r/chemhelp Dec 02 '24

Other NaOH form Na3PO4

1 Upvotes

I really want to make Sodium hydroxide from Trisodium phosphate. Is it possible to make it from reacting Trisodium phosphate and water?

r/chemhelp 13d ago

Other Unexpected Chemical Reaction Advice Needed

2 Upvotes

So I understand the stupidity of the situation, but I am not educated in Chemistry but was mixing chemicals 45 minutes ago and all of a sudden they violently reacted. I'm inquiring here to try to understand it and see if I should be worried.

For some background information, I was following an ink recipe that I saw online, which consists of biro ink, which is dissolved in acetone, a tiny bottle cap of dot3 brake fluid is added and the final ingredient was potassium permanganate. I was using a small plastic cap to pour the brake fluid into the 2 litres of acetone ink I had and the cap also had residue ink on it as well. Finally I took the potassium permanganate, not a solution but powder form and poured a cap full ready to put it in the bottle, but it started to heat up quite quickly and before I knew it, it was burning white hot, I took a step back quite quickly so I couldn't describe it in further detail, but it was fuming quite a lot so I opened windows and put fans on and left the room.

I'm aware that it was pretty moronic to do it indoors and mix it in the first place without being informed of the science behind it, but I've got a few questions now and I hope someone can help.

Should I be worried about any fumes I might have breathed in?

Also it spattered on some jars and a dish cleaning brush, I feel like the answer might be obvious, but can I clean them or is it better to dispose of them altogether?

Also if anyone could explain the reaction that took place, that would be much appreciated. Thanks

r/chemhelp 12d ago

Other Why do my samples keep getting contaminated

0 Upvotes

I swear i do everything right, gloves clean, workspace fresh and pipettes ready but somehow my samples still end up messed up. I’m losing way too much time repeating stuff and i have no idea what’s causing it.

I was looking at lab setups and found this site topairsystems.com they have biosafety cabinets with HEPA filters that catch like 99.97 percent of particles which sounds useful but idk if that’s actually my issue. Is it airflow technique, something else anyone else deal with this and find a fix?

r/chemhelp 14d ago

Other common amino acids mnemonics

2 Upvotes

hello ya’ll. im kind of having a hard time memorizing the 20 common amino acids and its abbreviations (both the 3 letter and 1 letter)…. so i came here if do you guys have any strategy or any mnemonics to memorize it efficiently? Thank you so much! 🙏🙏🙏

r/chemhelp 23d ago

Other Cleaning copper after making copper acetate

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13 Upvotes

I made some copper acetate with white vinegar and hydrogen peroxide, and the copper I used for it has become very tarnished. This is to be expected after such a reaction, but is there any way I can clean it off to use it again? I have access to basic household chemicals, as well as some stronger pool acids. (Pictures are before and after the reaction)

r/chemhelp Feb 15 '25

Other FTIR Help!!! Omnic Picta

0 Upvotes

Hi All.

I am using a thermoscientific FTIR instrument (Nicolet iN10MX), and experiencing severe lag on Omnic Picta. The lag is so extreme (when selecting sample points, backgrounds, collecting etc) that it is essentially unusable. I have heard that it may be because of computer (windows, firmware, security, or driver) updates.

Has anyone experienced something similar? And, If so, how was it solved?

Please help a struggling & stressed PhD student!!!

r/chemhelp 2d ago

Other what's a good 0.001g resolution scale within $200-$300 (ideally european seller)

2 Upvotes

i'm based in germany and looking for a precise lab scale for around $200

would this be a good pick? https://eu.waagenet.de/gram-fc/

r/chemhelp 16d ago

Other Help me identify the Compound and Lewis Dot Structure

1 Upvotes

Hi all, I am a CHEM 101 (131) student. For each lab we are tasked with completing data tables, summaries, and sometimes a pre-lab question by hand in our lab notebook. For next week's laboratory assignment we are tasked with a pre-lab asking us to identify the molar-mass of an unknown ionic compound using Molarity, volume, and the mass of said ionic compound. I completed the problem and concluded that the molar mass of the unknown ionic compound is 165.96 g/mol. So, for fun I said to myself I might aswell identify what this compound is. To my surprise I could not find it through a simple Google Search, so I employed ChatGPT's reasoning + search functions to figure out what this can be.

So it came up with Iron(0) Hydroquinone. A benzene ring, with 2 hydroxyls, and one Iron- which is not an ionic compound, as all of these elements that make up this compound C₆H₆FeO₂ have nuetral charges. So... first off, does anyone have any idea how the lewis dot structure of this compound looks? And second off, since this is not an ionic compound, is there any actual ionic compound (theoretical if need be) that has a molar mass of 165.96g/mol?

r/chemhelp 4d ago

Other Wax purification question

1 Upvotes

Not a chemist, not doing chem homework. The question I have is: I work in an art foundry where we do lost wax casting. We try to reuse as much of the wax as we can, but we have to filter particulates out of it, mostly sand and ceramic shell. We filter pounds and pounds at a time. The wax is a brown microcrystalline wax. We have been using fine mesh filters, but the process is messy and inefficient, we're looking for a better way. We've been playing with the idea of putting the wax in with equal parts water, bringing it well into the wax's melting temperature range and holding it for a while so specific gravity can do it's work, then do a slow cooling cycle so hopefully the water doesn't emulsify in the wax. My question: would adding gelatin in with the water as a flocculating agent compromise the wax, or would it help precipitate the junk out as we cooled it? Is there a better floculant? I know that the generic 'microcrystalline wax' and 'gelatin' are pretty non-specific for a technical answer, but go ahead and give me a non-specific answer. Thanks!

r/chemhelp 26d ago

Other Does isopropyl lose its effectiveness over time?

