Anode
Anode, the terminal or electrode from which electrons leave a system. In a battery or other source of direct current the anode is the negative terminal, but in a passive load it is the positive terminal.…
Amalgam
Amalgam, alloy of mercury and one or more other metals. Amalgams are crystalline in structure, except for those with a high mercury content, which are liquid. Known since early times, they were mentioned by Pliny…
Chemical properties
The chemical properties of clusters are a combination of the properties of bulk and molecular matter. Several kinds of clusters, particularly those of the metallic variety, induce certain molecules to dissociate.…
Materials science
Materials science, the study of the properties of solid materials and how those properties are determined by a material’s composition and structure. It grew out of an amalgam of solid-state physics, metallurgy, and chemistry, since the rich variety…
The mechanical equivalence of work and energy
Two of the architects of modern thermodynamics were William Thompson (better known as Lord Kelvin) and his friend James Prescott Joule – a scientist of great vision, and a master…
Endothermic reactions
We all sweat at some time or other, e.g. after running hard, living We need the salt in sweat to decrease the water’s surface tension in order to speed up…
Energy and the first law of thermodynamics
Eating ice cream soon causes the mouth to get cold, possibly to Ice cream melts as it warms in the mouth and surpasses its normal melting temperature; see Chapter 5.…
First electron affinity and reactivity
Gases such as helium, neon and argon are so unreactive that we Krypton, xenon and radon will form a very limited number of compounds, e.g. with fluorine, but only under…
Electron affinity
Lightning is one of the more impressive manifestations of the power in nature: the sky lights up with a brilliant flash of light, as huge amounts of electrical energy pass…
Properties of covalent compounds
Clear petroleum gel is a common product, comprising a mixture of simple hydrocarbons, principally n-octadecane (III). It is not quite a solid at room temperature; neither is it really a…
