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Chemistry Facts

Ozone: Good Up High, Bad Nearby

Ozone is a gas that forms in the atmosphere when 3 atoms of oxygen are combined (03). It is not emitted directly into the air, but at ground level is created by a chemical reaction between oxides of ... Continue reading

The largest ozone hole ever recorded, roughly three times the size of the U.S., was detected September 6, 2000 by NASA's Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer.

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.

What Is pH?

Anyone who is the least bit familiar with vinegar, nausea, sodium bicarbonate, and ammonia-based cleaning solutions probably has a very good 'feel' for the different natures of acidic and basic ... Continue reading

Litmus paper is used to measure pH.

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