Short interesting facts about chemistry. Everything that makes our life easier. "No" to inert gases

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At this very minute While you are reading this article, your eyes use organic compound– retinal , which converts light energy into nerve impulses. While you are sitting in a comfortable position, back muscles maintain correct posture thanks to chemical breakdown of glucose with the release of the required energy. As you understand, spaces between nerve cells also filled with organic substances - mediators (or neurotransmitters) that help all neurons become one. And this well-coordinated system works without the participation of your consciousness! Only organic chemists understand as deeply as biologists how intricately man is created, how logically internal systems organs and their life cycle . It follows that studying organic chemistry – the basis for understanding our life! And high-quality research is the way to the future, because new drugs are created primarily in chemical laboratories.

Our department would like to introduce you closer to this wonderful science.

11-cis-retinal, absorbs light

serotonin – neurotransmitter

Organic chemistry as a science Organic chemistry as a science emerged in the late nineteenth century. She arose at the crossroads different areas life - from obtaining food to treating millions of people who are unaware of the role of chemistry in their lives. Chemistry takes unique place in the structure of understanding the Universe. This is the science of molecules , but there is more to organic chemistry than this definition. Organic chemistry literally creates itself, as if growing . Organic chemistry, studying not only natural molecules, has the ability to create new substances, structures, matter. This feature gave humanity polymers, dyes for clothes, new medicines, and perfumes. Some believe that synthetic materials can be harmful to humans or be environmentally hazardous. However, it is sometimes very difficult to distinguish black from white, and to establish the fine line between “danger to humans” and “commercial benefit”. It will also help with this issue .

Department of Organic Synthesis and Nanotechnology (OSiNT)

Organic compounds Organic chemistry was formed as a life science; it was previously thought that it was very different from in the laboratory. Scientists then believed that organic chemistry was the chemistry of Carbon, especially the compounds coal. In our time organic chemistry combines all carbon compounds of both living and non-living nature .

The organic compounds available to us are obtained either from living organisms or from fossil materials (oil, coal). Examples of substances from natural sources are the essential oils menthol (mint flavor) and cis-jasmone (jasmine flower scent). Essential oils obtained by steam distillation; details will be revealed during training at our department.

Menthol Cis-jasmone Quinine

Already in the 16th century it was known alkaloid – quinine , which is obtained from the bark of the cinchona tree ( South America) and is used against malaria.

The Jesuits who discovered this property of quinine, of course, did not know its structure. Moreover, in those days there was no question of the synthetic production of quinine - which was only possible in the 20th century! Another interesting story related to quinine is discovery of the purple pigment mauvein William Perkin in 1856. Why he did this and what the results of his discovery are - you can also find out at our department.

But let's return to the history of the formation of organic chemistry. In the 19th century (the time of W. Perkin), the main source of raw materials for the chemical industry was coal. Dry distillation of coal produced coke oven gas, which was used for heating and cooking, and coal tar, rich in aromatic carbocyclic and heterocyclic compounds (benzene, phenol, aniline, thiophene, pyridine). At our department they will tell you how they differ and what their significance is in organic synthesis.

Phenol has antiseptic properties (trivial name - carbolic acid ), A aniline became the basis for the development of the paint industry (production of aniline dyes). These colorants are still commercially available, for example Bismarck-Brown (brown) shows that most of Early works on chemistry were carried out in Germany:

However in the 20th century, oil overtook coal as the main source of organic raw materials and energy , therefore, gaseous methane (natural gas), ethane, propane have become an available energy resource.

In the same time, chemical industry divided into mass and fine. The first is engaged in the production of paints, polymers - substances that do not have complex structure, however, produced in huge quantities. And the fine chemical industry, or more correctly, fine organic synthesis is engaged in the production of medicines, aromas, flavoring additives, in much smaller volumes, which, however, is more profitable. Currently, about 16 million organic compounds are known. How much more is possible? In this area, organic synthesis has no restrictions. Imagine that you have created the longest alkyl chain, but you can easily add another carbon atom. This process is endless. But one should not think that all these millions of compounds are ordinary linear hydrocarbons; they cover all kinds of molecules with amazingly diverse properties.

Properties of organic compounds

What are physical properties organic compounds?

They can be crystalline like sugar, or plastic like paraffin explosive like isooctane, volatile like acetone.

