ScienceIQ.com

Chemistry Facts

When Chlorine Met Sodium...

Sodium is a required element in human physiology. The eleventh element in the periodic table, sodium is a soft, silvery white metal that can be easily cut through with a paring knife. It is highly ... Continue reading

A crystal of sodium chloride.

Spontaneous Combustion

Most of us know if we leave oily rags or papers in an enclosed area, we risk a fire. The process of burning is called oxidation. Oxidation is the same process that causes iron to rust or a banana to ... Continue reading

Self-Starting Fire

Knocking the NOx Out of Coal

Nitrogen is the most common part of the air we breathe. In fact, about 80% of the air is nitrogen. Normally, nitrogen atoms float around joined to each other like chemical couples. But when air is ... Continue reading

Air is mostly nitrogen molecules (green in the above diagram) and oxygen molecules (purple). When heated hot enough (around 3000 degrees F), the molecules break apart and oxygen atoms link with the nitrogen atoms to form NOx, an air pollutant.

Turning Oil Into Gas

When you see all those cars at the gas station filling up with unleaded, you may not stop to think about how that gasoline got there. It wasn't pumped out of the ground in that form. The same goes for ... Continue reading