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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Is Polymerized lithium niobocene a possible compound? [duplicate]
I was doing some research on different types of body armor and found a fictional compound by the name of Polymerized LiNb. I wanted to find what the structure of this compound looked like so it could ...
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I'm writing a theory for a game called Timberborn, but I need help identifying a chemical from it [closed]
As the title says, I'm trying to write a theory for a game called Timberborn where I figure out the backstory of the game. But I need help identifying a chemical in the game. It's called Badwater, and ...
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Are there real chemistry bottles with this kind of label? [closed]
I watched a movie recently which had a close-up of this weird bottle:
The way it reads is very strange to me. Is this just complete movie nonsense, or are there really bottles in real life sold with ...
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Is the method of Benji detecting plutonium realistic in Mission Impossible: Fallout?
In Mission Impossible: Fallout, there is a scene where Benjamin Dunn was examining a plutonium core brought by Eastern European gangsters. He touched the core with some sort of a rod and when asked ...
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Why isn't the Leuckart reaction used to make (meth)amphetamine?
For example, in Breaking Bad, they synthesize meth from phenylacetone.
Why not just use methylammonium formate, if they already have methylamine?
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Can eating soap protect you if you ingested radioisotopes? [closed]
In “Pass the Vegetables, Please”, the 71st episode of Gilligan's Island, Gilligan and the gang all ate seeds of radioactive vegetables, and the professor suggested eating soap. He says the ...
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How soluble is water ice in liquid H2S?
This seems to be ridiculously hard to research, as Google only wants to give me results about dissolving H2S in water (rather than the other way around)--and when I tried to get around that by looking ...
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Converting pyrite to iron sulfate
I was reading a Jules Verne book recently, in which the following chemical reaction was done:
He placed a layer of branches and chopped wood, on which were piled some pieces of shistose pyrites ... ...
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Alkaline hydrolysis with KOH instead of NaOH. Why?
I really loved the series breaking bad. So I started reading about the science behind. I found this paper:
Harnisch, F., & Salthammer, T. (2013). Die Chemie bei Breaking Bad. In Chemie in unserer ...
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Looking for a compound that when mixed with sugar will burn when a drop of water is added
Years ago, I watched a Johnny Carson episode where a guest on the show mixed a compound with ordinary table sugar and added a drop of water and the mixture burst into flames. I went and bought the ...
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What non-hazardous substance can be used to locally turn sky red?
I am a horror author and I have a scene coming up in my new book where I need a red-colored gas (or a gas that would somehow be turned or viewed red when viewed from the ground) to be spilled into the ...
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Name of toxic liquid product that can be cleared with flocking agent
I'm writing a paper rpg scenario, and even if we don't need to be 100% accurate about chemistry and physics in such games, one of my players has an advanced level in chemistry and I don't want him to ...
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Could blue flames arise within the hull of a burning ship?
In Joseph Conrad's Youth: A Narrative, set in 1876, a 400-ton barque ship, the Judea, is sent to Java Head to transport 600 tons of coal. Although various delays occur during its journey, the coal it ...
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Molecule with reversible exothermic conformational change?
I proposed some exotic biochemistry on the Worldbuilding stack.
https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/166814/digestive-system-of-the-ultimate-omnivore/166829#166829
Your creature ...
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What is a material more easily cut than shattered? [closed]
I'm currently developing a sci-fi concept for animation which partially involves a typical "the earth has been overrun by XYZ" scenario.
One of the ideas for XYZ we're thinking of is a species of ...
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Can aniline be made with the method described in Dr Stone?
In Dr Stone, the main character makes aniline by rinsing coal tar with HCl, then mixing in ethyl acetate. See the image below. Is a method like this possible? What is occurring here?
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Producing soap from sodium carbonate and oil
Can we get soap by mixing $\ce{Na2CO3}$ from seaweeds with oil?
I am not good at chemistry and saw this in the anime Dr. Stone. I just want to know if it is true or not.
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Acid-Base Reaction in MacGyver Episode "Countdown"
This question is about the old MacGyver show, Season 1, Episode 14, "Countdown." Could someone please explain how/why MacGyver neutralizes the acid in the bomb? He claims it is an electrolyte switch, ...
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Would burning of around 200 kg of animal fat in a tunnel cause an explosion? [closed]
As shown in the movie Ironclad, they burnt a group of fat pigs together, under a tunnel, beneath the fort base and it resulted in a massive explosion.
From chemistry's perspective, and considering ...
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What chemical regularly transported by road in the UK would cause serious injury/loss of life if it escaped in a road accident? [closed]
I'm writing a story where a serious multi-vehicle pileup happens in the winter during foggy weather. I need the fallout from this to include the escape of a substance that will cause significant ...
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Does oxyhydrogen require the presence of water to ignite?
I recently read a short story (fiction) where a major plot element was based on the expectation that a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen will not ignite unless some amount of water is present to get the ...
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Other than ultracold lithium gas, are any ferromagnetic or magnetic gasses known or hypothesized?
I'm dealing with an interactive work of fiction right now, and one proposal is to combine two types of puzzles with a magnetic gas. I know that fermionic $\ce{^6Li}$, when cooled below $\pu{1 K}$, has ...
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Calculating volume of gases in different conditions
Doctor Who has a secret laboratory on Venus where atmospheric pressure is $92$ times that of Earth and room temperature is $\pu{735 K}$. There, Doctor Who mixes $\pu{4.00 g}$ of $\ce{CaCO3}$ with $\pu{...
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How could I produce/rig this flame-colour lottery?
Not sure if this is the wrong SE for this, happy to move it if not...
In the Netflix TV series Sabrina, there is a scene where people take part in an appropriately-gothic-and-ominous lottery, which ...
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Extracting sulphur from hot springs with medieval technology?
For the sake of a dungeons and dragons game. Could sulphur be deposited on/extracted from hot springs water through evaporation or other proess?
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Why is gunpowder urinated on in Blood Meridian?
An interesting section of Blood Meridian (1985) by Cormac McCarthy has the gang of "Indian fighters" surrounded and out of powder, so one of them manages to make it from scratch, making charcoal from ...
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Would it be possible to destroy gold?
I'm a writer. I have a scenario in which a sizable amount of gold needs to be rendered unusable, preferably completely destroyed. I know an acid like aqua regia is able to dissolve gold, but would ...
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Results of mixing HSbF6 and O2F2
I'm an amateur writer and one of the topics I deal with is what happens when a slightly-mad scientist and engineer is given an opportunity to work with full-on “magic.” So there are situations where ...
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What is the Italian ‘Acido Psammico’ (Psammic acid?)
I am reading an Italian detective novel — Lo stato delle anime by Giorgio Todde — in which someone is poisoned with ‘acido psammico’.
Marini trova nello stomaco della vittima un ostia con all’...
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Diamonds into protective barrier
Theoretically, is it possible to make a large, transparent piece of armor or a shield from a diamond?
Say, a piece of the said armor with a size $7^\prime \times 7^\prime \times 6^{\prime\prime}$?
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