Chemistry

What Is a Molecule?

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Wed, 21 May 2025 17:15:41 +0000

Surveys reveal that only 50 percent of people questioned know that the Earth goes around the sun once a year, and only 40 percent realize that electrons are smaller than atoms. That鈥檚 sad enough, but it is frightening that a mere 10 percent of the population understands what a molecule is. This is distressing, because everything in the physical world depends upon molecular action.

Roger Bacon, Gunpowder and Virgins

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 18:01:46 +0000

In the 1960's the Dupont Company adopted the slogan: "Better Living Through Chemistry." The catchy motto quickly caught on in an era when science reigned supreme. The space race had captured everyone's imagination and people reveled in the new plastics and fibers produced by a proud chemical industry. Environmental concerns were not yet on the agenda.

Infatuated With Chemistry

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 16:45:45 +0000

The fact that virtually everything in our life, be it digesting our food, using medications to treat disease, producing the clothes we wear, and even the grinding of our mental gears can be described in terms of chemical reactions is fascinating enough.聽 But what has probably enthralled me the most, is that all these chemical reactions that involve various molecules engaging with each other, can be explained and understood without anyone ever having seen a molecule!

Can Vitamin C cure the common cold? Hold on

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 17:35:10 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.

There is no question that Linus Pauling was an eminent chemist, given that 鈥渆minence鈥� is defined as fame or recognized superiority within a particular sphere or profession.聽In this case, chemistry.

It鈥檚 A Chemical World!

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 20:13:26 +0000

It鈥檚 a chemical world out there! We are awash in some fifty million known chemicals, the majority of which are created by nature, a minority by chemists. They鈥檙e not good or bad, not safe or dangerous. It all depends on how they are used, and what our exposure is. There is much debate about the effect of some chemicals on our lives, but about one issue there should be no debate. Chemicals are interesting! So, here鈥檚 a little quiz. Where would you encounter each of the following: para-dichlorobenzene, piperine, acetone peroxide.

Don鈥檛 Throw the Baby Out With the Hydrogenated Bathwater

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 23 Feb 2024 16:50:47 +0000

This article was first published in the Montreal Gazette.

鈥淐ongratulations! You have in your hands one of the best available tools to increase your health and vitality.鈥�

Faraday, Dickens and Lighthouses

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 22 Dec 2023 13:18:13 +0000

I have a longstanding fascination with Victorian arts and sciences. It was the era when Darwin published the 鈥淥rigin of the Species,鈥� Perkin synthesized dyes, Lister introduced antiseptic surgery, Conan-Doyle and Charles Dickens thrilled audiences with the adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Oliver Twist. It was also the time when Michael Faraday laid the foundations for the practical use of electricity.

A Call To Teach Chemistry

Enrico Uva B.Sc. Dip. Ed. — Fri, 10 Nov 2023 16:38:51 +0000

Is there something in your past to put you on a path to become an educator? When I was a teenager I did one of those guidance counsellor tests which suggested I should become one. I laughed. But a couple of years later, when I helped a girl with her chemistry homework at the college library, she said I had the makings of a good teacher. My favorite chemistry professor in university reminded me of the Gilligan鈥檚 Island professor. Professor McElcheron was a tinkerer in his own lab, and instead of being shipwrecked like the TV character, he lived by choice on his own island.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry - No Small Matter

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 23:11:11 +0000

The word 鈥渜uantum鈥� derives from the Latin word for 鈥渁mount,鈥� so that if something is 鈥渜uantifiable,鈥� it means that it can be measured. Although I think I have a reasonably good grasp of chemistry, I鈥檒l admit that my knowledge of 鈥渜uantum chemistry鈥� is quantifiably very small. But it is enough to allow me to appreciate the magnitude of this year鈥檚 Nobel Prize in chemistry, awarded to Drs. Moungi Bawendi of MIT, Louis Brus of Columbia University and Alexei Ekimov of Nanocrystals Technology Inc.

The First Canadian Nobel Prize

Patricia Brubaker, Ph.D., F.R.S.C. — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 12:40:37 +0000

As we approach the week during which the 2023 Nobel Prizes will be announced (October 2-9, 2023), it is perhaps timely to consider the events that surrounded the first Nobel Prize awarded to a Canadian. Exactly 100 years ago, Frederik G. Banting and John R.R. Macleod, were awarded the 1923 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 鈥渇or the discovery of insulin鈥� at the University of Toronto.

The First Consumer Activist

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Wed, 26 Jul 2023 14:17:31 +0000

So you are worried about aspartame or a little Red #3 in your food? You know what you would have to worry about back in the early years of the 19th聽century? A little strychnine in the beer.聽聽A touch of mercuric sulfide in the candy.聽聽A sprinkling of red lead in the cayenne pepper!聽聽聽

Looping in to Chat GPT

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Wed, 24 May 2023 19:57:33 +0000

Like so many, I have been experimenting with Chat GPT, the artificial intelligence technology that can answer questions or produce articles on a given topic in humanlike conversational language. In some cases, I have been impressed, much less so in others.

Dancing With Gummy Bears

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 17:00:52 +0000

No, Oprah Winfrey and Dolly Parton do not endorse CBD Gummies. Neither does David Suzuki. That may come as a surprise to customers who purchased the gummies thinking that they must deliver the goods given that such high-profile celebrities believe in them. And what are the goods those gummies supposedly deliver? They are said to reduce anxiety, improve sleep quality, and help with muscle pain and inflammation. They also energize, help with weight loss, boost immunity and normalize heart rate. Who says so? Certainly not Oprah, Dolly or David.

Pseudoscience's Constant Appeal in the Shadow of Beautiful Science

Enrico Uva B.Sc. Dip. Ed. — Fri, 10 Mar 2023 20:35:30 +0000

Fifty years ago, polymath Jacob Bronowski, creator of the TV series The Ascent of Man, and author of the book by the same title wrote:

The Two Types of Erasable Ink and Why One Is Much Cooler Than the Other

Ada McVean M.Sc. — Fri, 04 Nov 2022 10:00:00 +0000

Introduced in 1979, the Papermate Erasermate offered something that, up until then, had been science fiction: an erasable pen. While correction fluids and tape were a well-established solution to inky mistakes, covering up errors was not the ideal way to correct them. Erasermate offered a simple alternative鈥攋ust remove them.