The science of matter and the changes it can undergo.
Questions tagged [chemistry]
151 questions
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Did cows in Germany blow up their own barn by farting?
As reported by Reuters, Flatulent cows start fire at German dairy farm - police
Methane gas from 90 flatulent cows exploded in a German farm shed on Monday, damaging the roof and injuring one of the animals, police said.
High levels of the gas had…
Ladadadada
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Did Donald Duck accidentally use methylene in a comic before it was discovered?
From Good Comics:
In 1963, the Disney Studio learned just how wide and faithful a
readership Barks had. A letter arrived from Joseph B. Lambert of the
California Institute of Technology, pointing out a curious reference
in “The Spin States of…
Casebash
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2 answers
Is diet soda as bad for your teeth as regular soda or methamphetamine?
I've heard of many claims about soda water itself containing carbonic acid (as claimed by a teacher I had in high school) and having a generally high pH that's enough to destroy one's teeth.
This article from Huffington Post cites a study that…
Ten Bitcomb
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12
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Can burning potato peels clean a chimney?
Some state, that burning dry potato skin would remove or reduce carbon black in a chimney. One can find many examples for this online:
The potato peels burn at high energy and will help push the soot and creosote out of the chimney.
I could not…
Jonas Stein
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Do copper jewellery stains indicate illness?
People wearing copper jewellery quite often have black/green/dark blue stains on wrists and fingers. Articles like Copper Jewelry & Green Skin say that these stains are related to a person's metabolism, and appear because of stress, unhealthy diet,…
Egle
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11
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1 answer
Can a dead mouse sealed in a can of soda dissolve into a jelly-like substance in one year?
A soft-drink company argued in a "dead mouse in a can of soda" case that an intact body of a dead mouse is unlikely to be found inside a can of soda because the dead mouse would have been dissolved by the acid in the soda can in that…
user2547
11
votes
2 answers
Does cow urine contain gold?
I stumbled upon a video of a baba (spiritual guru | Baba Ramdev) saying that cow urine contains gold.
This belief is widespread in India. I looked it up and many sites saying cow urine contains gold.
Does cow urine contain gold?
Is it in a…
Dudey
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Do extreme homeopathic dilutions still retain quantities of the starting materials?
This Indian Institute of Technology Bombay press release quotes some research papers which claims to prove that homeopathic remedies do retain original substances even when diluted.
The paper reports the fascinating observation that certain high…
skept101
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Is consuming drinking water stored in PET bottles harmful
It's a common practice in India to store drinking water in Polyethylene Terephthalate(commonly know as PET) bottles. It is also claimed in many health forums & newspapers articles that PET bottles shouldn't be used to store water for a prolonged…
KharoBangdo
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Is it possible to stack liquids of different density scale on top of each other?
I came across q picture on the net and now I'm skeptical that it's possible. I know liquids from different density scale wouldn't mix easily but stacking them on top of eachother with perfectly visible borders is something else. No more explanation!…
2hamed
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Is Oxycontin pharmaceutical-grade heroin?
I was watching a documentary about the Oxy pipeline from Florida to Kentucky this weekend where a sheriff made the claim that Oxycontin was pharmaceutical-grade heroin. This is not the first time I had heard this claim but I assumed they were just…
Chad
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3 answers
Does elemental mercury give off toxic vapor?
This video claims to show mercury giving off a steady stream of toxic vapor when viewed with a UV light.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JABbofwD3MI
There is also a Reddit discussion about this video. The visible vapor could easily be something else…
Brian Webster
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Are a third of the proteins we consume dependent on synthetic fertilizer?
In July 1997, Vaclav Smil wrote an article in Scientific American on humankind's use of the Nitrogen Cycle (emphasis added):
Synthetic fertilizers provide about 40 percent of all the nitrogen taken up by [cultivated plants]. Because they…
Barry Harrison
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Are plastics harder to wash?
I was once told that if a piece of plastic gets oily, it's harder to "de-oil" than other substances because plastics are actually made from a derivative of oil. Is this so?
Thursagen
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Do vacuum wine stoppers help preserve wine?
Vacuum wine stoppers are very popular, but I don't know how effective they actually are. I've been unable to find any scientific results. I have found plenty of people who have bought the products and think they "work great".
I've found plenty of…
golmschenk
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