Sucrose Isooctane (2,3,5-trimethylpentane)

Connection coloring it can also be very diverse. Humanity has already synthesized so many dyes that it seems that there are no more colors left that cannot be obtained using synthetic dyes.

For example, you can make the following table of brightly colored substances:

However, in addition to these characteristics, organic substances have an odor which helps differentiate them. An interesting example is the defensive reaction of skunks. The smell of skunk secretions is caused by sulfur compounds - thiols:

But the most terrible smell was “smelled” in the city of Freiburg (1889), during an attempt to synthesize thioacetone by decomposition of the trimer, when the city’s population had to be evacuated, because “not nice smell, which quickly spread over a large area in the city, causing fainting, vomiting and anxiety states" The laboratory was closed.

But chemists at the Esso research station south of Oxford decided to repeat this experiment. Let's give them the floor:

“Recently, odor problems have gone beyond our worst expectations. During early experiments, the cap popped out of a waste bottle and was immediately replaced, and our colleagues in the nearby laboratory (200 yards away) immediately began to feel nauseous and vomited.

Two of ourschemists who were simply studying the cracking of minute quantities of trithioacetone found themselves the target of hostile glances in a restaurant and were put to shame when a waitress sprayed deodorant around them. The odors "defied" the expected effects of dilution because the lab workers did not find the odors intolerable...and truly denied their responsibility since they were working in closed systems. To convince them otherwise, they were distributed with other observers throughout the laboratory at distances of up to a quarter of a mile. Then one drop of acetone gem-dithiol and later a mother liquor of trithioacetone recrystallization was placed on a watch glass in a fume hood. The smell was detected downwind in a matter of seconds.". Those. the odor of these compounds increases with decreasing concentration.

There are two candidates for this terrible stench - propane dithiol (the above mentioned heme-dithiol), or 4-methyl-4sulfanyl-pentanone-2:

It is unlikely that anyone will be able to identify the leader among them.

However, unpleasant odor has its own area of ​​​​application . The natural gas that comes into our homes contains a small amount of a flavoring agent - tert-butyl thiol. A small amount is so much that humans can sense one part of thiol in 50 billion parts of methane.

In contrast, some other compounds have delicious odors. To redeem the honor of sulfur compounds we must refer to the truffle, which pigs can smell through a meter of soil and whose taste and smell are so delicious that they are worth more than gold. Damascenones are responsible for the scent of roses . If you have the opportunity to smell one drop, you will probably be disappointed, as it smells like turpentine, or camphor. And the next morning, your clothes (including you) will smell very strongly of roses. Just like trithioacetone, this odor increases with dilution.

Demascenone - the scent of roses

What about the taste?

Everyone knows that children can taste household chemicals (bathtub, toilet cleaner, etc.). The chemists were faced with the task of ensuring that unfortunate children would no longer want to try some kind of chemistry in bright packaging. Note that this compound is a salt:

Some other substances have a “strange” effect on a person, causing complexes of mental sensations - hallucinations, euphoria, etc. These include drugs and ethyl alcohol. They are very dangerous because... cause addiction and destroy a person as an individual.

Let's not forget about other creatures. It is known that cats love to sleep at any time. Recently, scientists obtained a substance from the cerebrospinal fluid of poor cats that allows them to quickly fall asleep. It has the same effect on humans. This is a surprisingly simple connection:

A similar structure, called Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA), has antitumor properties:

Another interesting molecule, resveratol, may be responsible for the beneficial effects of red wine in preventing heart disease:

As a third example of “edible” molecules (after CLA and resveratrol) let's take vitamin C. Seafarers from the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries suffered from scorbutus disease (scurvy), when degenerative processes of soft tissues occur, especially oral cavity. Lack of this vitamin causes scurvy. Ascorbic acid (the common name for vitamin C) is a universal antioxidant that neutralizes free radicals, protecting people from cancer. Some people believe that large doses of vitamin C protect us from colds, but this has not yet been proven.

Organic chemistry and industry

Vitamin C is obtained in large quantities in Switzerland, at the Roshe pharmaceutical plant (not to be confused with RoshenoM). Worldwide The volumes of the organic synthesis industry are calculated in both kilograms (small-scale production) and millions of tons (large-scale production) . This is good news for organic students because... There is no shortage of jobs (nor an overabundance of graduates) here. In other words, the profession of a chemical engineer is very relevant.

