by Natalie Hudson-Smith For our Halloween blog post back in 2017, I used chemistry to figure out how many moles of gas are in a Gastly, a gaseous ghost/poison-type Pokémon. (Because Pokémon are fantastical creatures, it’s …
crystals
Breaking News: Slime Time Chemistry Slip-Up!
by Alicia McGeachy Is it a solid? Is it a liquid? It behaves in a way that reminds us a little of both. But what is it? Slime! (Figure 1) Making slime is a majorly …
What Does Nanotechnology Have to Do with Chocolate?
by Liz Laudadio edited by Mimi Hang A few days from now is Valentine’s Day, a day to take time to appreciate what matters the most in life… chocolate! I’m sure you’ve seen the tiny, …
How can you calculate how many atoms are in a nanoparticle?
by Cathy Murphy Two years ago, I wrote a blog post called Two Ways to Make Nanoparticles, describing the difference between top-down and bottom-up methods for making nanoparticles. In the post I commented, “we can estimate, knowing how gold atoms pack …
The Science of Snow
by Nicholas Niemuthedited by Alicia McGeachy In the CSN, we like to study and understand small things. Everyone knows the adage “no two snowflakes are alike,” but what actually goes into creating this variety of …
The Atomic Difference Between Diamonds and Graphite
by Cathy Murphy Everything is made of atoms. Usually these atoms are strongly connected to one another, in an amazing variety of configurations. But atoms are so tiny, how can we possibly understand the structure …
One of the Most Sensitive Balances on the Planet – Quartz Crystal Microbalance
by Arielle Mensch Take a look at your wrist. Have you ever wonder what makes your watch tick with such precision? What if I told you the same technology that causes your watch to work …