Hello, I'm not a chemist, just a Graphic Designer with an interest in science. When I was in highschool I remember having to use the Periodic Table and thought the layout was clunky even though there's obviously some good reasoning in the design. When learning about Orbital levels and principle quantum numbers, I thought it would help me to lay out the periodic table given what I had learned.

So my question is, to the chemists of reddit, what are your thoughts? Is this a dumb layout that isn't actually useful, or is this a great way to display the elements to better visualize the energy levels/orbitals/electron configuration? Or something in between?

Again, not a chemist, so I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I'm a PhD materials scientist with a strong analytical chemistry background, hoping folks here maybe know of places where these more light-hearted efforts inspired by curiosity and humor might fit...? Here's the text from my original post:

I'm an independent scientist looking to do some research* because of silly reasons** and wanted to see if there are organizations of researchers out there doing similar things in materials science or related fields...? I love the idea of applying my expertise towards solving a seemingly unimportant question and treating it like a full-fledged scientific endeavor. Thanks!

* chemical and structural characterization of a standard cookie formulation as prepared in the oven and microwave + a possible subsequent recipe/process optimization study of a microwave-based cookie

** I was sad to discover that the Hot Pocket crisping sleeve was discontinued 2 years ago and went down a rabbit hole to learn more about how and why microwave susceptors work with crusty doughs

Are surfactant good oil solubilizers because they have a long hydrophobe tail or rather a small hydrophilic head or perhaps the contrary. I would also guess that the nature of the oil would really affect the compatibility. I don't fully understand the depth of the world of surfactants. Can a solution of water, fragrance and surfactant be crystal clear or will it always have that white scum on the top.

I come to understand that fragrances mostly the synthetic ones are an extraction of aromatic compounds with a solvent. There is multiple solvent that exists in fragrance making and figuring out which solvent was used in a fragrance is also another tricky part. So you end up with multiple problems to solve.

1. What solvent is used in the fragrance ? ( From my understanding, most solvents are amphiphilic)

2. Is the surfactant a good solubilizers ? (How do you figure that ?)

3. Is the surfactant compatible with the fragrance ? (Just by doing some testing I would guess ?)

4. What will be the appearance of the final product ? ( I would probably guess that it will always be a cloudy solution if there is a perfect homogenisation of the oil and water)

I'm making a quick fabric refreshner consisting of just water, fragrance, surfactant, preservative and a odour absorber

hi! i was going to use ethyl cinnamate for light sheet and rather than being clear, it’s this iridescent pink color and has some gelatinous residue inside. It also becomes sticky when it dries rather than staying oily.

It was stored at room temp rather than 2-8C as directed. It could just be a manufacturer error but i just thought i’d ask

EDIT: I’m just an undergrad summer intern in this lab and learned about this project last week. I don’t have access to most chemicals. My mentor says he didn’t know that it was supposed to be stored at low temp until i told him.

Im interested in making a jar for a wet specimen but wanted to make sure the rubbing alcohol wouldn't mess with the silicone sealant before going forward with the project :)

I have a pH meter in the lab where I work. The pH meter has not been in contact with KCl for a long time, so I'm afraid that the KCl inside the glass has dried out. Someone also told me that it has dried out. So, what can I do to refill it? Is it possible to restore the electrode? I once read in a book that if the KCl has dried out inside the cell, it is time to get rid of the pH electrode entirely. But today, my friend said it is possible to restore it. Should I immerse the glass electrode in a KCl solution to refill it, or should I use the small hole above the pH glass to fill it?

Hi everyone,

(Note: I received authorization from the moderators to share this post here!)

I'm a high school student, and in my community, we don't lack proper chemistry labs—a situation made even worse after being affected by a devastating earthquake in the past. Learning chemistry has always been incredibly difficult and theoretical, but seeing the ongoing impact on my peers' education pushed me to take action.

Instead of giving up, a couple of friends and I decided to build our own 'virtual lab'. We spent the last few weeks learning Scratch, debugging code until 3 AM, and dealing with more than a few nervous breakdowns to create Evocación.

It’s a mobile-first educational game designed to make chemistry concepts less of a nightmare. It’s definitely a passion project born out of dedication to learning, and my primary goal is to get this tool into the hands of students who need an alternative to physical labs.

You can check out the project here:

Evocacion

Currently, Evocación is in Spanish, as it was designed for our local school curriculum. However, I’m planning to create an English version soon! If you'd be interested in playing it or helping with the translation, please let me know in the comments.

Any feedback on the game mechanics or the educational side of it would be absolutely amazing. Thanks for checking out our project!

Hello, what is the safe and environmental way to disposal 20 gallons of Phosphoric acid at 75%

After a long wait, the PdBr2 we ordered came in the mail and I got right to it. After weighing out samples for a few reactions I wiped it clean and found the parts of my microspatula that came into contact with the PdBr2 turned cloudy/white. Nothing I did removed it, so I'm pretty sure it's embedded. I don't know what metal plating this is exactly. The thing is that I've used PdCl2 plenty with this microspatula and there was no issue, so what's going on here?

