There are tons of amazing things to learn in chemistry. It's pretty much the second most fundamental science on which the recognition of the world could be based (the first one being physics). Most of them, however, elude my understanding and would require a vast knowledge of chemistry as itself to show their true uniqueness. I don't know many of these, so I'll just try to write down some other things that are somewhat better than your average chemical equation.
- There is an universal number, saying, that any catalyst will lower the activation energy of a reaction it can catalyse by 42kJ/mol.
- Beryllium dihydride creates polymers. Actually, many hydrides do.
- Disulphidic bonds are a great thing. They are largely responsible for the formation of tertiary structure of proteins, curly hair, vulcanization of rubber (the process of making it smoother, less adhesive and more resistant to damage) and also for maintaining a redox equilibrium inside an organism.
- Many of the clouds obscuring our vision of Venus are made of sulphuric acid. The UV rays dissociate carbon dioxide (CO2) into carbon oxide (CO) and atomic oxygen (O). This oxygen is higly reactive and fuses with present sulphur dioxide (SO2) thus creating highly hygroscopic sulphur trioxide (SO3). By fusing with water fumes that are also present in the atmosphere this creates the sulphuric acid (H2SO4).
- CO bond to hemoglobine creates carboxyhemoglobine which is unable to transfer oxygen. This is widely known as CO poisoning. We all, however, have stable levels of carboxyhemoglobine even when not inhaling CO at increased rate. The ratio would be about 5%, ranging up to 9% in smokers. 25% is dangerous for health while 70% is the fatal dose.
- CO is also a neurotransmitter!
- NO is a hormone responsible for vasodilatation and thus is called endothelial relaxation factor (ERF). It is created directly by the endothelium of the veins. But it's also toxic air pollutant!
- Phosphazenes are compounds containing the bond between a phosphorus and nitrogene, often chained (...-P=N-P=N-...). They function as burning retarders or special plastic matters.
- TiCl4 (titanium tetrachloride) is used in skywriting.
- The compounds of internally transitive metals (so called d-elements) are often colorful due to the d-electrons absorbing various specters of light.
- Not only do pi-bonds create delocalized electron clouds (as in benzene), but contrary to popular belief even sigma-bonds do! Hence methane contains a delocalized electron cloud of four electrons orbiting around the central carbon atom affecting all four hydregenes in the same way.
So much for now, I gotta go have breakfast and study more.