Some simple compounds can be obtained from both petroleum and plants. Ethanol used as raw materials for the production of rubber, plastics, and other organic compounds. It can be obtained by catalytic hydration of ethylene (from petroleum), or by fermentation of waste from the sugar industry (as in Brazil, where the use of ethanol as a fuel has improved the environmental situation).

Worth mentioning separately polymer industry . It absorbs most of the petroleum products in the form of monomers (styrene, acrylates, vinyl chloride, ethylene). The production of synthetic fibers has a turnover of more than 25 million tons per year. About 50,000 people are involved in the production of polyvinyl chloride, with an annual output of 20 million tons.

It should also be mentioned production of adhesives, sealants, coatings . For example, with the well-known superglue (based on methyl cyanoacrylate) you can glue almost anything.

Cyanoacrylate is the main component of superglue.

Perhaps, the most famous dye is indigo , which was previously isolated from plants, but is now obtained synthetically. Indigo is the color of blue jeans. To dye polyester fibers, for example, benzodifuranones (as dispersol) are used, which give the fabric an excellent red color. To color polymers, phthalocyanines are used in the form of complexes with iron or copper. They also find application as a component of the active layer of CDs, DVDs, Blu Ray discs. New class“high-performance” dyes based on DPP (1,4-diketopyrrolopyrroles) were developed by Ciba-Geidy.

Photo At first it was black and white: silver halides interacting with light released metal atoms, which reproduced the image. Colored photographs in Kodak color film arose as a consequence chemical reaction between two colorless reagents. One of them is usually an aromatic amine:

You can easily move from photography to the sweet life.

Sweeteners such as classic sugar received on a huge scale. Other sweeteners like aspartame (1965) and saccharin (1879) are produced in similar volumes. Aspartame is a dipeptide of two natural amino acids:

Pharmaceutical companies produce medicinal substances for many diseases. An example of a commercially successful, revolutionary drug is Ranitidine (for peptic ulcers) and Sildenafil (Viagra, we hope you know who needs it and why).

The success of these drugs is associated with both therapeutic effectiveness and profitability:

That's not all. This is just the beginning

There is still a lot of interesting things to learn about organic chemistry, so training at the department of OS&NT is a priority not only for chemistry lovers, but also for applicants who are interested in the world around them, who want to expand the scope of their perception and reveal their potential.

Chemistry is a familiar school subject. Everyone enjoyed watching the reaction of the reagents. But few people know interesting facts about chemistry, which we will discuss in this article.

• 1. Modern passenger aircraft During a nine-hour flight, 50 to 75 tons of oxygen are used. The same amount of this substance is produced by 25,000-50,000 hectares of forest during the process of photosynthesis.
• 2. One liter sea ​​water contains 25 grams of salt.
• 3. Hydrogen atoms are so small that if 100 million of them are placed in a chain one after another, the length will be only one centimeter.
• 4. One ton of water in the World Ocean contains 7 milligrams of gold. The total amount of this precious metal in the waters of the oceans is 10 billion tons.
• 5. The human body contains approximately 65-75% water. It is used by organ systems to transport nutrients, regulate temperature, and dissolve nutritional compounds.
• 6. Interesting Facts about chemistry concern our planet Earth. For example, over the past 5 centuries its mass has increased by a billion tons. Cosmic substances have added such weight.
• 7. The walls of a soap bubble are perhaps the thinnest matter that a person can see with the naked eye. For example, the thickness of tissue paper or hair is several thousand times thicker.
• 8. The speed of a soap bubble bursting is 0.001 seconds. The speed of a nuclear reaction is 0.000 000 000 000 000 001 seconds.
• 9. Iron, a very hard and durable material in its normal state, becomes gaseous at a temperature of 5 thousand degrees Celsius.
• 10. In just a minute, the Sun produces more energy than our planet uses in a whole year. But we don't use it completely. 19% of solar energy is absorbed by the atmosphere, 34% returns to space, and only 47% reaches the Earth.
• 11. Oddly enough, granite conducts sound better than air. So, if there was a granite wall (solid) between people, they would hear sounds at a distance of one kilometer. IN ordinary life in such conditions, sound travels only a hundred meters.
• 12. Swedish scientist Carl Schelle holds the record for the number of discovered chemical elements. It contains chlorine, fluorine, barium, tungsten, oxygen, manganese, and molybdenum.
• Second place was shared by the Swedes Jakob Berzelius, Karl Monsander, the Englishman Humphry Davy and the Frenchman Paul Lecoq de Boisbordant. They are responsible for the discovery of a quarter of all elements known to modern science (that is, 4 each).
• 13. The largest platinum nugget is the so-called “Ural Giant”. Its weight is 7 kilograms and 860.5 grams. This giant is kept in the Diamond Fund of the Moscow Kremlin.
• 14. September 16 since 1994 - International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, according to the decree General Assembly UN.
• 15. Carbon dioxide, which is widely used to create modern carbonated drinks, was discovered by the English scientist Joseph Priestley back in 1767. Then Priestley became interested in the bubbles formed during the fermentation of beer.
• 16. Dancing squid - this is the name of an amazing dish in Japan. The newly caught and killed squid is placed in a bowl of rice and drizzled with soy sauce in front of the customer. When interacting with sodium, which is contained in soy sauce, the nerve endings of even killed squid begin to react. As a result of this chemical reaction, the shellfish begins to “dance” right in the plate.
• 17. Skatole is an organic compound that is responsible for the characteristic odor of feces. An interesting fact is that in large doses this substance has a pleasant floral aroma, which is used in the food industry and perfumery.

