What is the best way to move hot air? Would it be blowing air across the heat source (ex: wood stove) or suck the air away from the heat source? [more inside]
posted by ascetic on Dec 16, 2009 - 11 answers

What happened to my Shampoo? I mixed two different Shampoo brands about 70/30 and liked the resultant mixture. The next time I mixed them 50/50 and overnight the mixture lost all it's "thickness" (viscosity, I guess) and still works fine, but is as thin as milk if not thinner. [more inside]
posted by Rafaelloello on Oct 23, 2009 - 6 answers

What is the most important scientific question of our time? [more inside]
posted by Demogorgon on Oct 12, 2009 - 44 answers

Please help me really grok chemistry. [more inside]
posted by Vorteks on Sep 24, 2009 - 14 answers

Good resources for rules-of-thumb for laboratory dangers and chemical safety? [more inside]
posted by you're a kitty! on Jan 26, 2009 - 13 answers

A question for chemists - I am doing a calculation about the energy requirements of taking CO2 at atmospheric pressure and temperature and compressing it to 2 MPa (2000 kPa, about 300 psi) and cooling it to -31ºC and am a bit uncertain about handling the phase change from gas to liquid. [more inside]
posted by gspm on Jul 24, 2008 - 7 answers

i want something sort of like this, only more to my liking. recommendations, please. [more inside]
posted by gcat on Apr 17, 2008 - 4 answers

Is there a chemical explanation for the density of an element or is it simply an innate physical characteristic? [more inside]
posted by beta male on Jan 21, 2008 - 14 answers

What is a bricks-and-mortar store at which I could buy a set of model elements / bonds - the molecule model things that students use as they are learning organic chemistry? [more inside]
posted by Chanther on Jan 7, 2008 - 14 answers

What is the correct thermodynamic explanation for the fact that all monosaccharides with 5 or more backbone carbon atoms occur predominately in their cyclic form in solution?
posted by perissodactyl on Dec 12, 2007 - 5 answers

ChemistryFilter: What chemicals are out there that can stain a t-shirt, but then be quickly dissolved with a chemical? Bonus points: Chemicals are safe enough for compost heap, and won't dissolve in a washing machine. [more inside]
posted by mccarty.tim on Dec 3, 2007 - 8 answers

NewAcademicJobFilter: What did/should you do, to start off a new academic job at a new institution and do it right? Lab? Colleagues? Students? People to know? Actions to take? How did you leave your own institution? [more inside]
posted by lalochezia on Jul 3, 2007 - 6 answers

"A human is halfway in size between an atom and the known universe"... This is a paraphrased quote I have come across several times. I like it. Who said it first? How true is it in the most literal sense? And, finally, what errors arrive in postulating a universe, or an atom, which can be measured AT ALL from our singular, relativistic, perspective? [more inside]
posted by 0bvious on Feb 18, 2007 - 14 answers

Measuring alcohol content without a hydrometer? [more inside]
posted by Blazecock Pileon on Jan 10, 2007 - 8 answers

What is the underlying physiological cause for paresthesia (tingling of the fingers) secondary to hyperventilation? Specifically, what metabolic or neurological process causes you to feel tingling in your fingers when you hyperventilate?
posted by scrump on Jun 30, 2006 - 2 answers

When I pour sugar in my coffee the total volume in my mug increases. What happen to the volume when the sugar dissolves (decreasing or stable ?) ?
posted by vincentm on May 18, 2006 - 9 answers

Theoretically, if I needed large amounts of carbon, could I extract it from the air? How could I do it?
posted by Mwongozi on Dec 6, 2005 - 18 answers

What would happen if you take a cube of ice, at a specific size, and fit it in an airthight glass box with the exact same dimensions, and then let it melt? [more inside]
posted by cheerleaders_to_your_funeral on Jun 2, 2005 - 29 answers