Even if you’re not a chemist, you’ll doubtless remember learning about acids back in school. They’re routinely described as strong or weak, concentrated or dilute. But what’s the difference between a strong acid and a concentrated acid? Explaining that is a little trickier than it sounds; in this ...

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The Facts and the Fiction

Over the past week, you may well have seen a couple of graphics purporting to explain the effect that drinking a can of Coke or Diet Coke has on your body. They’ve been picked up by arange of online news and media sites, and as a result circulated widely. Unfortunately, althoughsome of the ...

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Undeserved Reputation?

There’s no shortage of material when it comes to aspartame research – the FDA has described it as one of the most studied food additives currently approved. We’re talking a huge number of studies, more than 500, so you’d justifiably think that this is an issue that the research can weigh in on ...

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Struktur, Additive und Verunreinigungen

Man könnte Ihnen verzeihen, wenn Sie denken, dass es nicht viel Interessantes über die Chemie des Wodkas gibt. Ist es nicht im Grunde genommen nur eine Mischung aus zwei Verbindungen, Ethanol und Wasser? Obwohl dies so ziemlich der Fall ist, gibt es mehr zu Wodka, als Sie vielleicht erwarten. ...

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The Chemistry of Jam-Making

If you’ve ever tried your hand at jam-making, you’ll know that it’s something of a tricky process. A number of factors need to be just right to achieve a perfectly set jam – and chemistry can help explain why. There are three key chemical entities that go into jam-making: sugar, pectin, and ...

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Es gibt kaum etwas Erwärmenderes als einen Becher Glühwein im tiefsten Dezember. Die exakten Rezepte können variieren, aber sie alle beinhalten einen gemeinsamen Kern von Zutaten, von denen jede etwas zum endgültigen Geschmack beiträgt. Diese Grafik untersucht einige der wichtigsten Chemikalien, ...

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The Chemistry of a Lemon

With it being Pancake Day tomorrow, it seemed like a good time to look at the chemistry of the humble lemon, and the compounds that give it its sour taste. Of course, citric acid is already well known – it even has its own E number (E330). However, a couple of other acid compounds are also ...

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The Chemistry of Honey

Honey is something of an oddity, in that, unlike most foods, it doesn’t spoil over time. In fact, the oldest known sample of honey, found in an Ancient Egyptian tomb and dated to approximately 3000 years ago, was still perfectly edible (supposedly*). What is it, then, that gives honey ...

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The Chemistry of Blackcurrants

Blackcurrants and cat urine. Two things you probably wouldn’t expect to have a whole lot in common, if anything. However, to some, blackcurrants and blackcurrant bushes can have a distinct smell of cat urine, and the chemistry behind this strange phenomenon reveals an unexpected link between our ...

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The Chemistry of Bread-Making

Though chemistry teachers might have to regularly field questions about the chemistry of ‘Breaking Bad’ these days, baking bread is probably more likely to figure on a list of their recreational activities. Bread-making is a process that seems simple, essentially involving the mixing of just four ...

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