“The Vanishing Spoon” is a classic, no longer so often found under piles of all kinds of non-fiction science fiction. This book could be a classic "Fun Chemistry" Soviet years. It contains two layers skillfully mixed. The first is a fascinating, enthusiastically written and scientifically based collection chemical facts for curious high school students who want to go beyond the textbook, but equally interesting for those who have forgotten school curriculum adults, including humanities scholars, who are wary of numbers and formulas. The second is a history of science written casually. Various scientists and Nobel Prize laureates appear on the pages every now and then - there was a place here for almost all the great chemists (and many physicists), and disparate stories add up to the overall picture.

20 Amazing Facts About Chemical Elements

Helium (He, No. 2) as an eternal battery

If mercury is cooled in liquid helium to –268 degrees, then this system becomes an ideal conductor. This means that if it were possible to maintain such a temperature of helium in gadget microcircuits, then their batteries would completely stop discharging. And if you lower the temperature by another 2 degrees, helium acquires the property of superfluidity and gets rid of gravity - it can flow upward and flow through walls.

Antimony (Sb, No. 51) as a laxative

Ancient Egyptians used antimony as a facial cosmetic. And in the Middle Ages, toxic antimony pills were swallowed as a laxative. They were considered so precious that they were sometimes removed from their own excrement to be reused. In some families, reused antimony tablets were passed down through generations. Currently, antimony is used to make strong acids that can burn through glass.

Gallium (Ga, No. 31) as a soluble spoon

Gallium is two rows below aluminum and in its normal state is similar to the most abundant metal on earth. However, the peculiarity of gallium is that it melts at only 28 degrees. A popular joke among chemists is connected with this: guests are sometimes served gallium spoons with tea, and then watch their amazement when an ordinary-looking spoon dissolves in a cup of freshly brewed tea.

Iridium (Ir, No. 77) as the key to dinosaurs

Iridium is an element that helped scientists solve the mystery of the death of dinosaurs. It all started with the accidental discovery of this fact: in a narrow layer of limestone formed 65 million years ago, the iridium content is 600 times higher than its normal level. Iridium usually comes to the surface of the Earth only during volcanic eruptions, but in addition, it is contained in large quantities in meteorites arriving on Earth. Since the discovered pattern can be traced throughout the Earth, scientists have suggested that 65 million years ago the planet was covered by a cloud of iridium dust for some reason. Most probable cause This was a collision with a huge meteorite, which was confirmed by the subsequent discovery of a huge crater in Yucatan.

Molybdenum (Mo, No. 42) as a weapon

The least known battles of the First World War are associated with molybdenum. Trunk of the famous German gun“Big Bertha,” which fired for many kilometers, was strengthened with molybdenum so that it would not bend from overheating after salvos. Molybdenum was scarce and most of it was mined from a remote mine in American state Colorado. Having learned about this, representatives of the American office of the German concern Krupp literally seized the mine in battle, to which few people paid attention: times in the Wild West were still harsh - and such behavior was considered the norm. The Allies came to their senses only at the end of the war, when they realized why the Germans needed Colorado molybdenum so much.

