Science

The abbreviation pH represents a logarithmic scale that refers to the solution acidity. Neutral media has pH 7. Acidic solutions are signified with pH below 7, while basic solutions have pH above...

Acidity arises as a result of the presence of positively charged hydrogen ions, denoted as H+. Acidity is traditionally expressed using the pH scale. On this scale, a neutral solution such as...

You calculate hydrogen ions in order to find out the pH--the acidity and alkalinity--of a solution. An alkaline solution is what is more colloquially known as a base. Bases are usually bitter to...

Sodium acetate is commonly used in hand warmers but it is also used as a flavoring for foods because it is a salt. Sodium acetate solution is a popular science experiment that uses an exothermic,...

Bromothymol blue solution is used as an indicator to determine the rough pH of a substance. It is prepared from a powder, household items and common laboratory chemicals that can be obtained...

In chemistry, acid-base titration is the combination of an acid solution with a base solution until one fully neutralizes the other. The one that is fully neutralized is of unknown concentration....

Electrolytic rust removal sounds like a complicated science project, but it is not. With little more than a plastic bucket, some scrap steel and a battery charger, old rusted parts are easily...

Sodium carbonate is an inorganic salt with the chemical formula Na2CO3. This compound, used in such industrial applications as glass production, as an electrolyte or as a component of toothpastes,...

Calcium hydroxide is a white powder with the chemical formula Ca(OH)2. Calcium hydroxide is also known as slaked or hydrated lime. Calcium hydroxide is used in metallurgy, in glass and paper...

Sodium carbonate is an inorganic salt with the chemical formula Na2CO3. This compound is used in such industrial applications as glass production, as an electrolyte or as a component of...

In chemistry, acid-base titration is used to determine the concentration of a solution. The process of titrating utilizes a solution of unknown concentration, which is either an acid or a base. ...

Electroplating is a manufacturing method used to coat a conductive part in a thin layer of metal. Ions from an anode are transferred through a solution to the part to be coated. Electroplating can...

Food products can be tested to determine whether they contain reducing sugars through tests known as Benedict's test or Fehling's test. These tests can also be used to determine if sugars are...

Multiple techniques are available for testing food products and solutions for the presence of non-reducing sugars. These tests are typically coupled with tests for reducing sugars, such as...

In chemistry, titration is used to determine the concentration of a solution. Examples of when this is useful are to determine the salinity or pH of seawater, the concentration of tartaric acid...

The active ingredient in chlorine bleach, NaOCl is made by reacting an chilled solution of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) with chlorine gas (Cl2). To achieve this, sea water (which contains a high...

Sodium bicarbonate, with the chemical formula NaHCO3, is the white powder widely known as baking soda. A similar compound is sodium carbonate (Na2CO3), used as a cleaning agent or an additive...

A pH meter utilizes voltage to measure the acidity or alkalinity of chemical substances. Most pH meters operate in a straightforward manner, with a digital screen that displays the pH value. Some...

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...

Sodium bicarbonate, NaHCO3, is a white inorganic salt commonly known as baking soda. The saturated solution of sodium bicarbonate may be used as a cleaning agent or to neutralize acid solutions....

Ammonia is a gas with the chemical formula NH3, and is typically available as a water solution. Interaction of ammonia with water is accompanied by the release of the hydroxyl anions (OH-): NH3 +...

Electroplating is a process that uses electrical current to deposit a layer of one material onto another material. It's often used to plate one metal with another, whether for changing the...

Electroplating is a chemical reaction that places a thin coating of one metal to onto the surface of another metal. Electroplating is often used to create cheap jewelry, but it now being used more...

Electroplating can be great fun and it has a lot of practical uses. One use is as a science project to teach students the basic principles of chemistry. Electroplating is perhaps best used in the...

Scientists use molarity to designate the amount of a chemical (solute) in a volume of solution. Typically, the units in which molarity is reported are moles per liter, and a capitalized "M" is...

Acids and bases have some superficial differences, such as a difference in taste (acids are bitter and bases are sour). They also react with different classes of chemicals. However, they also...

Fog machines can be found in many places, including dance clubs, theaters and haunted houses. Most people who have fog machines typically only use them for Halloween. The liquid solution that...

Chemical buffers prevent sudden changes in a solution's acidity. Buffer solutions keep a certain pH level nearly constant during the course of biological reactions and are crucial for many...

In almost every laboratory experiment it is necessary to use glassware such as burets, pipettes, flasks and test tubes, but unless properly taken care of, this laboratory equipment can produce an...

A vector field that is the gradient of a scalar function is a common mathematical entity in a variety of engineering applications. The scalar function is called the "potential function." The...

This How To article gives a detailed protocol for staining an SDS Polyacrylamide gel with Coomassie blue. This will allow the technician to visualize all the proteins on the gel.

Ammonium nitrate has a very negative connotation for some due to the publicity regarding its use in making explosives in some terrorist activities. Ammonium nitrate is actually very safe and is...

A sonicator is vital laboratory device used to break apart cells so proteins inside them can be extracted. This is a necessary step in DNA examination, since scientists extract DNA information...

Acid-base indicators are chemicals that change color when they react with acids and bases. They change color depending on the pH (level of acidity) of a solution. Most indicators are in fact weak...

Chemical buffers prevent sudden changes in the solution acidity expresses using a pH scale. Buffer systems can maintain a certain pH nearly constant during the course of biological reactions and...

Recycled paper is a general term used to describe materials that are processed and reused as paper products. These materials can range from paper and cardboard that has been thrown away to...

Sonication is the process of converting an electrical signal into a physical vibration that can be directed toward a substance. Sonicators are vital lab equipment and are used for a number of...

Plastic bags of sodium acetate solution are used as hand warmers. A chemical reaction takes place when you click a metal clicker inside the bag. The solution turns to a crystalline form,...

Sand (silicon dioxide) is practically insoluble in water and many organic solvents. This property should be used to separate sand from a mixture provided that the other component is soluble in the...

A buffer solution is an aqueous solution that will change very little if a small amount of acid or base is added to it. Buffer solutions are used to keep pH nearly constant in a wide variety of...

Volumetric pipettes are glass or plastic tubes used for measuring and delivering an exact volume of a solution. They are calibrated in milliliters (ml) and available in a variety of volume sizes....

Concentration of hydrogen ions H+ expressed as pH determines acidity of a solution. pH influences the course of chemical reactions and biological process. The majority of such processes occur in...

Recrystallization is a physical method targeting the purification of compounds. The procedure involves dissolving a compound in a hot solvent to form the saturated solution followed by cooling...

Simultaneous equations are two or more equations with multiple variables. A solution of those equations is a set of variables that simultaneously satisfy all equations. Obtaining such a solution...

A conductivity meter measures the amount of electrical current or conductance in a solution. Conductivity is useful in determining the overall health of a natural water body. It is also a way to...

The solute is a compound (e.g. sugar) that is dissolved in the solvent (e.g. water). Concentration typically reports on an amount of the solute in the solution and is calculated using several...

Concentration quantifies the amount a substance dissolved in a solution. Molarity expresses the concentration as number of moles of the dissolved compound in one liter of the solution....

In chemistry, when one substance is dissolved in another, the result is called a solution. The substance being dissolved is called the solute, and the substance it is dissolved into is called the...

The concentration of hydrogen ions, H+, determines the solution's acidity. This concentration is expressed as pH, that is, -log10([H+]). For example, if the concentration of H+ ions in the...

A level of the solution acidity is determined by the concentration of hydrogen ions H+. For convenience, this concentration is expressed as pH with a formula that states: pH=-log10([H+]). For...