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Chemistry Facts

What Makes a Candle Burn?

Have you ever wondered how a candle works? If you haven't, think about it for a while. Why does it take so long for the wick to burn down? Why does it need a wick at all? ... Continue reading

A chemical reaction on your birthday cake.

Ice That Burns

What looks like regular water ice but hisses and jumps around like water on a hot plate when you put it on a room-temperature surface and bursts into flame when you light it up? It is a rare and ... Continue reading

Ice on fire: methane hydrate.

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.

Exploding Fertilizer

Atmospheric nitrogen is a diatomic molecule of just two nitrogen atoms bonded very strongly to each other. Nitrogen, in compound with other elements, is just a single nitrogen atom bonded very weakly, ... Continue reading

Crops benefit from nitrogen-based fertilizers as in this field of safflower, Carthamus tinctorius L.