Tantalum (Ta, No. 73) as a cause civil war

Tantalus became an indirect culprit of chaos and anarchy in the whole country. The fact is that until the 90s of the 20th century, the demand for tantalum on the world market was minimal, but in just a few years it became gigantic - tantalum is used in every mobile phone. It so happened that this metal is distributed extremely unevenly across the Earth, practically its only source is the territory Democratic Republic Congo, but there is so much tantalum ore there that any peasant can dig up an amount of it in a day on the river that he would not earn in a year growing bread. As a result, a real tantalum fever began in the Congo, the inhabitants of the country abandoned their farms and rushed for tantalum - after this, famine began in the country, and power passed to rival criminal authorities, who took control of tantalum mining. The tantalum anarchy in the Congo has killed millions of people since the mid-1990s.

Cobalt (Co, No. 27) as a brake on the arms race

The cobalt isotope cobalt-60, produced in a nuclear reaction, is one of the longest-lasting elements on earth in terms of radiation exposure. During the arms race, this stopped technologists from creating a cobalt bomb, since in the territory that would be hit by this bomb, not only all living things would die, but also any forms of life would disappear for decades. Chemist Leo Szilard calculated that it is enough to spray one gram of cobalt-60 on every square kilometer earth's surface so that all humanity will be destroyed.

Technetium (Tc, No. 43) as an elusive element

The forty-third element has become the most elusive element in the periodic table. When the table first appeared, some cells in it remained blank - it was clear that there should be a certain element there, but it was not possible to find it. Claims for the presence of the forty-third element appeared more often than any other, and all of them turned out to be false: each time it was a mixture of other elements. It was truly discovered only by Italian chemists in the 30s, using new technology: not sifting the ore until tiny particles, and nuclear fusion. This new approach explains its name.

Cadmium (Cd, No. 48) as a Japanese phobia

Cadmium is guilty of terrible diseases people who lived in the area of ​​the Japanese Kamioka mine. This place has been mined since ancient times. precious metals, and in late XIX century they began to produce cadmium. The element was poorly known to scientists, and the waste was simply thrown away, after which it penetrated into groundwater. After some time, surrounding residents began to complain of terrible pain. The cadmium that entered the body literally crushed their bones into powder. Japan developed such a strong fear of cadmium that even decades after the poisoning outbreak, the script for the film Godzilla stipulated that the monster was killed using cadmium rockets.

Bismuth (Bi, No. 83) like a rainbow crystal

Bismuth is a whitish-pinkish metal that burns with a blue flame and emits yellow smoke. It is one of the few substances that expands when frozen. Water has the same property, but among the elements this is the rarest case. If there is a bismuth sea on some planet, then bismuth ice floes can float (and not sink) on it. It should look luxurious: frozen bismuth forms extraordinary rainbow funnel-shaped crystals, a favorite decoration of geologists.

Copper (Cu, No. 29) as an enemy of bacteria

Copper, which is safe for humans, is toxic and harmful to bacteria. If they encounter copper, they absorb copper atoms, which disrupt the metabolism of these organisms and ultimately kill them. That's why copper water pipes became the simplest method of disinfection and dramatically improved public health in the cities where they were introduced, and why door handles are often made of brass, which remains clean of bacteria no matter how many unwashed hands touch it.

Nitrogen (N, No. 7) as invisible killer

The air we breathe is 4/5 nitrogen, and this gas can be more insidious than any toxic poison. The fact is that the human body, when exposed to pure nitrogen (such reservoirs, for example, are found in mining mines), does not understand that something is wrong. Nitrogen is colorless and odorless; it seems to a person that he continues to breathe - until he falls dead from suffocation due to the lack of oxygen.

Tellurium (Te, No. 52) as a deodorant

Tellurium smells like garlic. More precisely, of course, the opposite. Moreover, with such force that if you pour a small pinch onto the skin, you will not be able to get rid of the smell in any way for several weeks. Hello to Vladimir Sorokin.

