Gilded

You were right indeed, perhaps you could also note that hydrogen can also be a liquid that doesn't "magically" float precisely because it is too dense, which is exactly what buyoancy is about. I don't know how much that makes sense, perhaps you can gather something useful and more easily explainable at the Wikipedia article on buoyancy.

Interesting. Double espressos for breakfast, lunch and dinner! Edit: No wait, I don't like coffee. Better stock up on some high-caffeine energy drinks then. Or just put some pure caffeine in hot chocolate.

I present an alternative hypothesis: Electrons just hold together, what the hell?

Oh. I recall the product of the rather famous gold + aqua regia reaction ([ce]HAuCl4[/ce]) being called auric acid, but that's probably just a trivial name.

As mentioned there isn't a way to "simulate water" for purposes of consumption. Our cells are delicate and require specifically H2O, to the extent that even heavy water (the D2O YT mentioned) will kill a human in a few weeks if it is exclusively consumed in a pure form instead of normal water.

I'm pretty sure you can post any synths that don't involve illegal substances (some explosives, drugs etc.). KNO3 extraction and synths have been discussed many times on SFN (a bit too many times actually, since some people haven't bothered to use the search function).

Hmm actually the auric acid I mentioned isn't auric acid if it's made with HBr instead of HCl, as auric acid is HAuCl4. "Bromoauric acid" maybe? Perhaps one of the chemistry experts knows if the synthesis I mentioned will actually work.

The simplest synthesis I can think of is mixing gold with a solution of nitric acid and hydrobromic acid to form auric acid which can then react with rubidium to form rubidium tetrabromoaurate. Rubidium tetrabromoaurate isn't organic btw.

At first I was rather surprised by the results but then again, it sounds quite logical that relatively intense vibrations of certain frequencies could affect plant growth. Anyway, to get back on topic I can see how some animals are attracted to some sounds to the extent that you could say they like them but I'll agree on humans generally enjoying music on a more complex level.

Ethanol doesn't melt NaOH, it dissolves it. Also note that hot NaOH will attack glass flasks rather rigorously, be careful. Can't think of any black/brown products from these chemicals though... might be something in the glass, or some other impurities.

Oh yeah I've tried EVE Online, didn't remember the company was Icelandic. Didn't really get into it though, but then again there isn't a single MMO that hasn't eventually disappointed me in some way. Also, the incredibly annoying children's TV program LazyTown is of Icelandic origin. "Do what you want 'cause a pirate is free, you are a pirate!" Oh yeah, the local yoghurt thing called skyr was pretty good. That was pretty much the only local food I tried as I was busy trying out the various junk food restaurants.

I remember how around 10 years ago my dad brought me a chemistry set from the U.S., it had around 40 different chemicals and ribbons of various metals etc. Such days are indeed past now, but I for one certainly hope that home science makes a comeback.

Some chemicals are rather expensive if you don't buy them in very large amounts, there isn't really any way around it. And chemicals like KNO3 and other nitrates normally require some sort of license so you can buy them in large amounts. 15$ is indeed very expensive but there are companies that purchase their chemicals directly from the actual manufacturers in huge bulks, and then sell them to people who require reasonably large amounts for a reasonably good price, effectively circumventing the need for an institute/company license. However I'm not sure how legal this is in most countries as the only company I've dealt with doesn't exist anymore. Also, you should look for pyrotechnics companies. One I've done business with with sells KNO3 for around $6 a pound if you buy ~30 pounds, no licenses needed (actually, they don't even require the customer to be 18 for most chems!). I'm not sure if such companies exist in Australia though.

Some reactions I've done with the listed chemicals: - Al + S = burns nicely and forms aluminum sulfide which hydrolyzes readily to form hydrogen sulfide, which of course is a toxic gas but if you make just a tiny amount outdoors you'll just get that distinct rotten egg smell. Good way to impress/disgust your friends/neighbors - KMnO4 + glycerol. A true classic and a good example of an intense reaction that doesn't require added heat, just the mixing of a fuel and an oxidizer. - I'll assume you can get some sugar in addition to the mentioned chems. KNO3 and sugar makes a reasonably good smoke mixture, especially when melted into a paste. Also, once you get MnO2 you could make potassium manganate, seeing how you have KOH/NaOH and oxidizers (like KNO3). I'm not sure how easy this is though. The reaction is mentioned here.

