Compound Chem
1,000 FOLLOWERS
Compound Interest' is a blog producing easy-to-understand graphics on a variety of chemistry topics, focusing particularly on the chemistry we come across on an everyday basis.
Compound Chem
2w ago
8 March is International Women’s Day, so here’s another edition in the Women in Chemistry History series. This graphic highlights another twelve women whose achievements in chemistry range from the development of vaccines and the production of antibiotics to the development of techniques for chemical analysis. The text of this graphic is reproduced below for ..read more
Compound Chem
3w ago
Snot, tears, and spit might sound unpleasant, but all three are an important part of our immune systems. In the latest edition of Periodic Graphics in Chemical and Engineering News, we compare them and look at their components’ role in protecting us from infections. View the full graphic on the C&EN site ..read more
Compound Chem
1M ago
On this day (26 February) in 1946, Egyptian-American chemist Ahmed Zewail was born. Zewail pioneered femtochemistry, the use of laser pulses to see the movement of individual atoms during chemical reactions. This graphic gives an overview of the ultrafast laser spectroscopy that makes this possible. For more detail on femtochemistry, read the 1999 Nobel Prize ..read more
Compound Chem
1M ago
The first vinegars were accidents of oxidation, wine left out too long which turned sour. The word vinegar even derives from the Latin for ‘sour wine’. Today, varieties of vinegar range from balsamic to rice vinegar, produced on a commercial basis. This graphic takes a look at some of the chemical quirks of the different ..read more
Compound Chem
1M ago
Svante Arrhenius was born on this day (19 February) in 1859. He’s famous for his eponymous equation and for suggesting in 1896 that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere might affect the Earth’s climate. He also clarified our understanding of solution chemistry and acids and bases. Arrhenius won the Nobel Prize in 1903 for explaining ..read more
Compound Chem
1M ago
Happy Valentine’s Day! Here’s a brief look at some of the many chemicals involved in the feeling of love. For more on neurotransmitters in general, there’s also this post. Download link for this graphic below, along with links to some extra reading on the topic! Note: This is an updated version of a graphic originally published ..read more
Compound Chem
1M ago
2022 was a significant year for nuclear fusion, touted as a future solution to our energy problems. First came the announcement, in February, that a record for power generation that has stood for 24 years had been surpassed. Then, in December, for the first time ever, more energy was output from a fusion reaction than ..read more
Compound Chem
2M ago
Along with universal indicator, litmus paper is one of the most commonly encountered pH indicators in school chemistry lessons. Unlike the range of colours produced by the former, litmus is pink-red in acidic solutions and blue in alkaline solutions. This graphic highlights its complex origins in lichens and the chemical changes that account for its ..read more
Compound Chem
2M ago
On this day in 1868, Danish chemist Søren Sørensen was born. He’s best known for developing the pH scale, which we’ve likely all encountered, to measure the acidity or alkalinity of solutions. This graphic gives a brief overview of the pH scale and what it means. Sørensen was working at the Carlsberg Research Laboratory ..read more
Compound Chem
3M ago
For the first time since the onset of the pandemic, COVID’s domination of the science news cycle waned in 2022. The focus increasingly shifted to the longer-term crisis we face: that of climate change and taking steps to make components of our modern lives more sustainable. This graphic summarises some of the key chemistry news ..read more