Yod (I, no. 53) as the savior of newborns

Iodine is very toxic, but in small quantities a person needs it for normal development. That is why, along with fluoridation tap water(after which people began to live to old age with healthy teeth) one of the largest and simplest health measures taken by humanity was salt iodization. After this, birth defects and mental retardation began to appear in a much smaller number of newborns.

Polonius (Po, no. 84) as a metaphor for the history of Poland

Radioactive polonium was discovered by Marie Skłodowska-Curie and named it after her native Poland, which was then divided between three empires. She hoped that this would inspire her compatriots to fight for independence. However, this option turned out to be very unsuccessful. Curie also discovered radium, which became a widely used element and vital to industry. Polonium turned out to be almost useless, and it decays so quickly that Curie's caustic colleagues saw in this a connection with the country for which it was named: Poland, which was constantly divided among its neighbors, seemed as unstable as polonium. Thus, Curie's patriotic message was turned on its head.

Europium (Eu, No. 63) as a protection for banknotes

Europium, on the contrary, is extremely aptly named: it is what is used in euro banknotes to protect against counterfeiters. It is very difficult to obtain europium, which is why the euro is considered the best protected currency - a counterfeit banknote will be instantly identified by a special device in any bank by the lack of glow that europium atoms emit.

Tin (Sn, No. 50) as powder

Tin has a rare property: when low temperatures its crystal structure changes, and hard metal turns into powder. This unaccounted for property ruined the expedition of Robert Scott, who lost the race to Roald Amundsen. South Pole in 1912. The canisters of kerosene they left in the middle of the road were sealed with tin solder. The expedition hoped to use this fuel for way back. However, on the spot, Scott's men discovered that the cans were empty: the solder had crumbled into powder and the precious fuel had leaked. All members of the expedition died from frostbite before reaching the British base.

Lithium (Li, No. 3) as a cure for mental disorders

One of the first elements on the table is an incredibly reactive metal. There have been cases when people's pockets caught fire when a short circuit occurred between the lithium batteries in them and other metal objects, for example, keys. But even more interesting is the effect of lithium on humans. Without playing any role in the body itself, lithium can act very effectively on the brain, “nullifying” The biological clock. This property of lithium is effective in the treatment of manic-depressive psychosis and other mental illness- a person seems to leave the past behind and is ready to start with clean slate, getting rid of the phantoms of your own psyche.

Cesium (Cs, No. 55) as a universal clock

Thanks to cesium, terrestrial scientists were able to create a universal system for measuring time, reasonably reasoning that tying the definition of a second to the time of revolution of a tiny planet around a tiny star on a galactic scale is not very correct. Therefore, periods were taken that were universal for any point in the galaxy, namely events at the level of microparticles. Astronomical clocks were replaced by much more accurate atomic clocks. In this logic, a new definition of a second was found - this is not 1/86,400 of the time the Earth rotates around its axis, but the time during which an electron in the outer orbital of a cesium atom makes 9,192,631,770 vibrations. And no more hesitation.

Feynmanium (#137) as the very last element

This element does not exist either in nature or in chemical laboratories. Scientists have not yet even reached the 120th element, and synthesizing the 137th is not even a matter of the next decades. However, this hypothetical element appears in theoretical chemistry already now, because it periodic table must end. Feynmanium will be the last - an element with a larger nucleus simply cannot exist, since in this case the electrons around it must rotate faster than the speed of light, and this is impossible. By at least thinks so modern science. The name of the hypothetical Feynmanium was given in honor of the physicist Richard Feynman, who first pointed out this possible limit.

• Publishing house "Eksmo", Moscow, 2015

By the end of the 19th century, organic chemistry had emerged as a science. Interesting facts will help you better understand the world around you and learn how new ones were made scientific discoveries.

"Live" dish

The first interesting fact about chemistry concerns unusual food. One of the famous dishes of Japanese cuisine is “Odori Donu” - “dancing squid”. Many people are shocked by the sight of squid moving its tentacles in a plate. But don’t worry, he’s not suffering and hasn’t felt anything for a long time. Freshly skinned squid is placed in a bowl of rice and topped with soy sauce before serving. The squid's tentacles begin to contract. This is due to the special structure of the nerve fibers, which for some time after the death of the animal react with sodium ions contained in the sauce, causing the muscles to contract.

