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Asked by JamDonut to John, Laura, Luke, Rob, Ruth on 13 Jun 2016. This question was also asked by Becca.
Question: What is your favourite chemical?
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Laura Finney answered on 13 Jun 2016:
My favourite chemical is one I use every day!
It’s called hydroquinone and it is found in plants. They use it as part of photosynthesis so that they can do reactions in the plant using light. It’s what allows me to use sunlight in my reactions and do really cool things that we can’t do without the combination of this chemical and sunlight.In the dark the molecule doesn’t do anything!
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Robert Williams answered on 13 Jun 2016:
Buckminsterfullerene :
a) because it has an elegant structure/shape
b) because it’s only made of one type of atom – carbon
c) because it has some amazing properties
and
d) It looks like it will have some stunningly magical uses in hi-tech industries such as computing, chemistry, physics, materials science and electronics – to name but a few -
Luke Williams answered on 13 Jun 2016:
Good choices already – I still remember making a bucky ball out of moly mod kit when at school. It took forever, and I couldn’t feel my thumb for about a week afterwards!
My favourite chemical? DMSO, or dimethylsulfoxide. Typically used as a solvent, it has the nickname “the universal solvent”, because it will dissolve pretty much anything.
This is a good thing if you absolutely must get something to dissolve, but it is a pain to remove, particularly if water is also about as well. But the really really cool (and dangerous!) thing about DMSO is that it will go through your skin very very easily. This isn’t too bad by itself, although not something anyone will recommend; however, it gets a LOT worse when there’s something dissolved in it, as it will drag that chemical through into your body as well.
Apparently if you get any on you, you will eventually taste a bitter almond flavour, but I don’t know if that’s true or just an urban myth. What is true though, is you really don’t want any to get on you! I have always been particularly careful with that stuff!
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John Fossey answered on 13 Jun 2016:
Mauveine, definitely.
Purple dye, discovered by Perkin.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MauveinePurple was the colour of the super rich emperors, royalty, etc, as the main source of purple dye came from a crustacean that must be collected and processed.
Perkin opened up purple to the worldhttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/mar/12/the-invention-of-the-colour-purple
As a dedicated purplist myself I really appreciate it. I have plenty of purple clothes, purple ink (from Sheaffer) in my pen and even where I live (near the Cadbury factory) the street lights and and train station are emblazoned with Cadbury Dairy Milk Purple.
Unfortunately, purple is being used by a political party that does not have my support.
>>>I accidentally hit like on my own post and can’t remove it, so to balance it out I hit like on everyone else’s 🙂 <<<
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Ruth Patchett answered on 14 Jun 2016:
I have to agree with Robert that bit structures are cool and Buckminsterfullerene and graphene are pretty cool. But I would say my favourite chemical is Sodium or Potassium BArf (yeah like Barf..) apart from the hilarious name it is a really useful anion that allows us to make most of our metal complexes in my research group. It also helps us to grow crystals which always make us happy (because then we can look at our molecules using x-rays)!
Comments
Laura commented on :
Well I’ve learnt something today now aswell Luke! I knew DMSO wasn’t nice but I had no idea about it dragging things through your body like that! It just goes to show why wearing gloves and safety equipment is so important! I’ll definitely take more care with DMSO in future!
John commented on :
But even worse is to use contaminated gloves with dmso inside it makes it even worse. Disposable gloves should be used when needed and then disposed of – don’t reuse sweaty plastic bags for your hands people.
Ruth commented on :
oh the great glove debate has started…only a matter of time.
Luke commented on :
I am wholly in favour of the purplist revolution. Glad to know I’m not the only one who, when presented with a Sheaffer pen, resolved to deplete the national supply of purple ink.
It was also painfully obvious in the lab when looking at marked glassware etc. Everyone else: black, blue, the occasional red. My bench: PURPLE. Occasionally pink, as a couple batches of the pens seemed to almost bleach in the autoclave… those were sad days.
Ideal Yas Equation commented on :
I accidentally hit like on Luke’s own post and can’t remove it, so to balance it out I hit like on everyone else’s 🙂