chemical formula for glucose, C6H12O6, describes the composition of this sugar molecule; its structure and function require a more complex overview. Glucose, among other sugars, plays a vital...

Respiration is a process of gas exchange and energy conversion. It is the act by which we take in oxygen, expel carbon dioxide and convert food energy into chemical energy in our cells. We breathe...

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...

The air on Earth is one of the biggest reasons that humans evolved to be the creatures we are today. Made up of several different substances, air sustains us and allows life as we know it to...

Oxygen generators are also called oxygen concentrators. They come in many sizes and have several different functional properties. Oxygen generators are used in industrial conditions to meet...

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...

Glucose is a type of simple sugar needed for energy by the red blood cells and the brain. The molecule helps construct and break down vitamins, sugars and proteins in the body. It is found in...

H2O is the chemical formula for a water molecule. The elements of oxygen and hydrogen combine to make water, which is considered a compound because it consists of more than one element.

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...

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....

Hydrogen fuel can be made from water by an electrical process called hydrolysis. It is an electrochemical reaction in which the oxygen and hydrogen molecules in water (H2O) are separated. As...

Magnetism comes in a variety of forms. Ferromagnetic materials have strong magnetic attraction. Iron and similar metals have this property. Most other metals are paramagnetic, or weakly...

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...

To write the formula for zinc sulfate, it is first necessary to know what it is. Zinc sulfate is a compound of zinc, sulfur and oxygen. If it has not been oven-dried, it will contain "water of...

Oxygen is a natural element essential to all human life on Earth, as well as the lives of other air-breathing mammals. But there are some living things on Earth, including some organisms, that...

Modern commercial airliners fly at altitudes which, without protection, would quickly become dangerous for anyone flying inside. To counter the low air pressure and cold temperatures, aircraft are...

A number of different ozonator manufacturers have marketed the use of ozone to destroy mold infestations. There is argument as to how effective ozone is at this, but there is no doubt ozone gas is...

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...

As a result of his experiments combining oxygen and carbon, John Dalton observed the ratio of carbon to oxygen always remained constant in each compound. To explain why atoms combined in fixed...

Catalase is a common antioxidant enzyme which is produced naturally in almost all living organisms. The reactions in catalyses are important to life, for example, it helps the body to break down...

Knowing how to balance a chemical reaction is a fundamental part of chemistry. The first law of thermodynamics says that energy cannot be created or destroyed. Yet when you first look at some...

Hydrogen combines with oxygen to form water (H2O). The reaction is exothermic, releasing a great deal of energy. This reaction has been used as the basis of rocket fuel for decades, to reduce...

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...

Hydrogen has historically been used as a rocket fuel, along with oxygen, because hydrocarbons can't burn in space. Since the 1990s, hydrogen has been considered as a car fuel, perhaps even...

Hydrogen and oxygen in liquid water can be separated by electricity with a process called hydrolysis. A direct current drives the reaction, with oxygen and hydrogen gas bubbling off of separate...

Deep inside the bones, a soft tissue, known as the bone marrow acts as a factory to produce blood. Blood has three main components: red cells, white cells and platelets. Red cells carry oxygen...

Helium balloons are popular children's toys because they rise into the air, needing to be tethered with a string to keep them from flying away. Balloons blown up with breath, on the other hand,...

The health hazards associated with overexposure to argon are minimal. But it is a simple asphyxiant, so in ceratin cases a release of a large volume of argon can pose a hazard of asphyxiation. ...

If you've ever seen the Statue of Liberty, you may have wondered why the statue is green. The statue was a gift from the French in 1886, commemorating the century that passed since the American...

While simple sugar structures are common and necessary for many types of life, including humans and plants, complex sugars like sucrose are rarer and do not form as easily. Sucrose is one of the...

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...

Respiration can refer to many different processes, including the exchange of gases in more complex organisms like animals and the process by which cells oxidize food supplies. When human refer to...

A large sheet of muscle, known as the diaphragm, lies beneath the lungs at the base of the ribcage. The lungs are not muscles, and by themselves, are incapable of drawing air into them. With the...

Although the process is called cellular respiration (CR), cells do not actually "breathe" as organisms do. Instead, they take in a supply of nutrients that they use for energy, and release...

Air is a mixture of Oxygen, Nitrogen and small amounts of other gases. Theoretically (and in practice) it is possible to separate these gases from each other, and extract them.

Respiration is a cellular process. At its core is the conversion of the sugar glucose into an energy form that the cell can use. This conversion is mediated by structures called mitochondria...

Large lake and ponds, especially those that are still, require aeration to maintain an ecosystem. Dissolved oxygen keeps fish, plants and other living creatures in your pond healthy. If you have a...

The circulatory system is an interconnected, blood and waste distribution system that connects to every part of the body. The system includes the heart and all of the arteries, veins, capillaries...

A combustible substance is a substance that can be burned. Usually this means burned in the open air or atmosphere. If nitrogen could burn, all life on earth would have been destroyed long ago,...

Respiration is the process that gets oxygen to the tissues of the body. In mammals, this involves inhalation through the nose into the lungs, where oxygen enters the blood. Oxygenated blood...

The respiratory system is responsible for supplying our body with oxygen. It does this by enriching blood with oxygen every time we take a breath. It also removes carbon dioxide, which is a waste...

In the anode, a chemical reaction causes the electrons and protons of the hydrogen atoms to split apart. The electrolyte has an especially designed film that allows the protons to pass through,...

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,...

Though animals require oxygen to survive, there are bacteria that can live without it. In fact, many bacteria are harmed by the presence of oxygen. Bacteria that do not need oxygen are called...

Today, oxygen is the second most common gas in the atmosphere by volume, with argon a distant third. However, oxygen in the early Earth's atmosphere was bound up in water. What changed? As...

Blueprinting is the process of transferring architectural plans from drafts onto paper as a final design that is used by contractors and construction workers to build the design. The chemical...

Microorganisms are similar to more complex organisms in that they need a variety of materials from their environment to function and accomplish two primary goals--supply enough energy to manage...

Liquid oxygen is a product created from the air we breathe. It is extremely cold and will boil away in the coldest environments. It is used in the medical and commercial industry to deliver...

Redox is a term used to identify oxidation and reduction reactions. A redox reaction is the transfer of electrons from one compound to another. Some elements like oxygen take electrons from...