Hi fellow scientists! I need an advice on what to do to solve the TopSpin opening problem on my MacBook computer.

Problem started a year-ish ago, when I couldn't open TopSpin (version 4.something at that time). Turns out it was a firewall problem: it has to be off for TopSpin to launch, consequence on Apple's new security protocol if I'm not mistaken.

But then it stopped opening again, even while firewall was off. And I get a bunch of errors: first two from TopSpin itself, the last one is from CodeMeter. I do have to say, that if I uninstall and then re-install TopSpin from zero, it opens fine. But then something happens and it stops opening.

I will be very happy to have any advice on the matter! Thank you everybody in advance :)

Edit: so sorry! I thought images of errors were added to the post! Here they are:

I've been experimenting with a prototype molecular visualization workflow that automatically transforms a protein structure into a cinematic walkthrough.

Starting from a PDB structure, the workflow:

Generates a molecular/cartoon representation

*Identifies ligands

*Detects structural features

*Generates labels and annotations

*Creates feature-centered camera shots

*Builds a multi-feature narrative

*Exports a 4K visualization

The goal is to reduce some of the manual work involved in preparing molecular visualizations for presentations, publications, teaching, and scientific communication.

I'm interested in feedback from the chemistry community:

* When presenting molecular structures, what parts of the visualization process are most time-consuming?

* Do you currently create animations for talks or teaching?

* What information would you most like to see highlighted automatically in a molecular walkthrough?

I don't much about chemistry, from reading the ingredients I would guess some kind of fluorine or selenium crystal?

Dear all,

I am currently facing lead oxide leaking from my alarm system lead acid battery. Can I use EDTA solution suggested by Google search is this feasible? The lead oxide chunk is roughly 1cm wide 3 cm long.

I’ve run this column before and I’m puzzled how I messed up because as far as I could tell I did everything the same as before. I added cotton wool, sand, DCM, silica slurry, packed the column under pressure till a mm of solvent remained above silica layer, then added my compound as a liquid (it’s an oil), then carefully washed the flask and walls with some DCM. At this point I swear everything was fine. The compound was evenly distributed across the silica. I opened the stopcock and let the solvent flow a bit, applied pressure to pack it, and then when there was 1 mm of solvent left and i was getting ready to add the sand I noticed there was this divot at the compound and silica interface. I know that I saw this at this step because I was confused and temporarily the solvent dried out at the top and I panicked lol. I added the sand and noticed the same divot at the same place?? It would make sense that if I was too heavyhanded with the sand then it punched a divot in the compound and silica layer, but I know the divot was there before I added any sand. Does anyone have an explanation? Maybe an air bubble even though I packed the silica and compound layers? Sorry if this is a rookie question.

Red arrows pointing to the divot in the sand and compound layer in case it’s not obvious

I'm setting up a protocol to start some experiments and I'm stuck trying to figure out the temperature controller on our autoclave, there's no manual anywhere (lost, never had one, who knows), so I'm basically reverse-engineering the thing by trial and error.

Does anyone recognize this model, know where I could dig up a manual or can just explain the general logic of how these PID-style controllers usually work?

Model: CNT120 Incon (I'm in South America, but I don't know much about this model. I wasn't able to find much information about it).

Images: https://imgur.com/a/EnleyrM

What is this? A pressure equalized burette? What would the application be and how would you fill that thing. I assume by sticking the bottom into the titrant and either pressure or vacuum on the hose fitting.
Anyone see this in action and mind to elaborate.

This has never been done before? Anyone know of a reliable way to create this? Maybe a step-potential capacitive reaction vessle...2CO2 +H20 Let's see it!

I work with lithium and perovskite samples, and small overlooked glove box issues always mess up my experiments. Here’s my simple routine:

Daily: Check O₂/H₂O readings, inspect gloves for pinholes, keep stable chamber pressure and clear solvent waste.

Weekly: Run glove pressure tests, wipe inner walls with anhydrous isopropanol, check all rubber seals.

Monthly: Calibrate sensors and assess purification column performance.

Slow leaks and uncalibrated sensors waste a lot of inert gas and ruin sensitive batches.

Curious what quick checks everyone else does before starting experiments each day?

I inherited a great deal of things a few years ago, including a glass bottle of cleaning solvent which I recently learned contains nitrobenzene. The metal cap is corroding, and I do not particularly want it in the house. My local FD suggested I contact a local hazmat company, but I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for its safe disposal. Thanks.

Newly dug baby potatoes, cooking normally until I cut open the white (not purple skinned) spuds. None were sun greened. As they opened the water turned a teal green-blue. I’ve seen similar posts so I separated the water into three bowls and added baking soda (darkened a little) to one and vinegar to another. Immediately turned light pink! So a neat experiment, but are these potatoes safe? Had some belly trouble after eating.