#compoundchem

[periodicapartments]

1st one, 1st column:

Silicon: Huh, that’s pretty cool, not super practical but still, that laser could be used for some really interesting things

.

2nd one, 1st column:

Sulfur: Oh wow that’s awesome, now I just need some gene tech and all fruits will be lemons!

Everyone else: *panicking in the background*

[periodicapartments]

1st one, 1st column:

Oxygen: Whoa, that’s so cool!

Xenon: And you know what that means? Aliens!

Oxygen: *sweatdrop* Um, not necessarily...

2nd one, 1st column:

Mercury: Oh wow, that’s cool too!

Carbon: But Mercury, that means there’s more of your element in the sea than we think.

Mercury: ...O-oh... *cry emote*

1st one, 2nd column:

Aluminum: Wait, who’s putting my element in chip bags anyway?

Tin: Well they’re kinda foily and shiny on the inside and stuff, so I guess that’s it?

Aluminum: Oh yeah, that makes sense.

2nd one, 2nd column:

Beryllium: Huh, that’s neat.

Hydrogen: Hey, this is about my element not your’s!

Beryllium: Yeah well which of us is known for our sweetness?

Hydrogen: Well most people don’t know your element.

Beryllium: *super offended*

[estiqatsi]

[molecularbiologistproblems]

Quick guide to spotting bad science by @compoundchem

[redbubble]

His upcoming book is titled “Why Does Asparagus Make Your Wee Smell?” and he sells the best geeky science posters on Redbubble, so, we interviewed him! 

Check out compoundchem‘s awesome chemistry posters & infographics for sale on Redbubble! 

[compoundchem]

Compound Interest is one year old today - over the past year, the site has gathered over 85,000 followers across the various social media sites. Huge thanks to all of you for all your positive comments about the graphics and support for the site! Don't forget you can reach an index of all the graphics posted in the past year here: http://wp.me/P4aPLT-14. Which ones have been your favourites?

[brainsx]

I was a cation for Halloween.

[mking-it-clear]

Anthocyanin in action!

This is a borage flower I picked form the garden and threw into acid. The process of turning colour took about an hour, pH was around 2.

Anthocyanins are found in red and blue flowers and they cause some of the red colours of leaves in autumn, as compundchem taught us!

Why does this flower change it’s colour, though? What happens to the anthocyanin? Here is the answer: The anthocyanin molecule changes from cation to anion with the pH value, those forms have different charges, different conjugated pi-systems and therefore absorb different wavelengths. The colour our eyes see is the complimentary colour to the absorbed one. Our normal light is white, a mixture of all colours, if some of them are absorbed, we see the complimentay. This is what one of the anthocyanins looks like and how it changes with pH value:

Usually anthocyanins are linked to sugars via their OH-groups, the sugars make them soluable in water. They are also stabilized by coordinating with metals and copigments. They are used as food colouring, but usually only for sour foods because that is their most stable form. They are flavonoids.

Sources:

https://web.archive.org/web/20111031131601/http://membres.multimania.fr/mourad/anthocyanes.html http://daten.didaktikchemie.uni-bayreuth.de/umat/bluetenfarbstoff/bluetenfarbstoff.htm#2 http://www.chids.de/dachs/wiss_hausarbeiten/ExperimentelleHA_Konen/V/PDF/V20.pdf (and wikipedia of course)