In addition to what swansont said, some information can be found here. I remember how a couple of years back I started thinking it would be cool to have some sort of microchip or a small module that produces truly random signals based on some nifty quantum phenomenon and later realized there were actually lots of techniques to achieve this already. Of course, when talking cryptography etc. it's worth noting that many components are vulnerable to attacks (especially the thermal components), and that the randomness decreases over time as entropy increases. Apparently the latter can be countered somewhat with estimations about entropy progression though. But yeah, these kind of components and mechanisms are the way to go for any purpose that requires true randomness.

At least it's not operating on Vista.

We had a thread about this a while back. As it turns out, it's more difficult to use than more conventional mixtures.

I returned to Finland on Friday, but I still can't get over the sheer awesomeness of Iceland. Most of the not-so-local food reminded me of the U.S. as Iceland apparently has everything from KFC, Taco Bell and Burger King to McDonald's and Pizza Hut. I noticed lots of other "yankee brands" too, including GAP stores and Hershey's and Frito-Lay snacks. Also, one thing worth mentioning is the architecture; AFAIK there are no regulations regarding the exterior look of buildings which is the reason some people have built pyramid and barrel-shaped houses. The capital, Reykjavik, was quite pleasing. The buildings weren't too tall (due to possible earthquakes) and it wasn't too urban. The roads were rather weird at places, after driving around the city for a while you'll notice that the road designers seem to have some sort of roundabout/traffic circle fetish. I'll have to stress the interesting topography. It's truly remarkable compared to, well, probably most other countries and compared to Finland it was like being on an entirely different planet. Very, very flat lava fields littered with abrupt, huge mountains. Beautiful waterfalls, geysers, hot springs, black lava rock beaches, volcanoes, glaciers etc. Anyone ever been? Or perhaps lives there?

I can't decide between awesome healthcare and widespread alcoholism.

In the context of Christianity, seeing how God created air friction, gravity and other nasty things that make it pretty hard to get off Earth to begin with, I'd be pretty amazed if he designed the universe with FTL travel in mind. It's like he doesn't even want us to go to space, as it's a cold, hostile place where lethal bursts of radiation and pieces of rock swoosh about, rather than a warm place filled with candycanes. God seems like the kind of dude who really wants humans to work their asses off if they want to get anything done.

Then again, some of the discoverers do have pretty funny names. A disease with a high mortality rate is easier to cope with if it has an especially hilarious name, I'd imagine.

I've been collecting some links recently, including Science Daily and sciencenews.org but yesterday I cried a bit when I read a Science Daily article that claimed quantum computers make FTL communication possible.

I've been lucky as I haven't broken any bones as of yet, but slamming a car door on my thumb hurt pretty bad. Getting molten, burning plastic on my hand wasn't too pleasant either. Oddly, having one of my wisdom teeth removed didn't hurt at all but I'll knock on wood since I still have three left. Funny quote of the day: "You will learn the meaning of pain" -My dad's dentist, just before a root canal operation (which the dentist apparently screwed up, resulting into it hurting like hell).

There are predictions about the chemistry of very unstable elements since we know how the orbitals are filled. For example, the thus far undetected elements 117 and 119 are predicted to be a halogen and an alkali metal, respectively. However, because of relativistic effects they are likely to display some unusual properties compared to other elements of their groups. This doesn't mean that researchers are going to try to get a 1ms half-life metal to form an oxide though, I guess it's just something you can predict fairly easily. Sure, you can study the properties of the atoms but not with conventional chemical methods. On the subject of not being able to "see" the very unstable elements, it isn't a very good argument because a) we can detect them and b) they count as elements (atoms distinguished by their proton number), and thus have a place in the periodic table. The periodic table isn't an exclusive "club" for elements that have uses in chemistry. Sort of pretending that an atom that lasts half a millisecond doesn't exist is silly, since we don't do that with subatomic particles with half-lives below nanoseconds either.

This isn't about deliberate "disarming" that much; if someone has a gun and is planning to rob someone they probably won't leave the gun home. BUT if someone is planning a robbery, and is thinking of buying a gun from the black market for example, I'd imagine they don't necessarily do so if they're in a country where it is likely that the people they're robbing don't have guns at all. If they're spotted, no big deal since the person who noticed him isn't likely to have a gun, and even if they're arrested they'll spend less time in jail than they would for an armed robbery (in most legislations). Of course, something that is more important in the "do I need a gun for this <insert criminal activity here>" scenario are self defense laws. In Finland for example, if someone is robbing your house and you notice them and they come at you with a knife you are likely to spend some time in jail for excessive self defense if you shoot them dead. But probably not if they have a firearm too. In this sort of legislations in most situations it's feasible for criminals not to use firearms at all. Then again, it somewhat sucks for everyone else.