Questions tagged [chemistry]
For questions about the study of chemical reactions, dynamics and related phenomena
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Who first documented the smell of hydrogen sulfide to be "the smell of rotten eggs"?
Hydrogen sulfide is known for its characteristic "rotten eggs" smell. And it is well known to everybody having discovered in 18th century. But who first documented it of having the "...
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Körner-Contardi reaction: Lost to history?
When we talk about synthesizing aryl halides, the more famous reaction is Friedel-Crafts halogenation which is still used commercially to produce chlorobenzene. If we consider synthesis through ...
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How does the daguerrotype give directly a positive image?
I have already asked this question in the Chemistry community, but since daguerrotype is an old, obsolete technique, I hope this question can be considered as on-topic also here, to increase my ...
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What is the oldest way to measure the voltage?
What is the oldest way to measure the voltage?
I mean the experimental way or apparatus.
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Why are the terms electrophile/nucleophile used? Are they not identical to Lewis acids/bases?
My understanding is that the above pairs of terms are identical in definition, indicating acceptors/donors of an electron pair. So, why are both used?
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Who was the inventor of the 18-electron rule?
According to Wikipedia, the first person who proposed 18-electron rule was American chemist Irving Langmuir, but the rule is widely known by the name Sidgwick's rule. I cannot find any information ...
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A brief history of "delocalization" of electrons
I have been studying the concepts of "resonance" and "mesomerism" recently and a common principle of these concepts is the "delocalization" (of electrons, molecular ...
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Were molecules called atoms in the 19th century?
E.g. a quote from Justus von Liebig, 17th Chemical Letter, 1858, in German:
Wir können ein Stück Zucker, auch wenn wir es noch so fein reiben, nicht flüssig machen, noch viel weniger können wir durch ...
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History and origin of the Iso-, Sec-, Tert- and Neo- prefixes?
I have studied the prefixes "Iso-", "Sec-", "Tert-" and "Neo-" for a long time in chemistry but wonder where they originate from i.e. where is the place (the ...
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What is the history of the classification of states of matter?
In my school curriculum, and in many standard presentations such as Wikipedia, it is claimed that there are four fundamental states of matter: solids, liquids, gases, and plasmas. How was this list ...
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How do we know Hennig Brand's name?
The story of Hennig Brand discovering the element phosphorous is often repeated without citation, and there doesn't seem to be much scholarship about Brand in particular (although the history of the ...
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Kekulé and his discovery of benzene
“I was sitting writing at my textbook, but the work did not progress; my thoughts were elsewhere. I turned my chair to the fire, and dozed. Again the atoms were gamboling before my eyes. This time the ...
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How did the concept of pH originate and develop?
Background & My research
To begin I did some research to find a few articles on the history of pH namely "The Symbol for pH"- William B. Jensen, "One-Hundred Years of pH" - ...
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In JJ Thomson's cathode ray experiment I need values for the electric field and magnetic field when net force on the cathode beam = 0
I asked here as well https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/177889/in-jj-thomsons-cathode-ray-experiment-why-is-effects-of-gravity-on-electron-not
https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/...
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A summary of Major events in Pre-Modern Atomist Philosophy of Chemistry [closed]
When I started learning about Laws related to "constant proportions" and other hypothesis like "all matter is composed of smallest indivisible particles", I didn't notice it was ...
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