Sylvia Rose
Sodium Carbonate: Natural Formation to Modern Application
Sodium carbonate, also known as soda ash or washing soda, is prominent across various industries for millennia. It's used in ancient and...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 254 min read
Secret Lives of Sulfuric Acid-Eating Bacteria
Acidophillium and Acidobacillus ferroxidens bacteria thrive in harmful conditions. These microscopic sulfuric acid-eating bacteria use...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 254 min read
Reduction in Chemistry: Gaining Electrons
Reduction is a fundamental aspect of everyday life, from breathing oxygen to powering a phone. Reduction and its counterpart, oxidation ,...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 256 min read
Biofilm Communities: Metropolitan Microbes
A biofilm is a living community of microorganisms including bacteria, fungi and algae. Comprising over 80% of all microbial life on...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 244 min read
Oxidation: Metabolism & Essential Molecular Action
Oxidation is a primary part of chemistry and biology and essential to life. This chemical reaction is vital for energy production. From...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 244 min read
Acid-Producing Bacteria in Sulfuric Acid Creation
Thiobacillus, Thiothrix, and Beggiatoa are genera of acid-producing bacteria with significant contributions to creation of sulfuric...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 245 min read
Etch Carnelian Beads Like It's Indus Valley 2500 BCE
The Indus Valley Civilization of the Bronze Age is one of the earliest urban societies, famous for trade, inventiveness and extraordinary...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 233 min read
Catalase: Unseen Enzymes Essential to Life
Catalase is an enzyme found in carbon life forms, including humans. It's known for its exceptional ability to decompose hydrogen peroxide...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 235 min read
Hydrogen Peroxide H2O2 Decomposition
Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a basic disinfectant and bleach of many households. If stored too long it will decompose. The decomposition...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 235 min read
Peracetic Acid: Origin, Reactions, Hazards
Peracetic acid is a remarkable compound with powerful benefits and considerable risks. A colorless liquid with a sharp odor similar to...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 224 min read
Rotten Egg Sulfur Smell: Microbial Processes
The rotten egg sulfur smell is associated with hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), a colorless gas. The unpleasant odor can arise in water supplies,...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 225 min read
Methanogens: Microbes of Methane Production
Methane (CH4) is a familiar gas emanating from cow dung. Methane's creators are invisible creatures known today as methanaogens,...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 226 min read
White Lead Toxic Beauty, Art, Ancient Production
White lead, lead(II) carbonate or PbCO₃, has a long history in art, paint and industry. It's a primary source of white for artists and in...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 213 min read
Alchemy: Circulation & the Pelican Phantasy
Circulation is one of many processes of alchemy. The purification of a substance is achieved through circular distillation in a pelican...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 214 min read
Arsenic Trioxide: Paris Green Paint Pigment & Pesticide
Arsenic trioxide is a toxic compound with a a long and complex history, known at least by the time of the ancient Romans. Here's a look...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 204 min read
Microbial Alchemy: Fermentation, Digestion, Putrefaction
Alchemy uses natural processes, often driven by microbial forces. Unseen biological entities include bacteria, amoeba and flagellates....
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 205 min read
The Unseen World: Protozoans in Nature
Protozoa are single-celled organisms integral to ecosystems worldwide. As microbes they're microscopic and invisible to the human eye....
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 204 min read
Separatory Funnel: Alchemy Lab Equipment
A separatory funnel is an essential piece of laboratory equipment used in liquid-liquid extractions, allowing alchemists to separate...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 194 min read
Microbes: Bacteria, Actinomycetes, Protozoa, Fungi & Viruses
Microbes are invisible and exist everywhere, in air, water and soil. Scientists find microbes living in the charred soil wildfires leave...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 195 min read
Alchemy & Heat: Decomposition of Horse Manure
Decomposing horse manure is essential in the alchemical process of digestion. A flask of substances is buried in dung. As if by magic the...
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