Chemical composition has more than one meaning. If you’re discussing a substance with one component, such as water, the chemical composition means the type and arrangement of elements and molecules within the substance. If you’re discussing a substance with more than one component,...

You know that water is a liquid, ice is a solid, and steam is a gas. But what exactly is a gas? The molecules in a solid are stable. They don’t move and they’re packed closely together. The molecules in a liquid are spaced farther apart. But the molecules in a gas are active. They move...

Chemistry is a wide, deep subject, broken into five main areas or branches. One branch concerns living things and the human body; another branch studies products and materials made in a lab. Which branch of chemistry interests...

How do scientists make new discoveries? How do we know their research is accurate and valid? They use the scientific method, of course! The scientific method is an organized, specific way of learning. You can use the scientific method too.

The inventor, Thomas Edison, loved learning and experimenting. His mother taught him at home and let him create a chemistry lab in the basement. As a young teenager, Edison got a job working on a train. He was kicked off the train after one of his science experiments set a train car on fire. The...

Let’s say you wanted to tell a friend how large your dog was. You had never heard of inches or feet. How could you explain it? Thousands of years ago, people used common objects to describe and compare measurements. You...

Chances are, you use Styrofoam almost daily. Those fold-and-seal take out boxes are made from Styrofoam. So are the thick white cups used to keep your hot cocoa warm. How about those wedges of plastic you find in packing boxes? Styrofoam keeps computers, electronics, and other fragile items safe...

Let’s head to your kitchen. Taste a bit of lemon juice or vinegar. Did you pucker? Now taste a tiny fleck of baking soda. It’s bitter, right? Lemon juice and vinegar are acidic, while baking soda is alkaline, or a base. Almost every liquid is either an acid or a base. Chemists know that...

The study of chemistry includes words that you might not have heard before. Words like elements or protons. Understanding what basic chemistry words mean will help you enjoy studying chemistry more. Below are the most common chemistry words you’ll find:

When you think of chemistry, you probably think of a scientist working in a lab. But chemistry is all around you. Almost every product you use was produced by using the principles of chemistry. From your food to your shoes and...

We all heard of making lemonade out of lemons and that when things go wrong, if you know to Think in The Right Way then you can make something good come out of a sour situation. But how can you make a

Long ago, there were no factories. If you wanted food, you grew it yourself or bought it from a nearby farmer. If you wanted