Accidental discovery

Interesting facts about chemistry often concern discoveries made by accident. So, in 1903, Edouard Benedictus, a famous French chemist, invented unbreakable glass. The scientist accidentally dropped the flask, which was filled with nitrocellulose. He noticed that the flask broke, but the glass did not shatter into pieces. After conducting the necessary research, the chemist found that it was possible to create shockproof glass in a similar way. This is how the first safety glass for cars appeared, which significantly reduced the number of injuries in car accidents.

Live sensor

Interesting facts about chemistry tell about the use of animal sensitivity for human benefit. Until 1986, miners took canaries underground with them. The fact is that these birds are extremely sensitive to firedamp gases, especially methane and carbon monoxide. Even with a small concentration of these substances in the air, the bird can die. The miners listened to the bird's singing and monitored its well-being. If the canary becomes restless or begins to weaken, this is a signal that the mine needs to be left.

The bird did not necessarily die from poisoning, but fresh air she was getting better quickly. They even used special sealed cages that were closed when there were signs of poisoning. Even today, no device has been invented that senses ore gases as finely as a canary.

Rubber

Interesting fact about chemistry: another accidental invention is rubber. Charles Goodyear, an American scientist, discovered a recipe for making rubber that does not melt in the heat and does not break in the cold. He accidentally heated a mixture of sulfur and rubber by leaving it on the stove. The process of producing rubber was called vulcanization.

Penicillin

Another interesting fact about chemistry: penicillin was invented by accident. I forgot about the test tube with staphylococcus bacteria for several days. And when I remembered her, I discovered that the colony was dying. The whole thing turned out to be mold, which began to destroy the bacteria. It was from this that the scientist obtained the world's first antibiotic.

Poltergeist

Interesting facts about chemistry can refute mystical stories. You can often hear about old houses filled with ghosts. And the whole point is an outdated and poorly functioning heating system. Due to the leakage of the toxic substance, residents of the house experience headaches, as well as auditory and visual hallucinations.

Gray cardinals among plants

Chemistry can explain the behavior of animals and plants. During evolution, many plants have developed defense mechanisms against herbivores. Most often, plants secrete poison, but scientists have discovered more subtle method protection. Some plants secrete substances that attract... predators! Predators regulate the number of herbivores and scare them away from the place where “smart” plants grow. Even familiar plants such as tomatoes and cucumbers have this mechanism. For example, a caterpillar undermined a cucumber leaf, and the smell of the released juice attracted birds.

Squirrel Defenders

Interesting facts: chemistry and medicine are closely related. During experiments on mice, virologists discovered interferon. This protein is produced in all vertebrates. A special protein, interferon, is released from a virus-infected cell. He doesn't have antiviral effect, but contacts healthy cells and makes them immune to the virus.

The smell of metal

We usually think that coins, handrails on public transport, railings, etc. smell of metal. But this smell is not emitted by metal, but by compounds that are formed as a result of contact of organic substances, for example, human sweat, with a metal surface. In order for a person to smell a characteristic odor, very few reagents are needed.

Construction material

Chemistry has been studying proteins relatively recently. They arose more than 4 billion years ago in an incomprehensible way. Proteins are building material for all living organisms, other forms of life are unknown to science. Half of the dry mass of most living organisms is made up of proteins.

In 1767, people became interested in the nature of the bubbles that come out of beer during fermentation. He collected the gas in a bowl of water, which he tasted. The water was pleasant and refreshing. Thus, the scientist discovered carbon dioxide, which is today used to produce sparkling water. Five years later he described more effective method obtaining this gas.

Sugar substitute

This interesting fact about chemistry suggests that many scientific discoveries were made almost by accident. A curious incident led to the discovery of the properties of sucralose, a modern sugar substitute. Leslie Hough, a professor from London studying the properties of the new substance trichlorosucrose, instructed his assistant Shashikant Phadnis to test it (test in English). Student with poor knowledge English language, understood this word as “taste”, which means taste, and immediately followed the instructions. Sucralose turned out to be very sweet.

Flavoring

Skatole is an organic compound formed in the intestines of animals and humans. It is this substance that causes the characteristic smell of feces. But if in large concentrations skatole has the smell of feces, then in small quantities this substance has a pleasant smell, reminiscent of cream or jasmine. Therefore, skatole is used to flavor perfumes, foods and tobacco products.

