Molecules: You'd better learn to live with them.
September 30, 2008
Category: Poisons
Last year, we were fretting about melamine contamination in foods from China. Again, this week, it's happening - melamine was put into milk by some scummy businessmen. The idea here is that melamine is high in nitrogen and cheap. An...
Posted by Molecule of the Day at 8:00 AM • 4 Comments •
September 24, 2008
Category: Inorganic
Yesterday, I discussed ammonium nitrate, an industrial fertilizer. One problem with it is its lavish reactivity. On its own, and particularly in combination with hydrocarbons, it makes a potent explosive - it was used in the attack on Oklahoma City...
Posted by Molecule of the Day at 8:00 AM • 4 Comments •
September 23, 2008
Category: Food
Plants need nitrogen. You're soaking in it - the air is 78% N2 Trouble is, the kind of nitrogen plants need is reduced (i.e., has more electrons) relative to dinitrogen in the air. In the past, this meant rotating crops...
Posted by Molecule of the Day at 11:16 PM • 2 Comments •
September 18, 2008
Category: Drugs
Absinthe, the storied liquor that Hemingway and other artists drank, was once thought to induce neurological effects far beyond that which could be explained by its alcohol content (which is almost always high - three-digit proof)....
Posted by Molecule of the Day at 10:34 PM • 9 Comments •
September 15, 2008
Category: Inorganic
The camping series continues. Previously: octenol, the related octenone, and DEET. Today we move away from insects for the time being, turning our attention to water purification. Sodium hypochlorite, or NaOCl, is sold as an aqueous solution - laundry bleach....
Posted by Molecule of the Day at 8:00 AM • 6 Comments •
September 13, 2008
Category: Not Really a Molecule
I've been following this hurricane season unusually closely, because I know more people in affected regions than ever. My favorite place to stay caught up is Jeff Masters' blog. You can find lists of survivors and donate to hurricane relief...
Posted by Molecule of the Day at 12:39 AM • 1 Comments •
September 10, 2008
Category: Warfare
The ubiquitous active ingredient in insect repellent, DEET, is a great solvent. Anyone who's spent much time outdoors has discovered this empirically, as he's inevitably seen it fog polycarbonate glasses, dissolve a gear sack, or destroy $500 raingear....
Posted by Molecule of the Day at 8:29 AM • 11 Comments •
September 9, 2008
Category: Stinky
Yesterday, I discussed octenol, a lipid degradation product that's all over your skin. Ever wonder why a cut on your hand smells "like metal," or your hands smell "like metal" after handling some?...
Posted by Molecule of the Day at 9:00 AM • 2 Comments •
September 8, 2008
Category: Perfumey
The other day, I was trying to hunt down a tool for the lab. The closest store with any decent complement of tools is one of those big-box stores, so off I went. Unfortunately, I tend to get distracted in...
Posted by Molecule of the Day at 8:15 PM • 1 Comments •
September 3, 2008
Category: Medicine
Oxymetazoline is yet another arylethylamine:...
Posted by Molecule of the Day at 11:19 PM • 3 Comments •
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