Just like a trip to the dentist, it's time for The Dreaded Chemistry Lesson From Hell. This time we'll discuss the element xenon. Also, Dr. Charles "Chuckie D." Dinerstein gets his comeuppance. And a mini-book review. No extra charge!
explosives
Some chemicals are so dangerous that even experienced chemists hate to use them. Here's a real doozy. Diazomethane is an explosive, highly toxic gas, which is a carcinogen. It is made from another toxic carcinogen and the chemical that makes Drano work. Aside from that, it's just fine.
The Florida man who was arrested for synthesizing the "Mother of Satan" claims that he was just making fireworks. Uh-huh. Celebrating the Fourth of July early, we suppose? Here, we explain the chemistry behind the explosive.
A Chinese group just pulled off something that has eluded chemists for decades. Chemists made and isolated a simple, but highly-unstable creation called pentazole for the purpose of studying it as an explosive. And they didn't even blow themselves up.
The words "chemistry" and "easy" rarely go together. But, this rule is (more or less) broken when it comes to understanding the chemistry of explosives. Almost all of them have two things in common: lots of gas, and very little carbon.