hermanntrude

sulphic acid doesn't exist. sulphuric acid does, but making it is very dangerous.

in your hands, i believe nothing is safe

genecks, you are correct, the process is very dangerous, and yes a down's cell is the normal method on the industrial scale. We have no objection to discussion of the way it is done, what we don't like is people who think they can do it by a method they invented themselves using a 9V battery and some salt from the kitchen. people like that are not scientists and can cause themselves and others serious harm.

I too have had bad experiences with chlorine. At the very least it can make you very sore for a day or two. at the worst it can kill you in a very unpleasant way.

robin hood... which one are you? are you in the vids?

fire and pain, often. bleach and drain cleaner are not the same thing although they both often contain sodium hydroxide. Bleach usually contains hypochlorites as well and so should NOT EVER EVER be mixed with acids (i've told you this several times before... why don't you hear me?). Drain cleaners contain other things too. Either way, if you were safe in assuming drain cleaner was sodium hydroxide (which isnt always true), then the reaction would be: [ce] H2SO4 + 2NaOH --> 2H2O + Na2SO4[/ce] this is a very violent reaction and very dangerous in the wrong hands. Please don't try it.

OK the method for this type of question is similar in many ways to the type of question where you obtain the empirical formula of a compound. ever done that? first you assume that you have 100g of the compound. that makes the numbers easy. Then figure out how many grams of oxygen there are in your 100g sample. Then figure out how many grams of the other element you have. Bear in mind there are 100g total,and only two elements present. then you can calculate how many moles of oxygen you have. use moles = mass/molar mass. once you've done that you can calculate how many moles of element X you have, by dividing the number of moles of oxygen by 5 and multiplying by 2. Now you know the mass and moles of element X and you can find the molar mass. any further explanation you require, just ask :0)

a few hours with a molecular modelling kit can really help with this stuff

you're still getting it wrong, dr S. Chirality IS all about "handedness" but a molecule is chiral when it's mirror image is non-superimposable onto the original. In other words, if the molecule is symmetrical or flexible, it probably won't be chiral. While it is possible for a molecule to be chiral without having an sp3 carbon chiral centre, there are two reasons we don't need to worry about that: 1) the question asked us whether there were any sp3 chiral carbons, NOT whether the molecule was chiral 2) I may be wrong here but I suspect the molecule isn't chiral anyway.

walsh, I gave you a link already. what was wrong with that?

that's the conclusion I came to as well. It is sometimes possible for a compound to exhibit chirality without a distinct chiral centre. But the answer to the question "are there any sp3 chiral centres?" is no.

an sp3 carbon is one which has four single bonds. there only seems to be one to me and it's not the one dr syntax was talking about. whether it's chiral or not depends on whether the four things it's bonded to are different or not. Google chirality if you're stuck. for the second part I reccomend you do two things: 1) read up on conformers 2) make a molecular model. Use clay or blu-tak and sticks if necessary.

why do you assume it's an ammonium salt? I don't know what it is, just wondering why you narrowed it down to ammonium salts

you could try using the reaction dr syntax told you about to make a super-saturated solution of sodium acetate. These solutions will crystallise very fast, and even get a bit hot when they do so.

ammonium and nitrate are examples of polyatomic ions. A polyatomic ion is a group of atoms with a charge on them. [ce]NH4+[/ce] means that there is a group of atoms containing one nitrogen atom, four hydrogen atoms, and having a charge of 1+ [ce]NO3-[/ce] means that there is a group of atoms with one nitrogen, three oxygens and a single negative charge. here is a list of polyatomic ions with some explanation. Most chemistry courses require students to memorise the formula and charge of a few polyatomic ions. Check your notes to see if you've been provided with a list like that, or ask your instructor.

tea contains tannic acid but it's not made entirely of it. some desserts say "may contain nuts" but you don't automatically decide that you have in front of you a pie made entirely out of nuts and nothing else. Sure bleach contains sodium hydroxide. it also contains sodium hypochlorite and a bunch of other things including some stupid colorants to make you think it's somehow cleaner because it leaves a stupid coloured stain on your toilet and some revolting-smelling chemicals which are supposed to make you think you're actually turning your toilet into a pine forest rather than chemically burning the shit out of it. a) don't believe everything you read b) everyone lies c) the presence of one thing does not preclude the presence of other things.

I don't think that'd going to be possible without modifying a font for yourself. Even then, I think a character has a maximum width

two possibilities you should always be aware of when doing a PhD: 1) no-one has ever done it before. you may have to painstakingly and slowly develop the method over several years 2) it cannot be done. You may have to spend years and years painstakingly developing the best possible method only to discover it's impossible.

walsh, you have been told time and time again by mods and resident experts not to go adding random things to bleach. Particularly important, as I mentioned before in the IRC room is not to add acid to bleach. DONT DO IT and STOP ASKING

for a report like that, you'd be better off drawing the complex in a chemical drawing software of some kind. My favourite was always chemdraw... not cheap but worth it.

a common method is to use epsom salts. Also known as magnesium sulfate. In theory, you could use any ionic salt, but the danger there is that some might be electrolysed themselves, giving rise to (in some cases) hazardous by-products. that's what happened with your sodium chloride.

I'm sorry, but from our conversation last night and your current posting behaviour, I can only assume you want hydrogen in order to make it explode. Don't try what you're planning. it's too dangerous and you might get hurt. I'm going to report this thread in the hope someone will close it.

organisms eat things. Chemicals can corrode sometimes. As for "household" chemicals, a half decent acid or base might work but it could be fairly hazardous if you don't know what you're doing.

you already had an answer to that question in IRC. Try google if you forgot.

of course, you could just view the whole thing as an experience in essay writing. Psychology students have to write essays, right?