Cat and iodine

An interesting fact about chemistry - the most ordinary cat was directly involved in the discovery of iodine. The pharmacist and chemist Bernard Courtois usually dined in the laboratory, and he was often joined by a cat who loved to sit on his owner’s shoulder. After another meal, the cat jumped onto the floor, knocking over containers with sulfuric acid and a suspension of algae ash in ethanol that stood near the work table. The liquids mixed, and violet vapor began to rise into the air, settling on objects in small black-violet crystals. Thus a new chemical element was discovered.

Football club"Amkar" from Perm received its name from the abbreviation of two chemical substances- ammonia and urea, since they were the main products of Mineral Fertilizers OJSC, which created the club.

If the viscosity of a liquid depends only on its nature and temperature, such as water, such a liquid is called Newtonian. If the viscosity also depends on the velocity gradient, it is called non-Newtonian. Such liquids, when suddenly applied force, behave like solids. An example is ketchup in a bottle, which will not flow unless you shake the bottle. Another example is a suspension of corn starch in water. If you pour it into a large container, you can literally walk on it if you move your feet quickly and apply enough force to each stroke.

Ernest Rutherford's research was primarily in the field of physics and once stated that "all sciences can be divided into two groups - physics and stamp collecting." However Nobel Prize he was awarded a degree in chemistry, which came as a surprise both to him and to other scientists. Subsequently, he noticed that of all the transformations that he was able to observe, “the most unexpected was his own transformation from a physicist to a chemist.”

Since the 1990s on websites and mailing lists There are often calls to ban the use of dihydrogen monoxide. They list the numerous dangers that this substance causes: it is the main component acid rain, accelerates the corrosion of metals, can cause short circuits, etc. Despite the danger, the substance is actively used as an industrial solvent, food additive, nuclear power plants, and enterprises dump it into huge quantities into rivers and seas. This joke - after all, dihydrogen monoxide is nothing more than water - should teach critical perception of information. In 2007, a New Zealand MP bought into it. He received a similar letter from a constituent and forwarded it to the government, demanding that the dangerous chemical be banned.

From the point of view of organic chemistry, strawberry aldehyde is not an aldehyde, but an ethyl ether. Also, this substance is not contained in strawberries, but only resembles them in its smell. The substance received its name in the 19th century, when chemical analysis was not yet very accurate.

Platinum literally means “silver” in Spanish. This disparaging name given to this metal by the conquistadors is explained by the exceptional refractoriness of platinum, which could not be melted down, for a long time was not used and was valued at half the price of silver. Now on world exchanges, platinum is about 100 times more expensive than silver.

The smell of wet earth that we smell after rain is the organic substance geosmin, which is produced by cyanobacteria and actinobacteria living on the surface of the earth.

Many chemical elements are named after countries or other geographical features. Four elements at once - yttrium, ytterbium, terbium and erbium - were named after the Swedish village of Ytterby, near which a large deposit of rare earth metals was discovered.

When cobalt minerals containing arsenic are fired, volatile, toxic arsenic oxide is released. The ore containing these minerals was given the name of the mountain spirit Kobold by the miners. The ancient Norwegians attributed the poisoning of smelters during the melting of silver to the tricks of this evil spirit. The metal cobalt itself was named after him.

Canaries are very sensitive to the methane content in the air. This feature was once used by miners who, going underground, took with them a cage with a canary. If singing had not been heard for a long time, then it was necessary to go upstairs as quickly as possible.

Antibiotics were discovered by accident. Alexander Fleming left a test tube containing staphylococcus bacteria unattended for several days. A colony of mold fungi grew in it and began to destroy the bacteria, and then Fleming isolated the active substance - penicillin.

Turkey vultures have a very keen sense of smell; they smell especially well ethanethiol, a gas that is released when animal corpses rot. Artificially produced ethanethiol is added to natural gas, which itself is odorless, so that we can smell gas leaking from an uncovered burner. In sparsely populated areas of the United States, inspection engineers sometimes detect leaks on main pipelines precisely by the circling of turkey vultures, attracted by their familiar smell.

American Charles Goodyear accidentally discovered a recipe for making rubber that does not soften in the heat and does not become brittle in the cold. He mistakenly heated a mixture of rubber and sulfur on the kitchen stove (according to another version, he left a rubber sample near the stove). This process is called vulcanization.