Well, I know it's happened to me, I'll be looking through some book or looking something up on a web site and all the sudden a little tidbit
of information catches my eye. Sometimes it's not even something that I was looking for, other times it's the final answer that causes me
to do a double take. I'm sure it's happened to you all....
Have you found a piece of information or ran a reaction where you found out something that was so totally unexpected you actually couldn't
believe it?
I have many examples but I'm starting this post because I was thinking about silver perchlorate and decided to delve into its manufacture. I
figured that silver perchlorate showed unexpected solubility in organic solvents and therefore expressed its covalent character. I expected from this
only moderate to low solubility in water and possibly a synthesis as a precipitation reaction.
I was wrong...
525 g of silver prechlorate will dissolve in 100 ml of cold water Mr. Wizard - 20-3-2004 at 07:18
That is amazing. It looks like it is quite soluble in toluene too, over 100 grams.Al Koholic - 20-3-2004 at 14:03
Its nice when it happens while you are looking in a book or at a website. This has happened so many times to me that I can't keep them straight.
Once you do read something awesome that surprises you, you can't help but obsess over the potential uses. Actually...I am currently gripped by
just such an affliction even though it isn't quite chemically related.
In bright, direct sunlight, the average flux of power per square meter of the Earth's surface approximates 1 kW!!!!! Awesome. After some
calculations that I've been working on and some logistics, I am going to be able to construct a small scale solar collector for about $150.
I'll post more details once I get in the machine shop and start milling the parts for it.
Anyway, continuing...its not so nice when you are surprised by chemistry during an experiment...
Mostly I have been surprised by gases and their various solubilities, potentails for causing me discomfort, etc. Usually the situation isn't
acutely cool but I learn. Its a process for us all...IgnorantlyIntelligent - 20-3-2004 at 18:41
Quote:
Anyway, continuing...its not so nice when you are surprised by chemistry during an experiment...
Especialy if that surprise involves big exothermic reactions.BromicAcid - 23-5-2004 at 18:22
About three weeks ago I was working with potassium hydroxide pellets. I had just filled a U-tube with the pellets and it was held at the bottom with
a clamp. But the clamp was not secure and the tube fell foreward and dumped all the pellets over my work top and all over the grass. About 40 g of
KOH fell on the ground. I could only imagine the large dead spot it was going to produce. Now, three weeks later I was working out there again and
looked where the KOH fell, it is now the greenest spot in the yard, the grass took the KOH much better then I would have madscientist - 23-5-2004 at 19:26
Wow, soluble in toluene too? What are the solubility properties of other silver salts in such non-polar solvents? If, say, silver permanganate turned
out to be soluble in benzene, then this would have boundless practical application.
