627 articles
All articles — Page 5
Every article in the chemistry library, newest first.
Properties of Ionic Compounds: Why Salts Are Hard and Brittle
The properties of ionic compounds — high melting points, hardness, brittleness, conductivity when molten or dissolved, and solubility — each explained from the ionic lattice, with data and exceptions.
How Your Body Uses Dietary Protein
What happens to the protein you eat: digestion into amino acids, absorption, essential amino acids, protein turnover, nitrogen balance, urea, and how much protein you need.
Resonance Structures: What They Are and How to Draw Them
Resonance explained: why one Lewis structure isn't enough, curly-arrow rules for drawing resonance forms, the hybrid, bond order, delocalisation energy, and examples from ozone to benzene.
Saturated vs Unsaturated Fats
Saturated vs unsaturated fats compared: C–C vs C=C bonds, cis and trans, mono vs poly, melting points, the bromine water test, omega numbers, food sources and health.
Methane, Ammonia and Water: Same Electron Pairs, Different Shapes
CH₄, NH₃ and H₂O compared: four electron pairs each, but tetrahedral, pyramidal and bent shapes. Bond angles, polarity, hydrogen bonding, boiling points and acid–base behaviour side by side.
The Shape of a Water Molecule and Why It Matters
Why H₂O is bent at 104.5°, how its shape makes water polar, and how that single fact explains hydrogen bonding, high boiling point, floating ice, surface tension and water's power as a solvent.
Sigma and Pi Bonds: What's the Difference?
Sigma vs pi bonds explained: head-on vs sideways orbital overlap, electron density, strength, rotation, which bonds contain which, and how pi bonds drive reactivity, colour and delocalisation.
Simple Molecular vs Giant Covalent Substances
Simple molecular vs giant covalent substances compared: structure, what breaks on melting, melting points, conductivity, solubility, hardness, examples and how to identify each type.
Single, Double and Triple Bonds Compared
Single vs double vs triple covalent bonds: shared electron pairs, sigma and pi bonds, bond length and energy data, rotation, shape, reactivity and examples from ethane to nitrogen.
Starch vs Cellulose
Starch vs cellulose compared: α- vs β-glucose, helix vs straight chains, hydrogen bonding, solubility, digestion, iodine test and uses — why one tiny difference changes everything.
Structure and Bonding Revision Guide
A one-stop structure and bonding revision checklist: ionic, covalent and metallic bonding, the four structure types, intermolecular forces, shapes, key facts, a data-identification table and exam tips.
Teaching Chemical Bonding: Models, Analogies and Pitfalls
A teaching guide for chemical bonding: a four-lesson sequence, physical models and analogies that work (and where they break), practical demos, misconceptions to pre-empt and graded questions.
Valence Bond Theory vs Molecular Orbital Theory
Valence bond theory vs molecular orbital theory side by side: core ideas, how each describes H₂, O₂, benzene and methane, strengths, failures, and when chemists use each one.
Van der Waals Forces: What the Term Really Covers
What 'van der Waals forces' means — and why textbooks disagree — covering Keesom, Debye and London forces, van der Waals radii, the van der Waals gas equation and real-world examples.
Measuring Vitamin C in Fruit Juice
A lab guide to measuring vitamin C in juice by iodine titration with a starch indicator: the redox chemistry, standardisation, method, full calculation and sources of error.
Vitamin Myths: Megadoses and Supplements
Eight popular vitamin myths checked against chemistry: vitamin C for colds, 'you can't overdose', natural vs synthetic, more is better, and which supplements actually help.
VSEPR Practice Questions: Predict the Shape and Bond Angle
15 VSEPR practice questions on predicting molecular shapes and bond angles — from CH₄ and H₂O to ClF₃, XeF₂ and I₃⁻ — with a full answer key and the electron-pair reasoning.
What Is a Chemical Bond? Why Atoms Stick Together
A beginner's guide to chemical bonds: why atoms bond, the energy picture, ionic, covalent and metallic bonds, bond strength, and how bonds differ from intermolecular forces.
Why Does Ice Float? Hydrogen Bonding and Density
Why solid water is less dense than liquid water: the open hydrogen-bonded lattice of ice, the density maximum at 4 °C, what it means for lakes and life, and other substances that expand on freezing.
Why Is Oxygen Paramagnetic? The MO Theory Answer
Liquid oxygen sticks to a magnet, but its Lewis structure says it shouldn't. How molecular orbital theory explains O₂'s two unpaired electrons, triplet and singlet oxygen, and why it matters for life.
Why Does Water Have Such a High Boiling Point?
Water boils at 100 °C when similar molecules boil far below zero. How hydrogen bonding, water's shape and its two lone pairs explain the anomaly, and why it matters for life and climate.
How to Write Chemical Formulas from Names
A step-by-step method for writing chemical formulas from names: ionic compounds, polyatomic ions, transition metals, covalent compounds with prefixes, acids and hydrates, with worked examples.
How the Body Metabolises Alcohol
The chemistry of ethanol in the body: absorption, oxidation to ethanal and ethanoic acid, zero-order elimination, the flushing reaction, hangovers, methanol and breathalysers.
Antioxidants: What They Really Do
What an antioxidant is chemically, how vitamins C and E and glutathione stop radical chains, antioxidants in food preservation, and why supplements disappoint.
Biochemistry Myths (Chemicals Are Bad, Natural Is Safe…)
Nine popular biochemistry myths — 'chemical-free', 'natural is safe', detox, alkaline diets, 'you are what you eat' — and what the chemistry really says.
Biochemistry Practice Questions
15 exam-style biochemistry questions on biomolecules, enzymes, respiration, photosynthesis and DNA, with a full answer key and worked calculations.
Biochemistry Study Guide
A syllabus-style biochemistry checklist for high school and first-year students: biomolecules, enzymes, respiration, photosynthesis, DNA, key facts and exam tips.
Bioluminescence: How Fireflies Glow
The chemistry of living light: luciferin, luciferase, ATP and oxygen in fireflies, why the light is cold, jellyfish GFP, glowing oceans, and uses in the lab.
Biomolecules Practice Questions
15 beginner practice questions on carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, food tests, condensation and hydrolysis, with a full answer key and explanations.
Blood Chemistry: What a Blood Test Measures
A chemistry student's guide to a blood test: what's in plasma, units like mmol/L, electrolytes, glucose, kidney and liver markers, lipids, and the chemistry behind the measurements.