Sabbatical: basic chemical compounds

After 8 years and over 350 posts, it’s a pity that my posts collect virtual dust at WordPress’s server. So this year I’m bringing back some of the best stuff, which doesn’t disagree with publishing new material. You may have noticed that I care about science and languages. I mean, it's in the title of …

All that glitters is not butane. Linear alkenes and alkynes

In fact, if it glitters it is surely not butane. Anyway, I meant there's more than alkanes in organic chemistry. For example, do you know what butene and butyne are? If an alkane is a saturated hydrocarbon, an alkene is an unsaturated hydrocarbon (some carbon atoms are bonded to fewer than four other atoms). The …

What is actually butane? Linear alkanes

You’ve probably used butane to cook at least once in your life or know someone who has. But what is actually butane? Perhaps we should talk about alkanes first. An alkane is a compound consisting of hydrogen and carbon only (a hydrocarbon) with all its carbon atoms bonded to four other atoms (that is, saturated). …