Chemistry
What things are made of and how they react.
Chemistry
Why do onions make you cry?
Cutting the onion mixes two chemicals it kept apart, and the reaction makes a volatile gas that turns mildly acidic on the wet surface of your eye.
5 min read
Chemistry
Why does ice float on water?
Freezing forces water molecules into an open framework with gaps in it, so the same molecules take up about a tenth more room as ice than as liquid.
5 min read
Chemistry
Why do batteries degrade?
Every charge cycle drives slow side reactions that permanently consume lithium and thicken an insulating film on the electrodes, so a little capacity is lost each time and never comes back.
6 min readintermediate