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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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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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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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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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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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 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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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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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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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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Single-molecule magnet with electrically-controlled permeability: How does the Titan Shield from Deus Ex work?
In a recent installment of Deus Ex game series there is an augmentation called "Titan Shield" (it has nothing to do with $\ce{Ti}$ element):
A neodymium skin underlay matrix built of nano-...
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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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How does Walter White make pure crystal meth using a non-stereospecific reaction?
In the highly-rated TV series, Breaking Bad, Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher recently diagnosed with cancer, takes to making the illicit drug, crystal meth (methamphetamine), by two main ...
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HI/P reduction mechanism
I recently answered a question about Breaking Bad's initial methamphetamine production method (i.e. the reduction of (pseudo)ephedrine). The reaction is as follows:
(Source)
It is infamously known ...
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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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