Questions tagged [chemistry-in-fiction]
Chemistry-in-fiction covers all chemistry that can be seen in TV series, films and can be read in books, etc. which does not necessarily need to be based on proper scientific backgrounds.
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Macgyvering a Spectroscope
I am currently playing a dungeons and dragons campaign in which there are some new elements. My party, being the nerds that we are, is looking to experiment with them and attempt to discover new ones ...
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Is the Hollywood portrayal of the effects of ingesting HCN correct?
In the 2012 movie Skyfall, the antagonist Raoul Silva rues that the "hydrogen cyanide" he took ("Do you know what it does to you, hydrogen cyanide?") didn't kill him, leaving him horribly disfigured ...
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What would an ammonium sulfide fire look like?
I am writing a novel and the climax involves killing my protagonist in an explosion. My science knowledge is poor but I believe my scenario is entirely plausible except possibly a couple of details.
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What does it mean for meth or any other compound to be 'pure'?
In Breaking Bad, Walter White can cook $99.1\%$ pure meth. In general what does it mean for a substance to be pure? In this case, what exactly does it mean for meth to be pure? Does higher purity mean ...
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"4K-metal chelated" A chemical term used in Sagan's Cosmos
Maybe this question doesn't belong here. It's about a hypothetical xenobiology imagined by a prominent scientist in a seminal work of popular science. So I dunno. Tell me to go away and I'll see if ...
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Can flames be colored black?
Most of us here would know that flames can be colored by adding an appropriate salt to the 'fuel' or by simply introducing it into a flame. Boron and Barium salts give the flame a green tinge, ...
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How could I cause metal to rust rapidly?
I'm writing a novel set in the mid-nineteenth century. One of my characters needs to cause an iron padlock to rust rapidly, ideally within a matter of hours.
The lock doesn't need to rust away ...
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Is a compound composed out of gold, manganese, xenon, krypton, and oxalate possible?
Please keep in mind while reading this that I do not intend to create this, it is part of the backstory for a video game I am producing.
I created a compound based on knowledge from my chemistry ...
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If I were to create a fictional way to obtain elements from Granite, what would be a good approach?
Notes:
This question is in regard to my Minecraft mod. To those who don't know, Minecraft is a first person survival game by Mojang, where the players' objective is to become self sufficient and ...
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Constructing a grenade (for a novel I'm writing.)
Ok, before any eyebrows get raised, this is for a novel that I'm writing and inspired by this answer from worldbuilding and this reference answer. I just want to make sure the device I'm trying to use ...
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Endothermic Reaction with Specific Details
I need some information for a book I'm writing.
Let's say you're in a confined space, about 8 feet by 8 feet. The area is being heated externally slowly (a few degrees a minute) to about 3,100 ...
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Reaction Penetrating Metal Sheet
I'm writing a novel set 28 years in the future in which the protagonist attempts to manipulate a communications satellite by directing a swarm of nanorobots (or possibly micro-robots, depending on ...
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Non-carbon based life forms on hot planets
I am writing a story with people made of elements other than carbon. A couple of planets in this series are really hot, so I need compounds with high melting points.
For example, there is a lone ...
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Which acid to choose when designing a world with acid seas? [closed]
I'm currently writing a narrative and hoping to include a world which is home to a sea of some form of 'nasty' substance (doesn't have to be acid).
The varieties of inhabitants of this world have ...
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Why are acids usually depicted in fiction as green?
In cartoons, etc., acid is generally shown as vividly green, as in this scene from the Simpsons:
We even have the colour "acid green".
But when I used to use acids in chemistry class, they weren't ...
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