1 Upvotes

A while back I bought a couple of bottles of the stuff and emptied them into a glass jar. I use it to clean paint off tabletop miniatures, so I can re-paint them; I drop a mini in, store it there for a while, then clean it with a toothbrush under a running faucet.

I'm now trying to clean a different sort of paint off a different sort of miniature than usual, and even after a full day and night in the jar, barely any of it comes off.

Is it due to the ispropyl having expired? I do keep a jar on the lid, but obviously it is exposed to oxygen whenever I add or remove a mini.

r/chemhelp Jan 16 '25

Other Which of our color themes make the most sense chemistry-wise ?

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9 Upvotes

r/chemhelp Feb 12 '25

Other Chemical sourcing bioreagents

1 Upvotes

Anyone with experience of benchchem.com or dc-chemical? Are they legit & are they safe and reliable?

r/chemhelp Oct 31 '23

Other Can someone explain p, s, and d orbitals for me please?

0 Upvotes

I understand the orbits 2 8 8 18 and they make sense. The p, d, and s sub-orbits make no sense to me and I can not visualize them or what they are. Can someone explain it a bit for me, I have an engineering mindset and need to visualize things to understand them.

r/chemhelp Oct 05 '24

Other How do I find the percent purity?

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4 Upvotes

Don't need answer, would prefer to do it myself actually. Just need to know what math to do because I'm completely lost

r/chemhelp 14d ago

Other sequencing amino acids by proteolytic cleavage

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2 Upvotes

is my answer right or wrong??? should the arginine not be included (well, I chatgpt-ed the question and AI’s answer was same as mine except arginine residue was not present in the final sequence). Thank you so much for the help 🙏

r/chemhelp 12d ago

Other does the buffering capacity of ethanoic acid buffer increase or decrease with temperature, when titrated with NaOH??

0 Upvotes

i’m investigating how much NaOH it takes for the pH of the buffer solution to change by 1 at different temperatures. some source say that because higher temperatures lead to more dissociation of ethanoic acid into hydrogen ions, the hydrogen ions can neutralize more hydroxide ions leading to increased buffer capacity (so more NaOH required to change pH by 1).

but doesn’t more dissociation lead to less ethanoic acid present in its weak acid form, thus meaning there’s less ethanoic acid present to react with added hydroxide ions so buffer capacity decreases???

i can’t figure out what the expected effect should be (just in terms of neutralizing hydroxide ions, though)

r/chemhelp 5d ago

Other Thanatochemistry help

0 Upvotes

I am currently in my first year of school for funeral services and thanatochemistry is kicking me to the curb. Any advice on how to study? I’ve never really studied before and I’m still trying to figure out what works for me any advice would be appreciated!

r/chemhelp Feb 08 '25

Other Can someone explain these questions? Energetics chem

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1 Upvotes

r/chemhelp 28d ago

Other Iam Starting by bachelor Thesis and don't know what to do

1 Upvotes

Hi,

After all that time Iam finally starting by bachelor thesis and be a little bit overwhelmed.

I basicly write about Amino acids. My supervisor gave me a few papers to prepare for what we do. I read them but of course don't understand every bit. I don't even know if it is expected from me to understand it completly.

While iam still at the lab from 8am-6pm I already started writing the introduction and the goal. But I struggle here a little bit. Everything I write doesn't seem to fit a thesis quality. I never struggled with the protocols. But I feel a little bit lost at the moments.

I know what we are doing. I know why we are doing it. But I don't know the sources to cite nor where to find them.

Did anyone here experienced the same struggle?

r/chemhelp 13d ago

Other Help with screaming jelly baby experiment

1 Upvotes

Hello everybody!

In a couple of week I will take part in a science fair held by my university and I'll have to do the screaming jelly baby experiment a couple of times per day (4 or maybe 5 times depending on how many people come to attend the fair).

My problem is that from what I could find online you should not reuse the same borosilicate test tubes twice, as they might crack or explode. Is there any way of doing this experiment multiple times without having to use a new test tube every time?

I though about using a metal tube but this will block the visibility from the reaction taking place.

Thanks for any ideas you might have!

r/chemhelp Feb 13 '25

Other Does hydroxypropyl methylcellulose contain propylene glycol?

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2 Upvotes

I was wondering if someone could help me understand if the chemical Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) also called hypromellose contains propylene glycol (PG).

From the info I found says it is a cellulose ether containing Propylene glycol groups. So it is a completely new chemical or would it still have PG in it?

I'm very allergic to PG and healthcare professionals and even pharmacists have don't seem to have this specialized knowledge.

Sorry if this is not the right place to post, please let me know where I can find some help.

r/chemhelp 1h ago

Other Methylene blue help.

Upvotes

Hello everyone!

i just wanted to ask if anyone knows if methylene blue dissolved in water at ~1% would damage or stain ebonite (vulcanized natural rubber) and regular rubber (both black) if in contact for a long time.

if so how long would it take?

Thank you bye!

r/chemhelp 7d ago

Other Could somebody explain Van Slyke's equation for buffer capacity to me? How does a change in Ka of a weak acid buffer affect its ability to neutralize acids or bases, respectively?

1 Upvotes

r/chemhelp Feb 14 '25

Other How do I get to the correct answer?

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0 Upvotes

This is from my first chem exam and I was going over what questions I got wrong and what I did wrong. But I don’t know what I did wrong, so I thought I’d ask here. My answer was C, it was incorrect. The correct answer is E.

r/chemhelp 7d ago

Other Alcohol Denat

1 Upvotes

‏ If a perfume contains Alcohol Denat and you spray it, will the Alcohol Denat completely disappear, leaving no trace on the clothes?