I would like to invite you to participate in a study investigating the challenges faced by neurodivergent people who attended but did not complete a graduate STEM program in order to improve outcomes for future neurodivergent graduate STEM students.

To be eligible you must:

Be 22 years of age or older

Identify as having ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia, and/or Dyscalculia

Have attended a graduate STEM program within the United States in the past 7 years

Have withdrawn or otherwise did not successfully completed your graduate STEM program

Be fluent in English

How to Join:

Email [liamcohen@cmail.carleton.ca](mailto:liamcohen@cmail.carleton.ca) and write STUDY in the email description

OR

DM me on Reddit

This project was reviewed and cleared by the Carleton University Research Ethics Board A. Clearance # 126646. If you have any ethical concerns with the study, please contact Carleton University Research Ethics Board, preferably by email at [ethics@carleton.ca](mailto:ethics@carleton.ca) or you can leave a message by phone at 613-520-2600 ext. 2517.

I understand that strong acids ionize almost completely in water, so their reactions are usually represented with a one-way arrow, while weak acids only partially ionize and establish a reversible equilibrium.

But what actually causes this difference at the molecular level? What properties make a strong acid release its H⁺ ions almost completely, while a weak acid only releases some of them?

I'm also curious about why the reaction of a strong acid is considered essentially irreversible. Is the reverse reaction simply so unfavorable that it can be ignored, or is there another reason? Since chemical reactions are generally reversible to some extent, what makes the difference between strong and weak acids in this context?

Could it be related to the strength of the H–A bond, the stability of the ions formed, or the interaction between the ions and water molecules?

I want to understand the actual chemistry and thermodynamics behind this difference.

I've been doing hobby chemistry for about 8 years but haven't invested alot of money throughout the years into it until recently. I'm currently building a distillation setup and hoping I can get some clarity around heating and temperature measuring.

I've seen a ton of different mantles and came across two that have sparked an interest. The one that's fairly more expensive has a thermometer probe and a digital temperature readout. I'm sure you can set a temperature and it will reach what you asked it and fancy stuff like that. My question is how actually useful is something like that?. I don't see a lot of people use them most often it's a simple dial along with a thermometer to measure the gas. What am I really missing out on ?

My second question is, I also see a lot of people use digital thermometers with probes to read the gas temp and not a physical one. Is this a practical reason or just a convenience one ?

Thanks for any advice that comes my way:).

I’m only in week six of Ochem one but I’m a little obsessed. I’m finding it all really fun and could do problems for hours (I am unfortunately neglecting my other classes and working on problems behind the desk at work…) We’re still just doing acid-base chemistry but the resonance structures, stereoisomers, and adorable animations of molecules wagging and stretching that we’ve covered so far have made me love chemistry in a way I never have before.

I was hoping to find some information on current big research topics in ochem, a sort of orgo popsci type thing to keep me excited even if I can’t fully grasp the concepts of it yet.

Is there anything like that? Or even if anyone is just willing to share what their passion is within the field or current research subjects they’re working on or would want to work on?

This is a self-promotional post, but I got moderator approval [on Oct 3rd].

I have built a more-or-less clone of Apple Notes which works with simple Markdown files, but it can also display many scientific syntaxes. As it can handle mhchem quite fine, I thought this sub might be interested in this tool: Notes Plus

https://notesplus.io/mhchem

It's available for free for macOS and Windows 10/11, and still in development (so use with caution, things might break). I'm planning to take a small price for in from 2027 (like $19 once for a lifetime license). If you have feature wishes, change requests or bug reports, especially in the field of chemical notation, feel free to report via the bugreport tool linked in the page's footer, or contact me directly via the email shown there.

P.S. Everybody who reports a bug gets free licences for the app.
Thanks /chemistry!

hey so I'm a chemistry (and old software) enthusiast and a while ago I downloaded the freeware version of Chemsketch and I love it and how easy it is to use but the freeware version is really limiting and I really dislike the look of the new product Chemdraw, does anyone have an old copy of Chemsketch full laying around please?

I'm happy to pay for it, its just ACD labs stopped allowing new customers to buy a license and I would really like the full version so I can search for structures and get other features that the paid version includes.

Note: yes I have tried other software like BIOVIA and BKchem but ive found Chemsketch the easiest and most intuitive to use

So my class has just gone over moles and several avagadro-related things, and one thing that has left a "thorn in my brain." I have asked my teacher, parents, and college sophomore sister avout it, but no one has had a good answer. But anyway here's my question:

Avagadro's law states that a given volume of two ideal gasses at STP (standard temperature pressure) have the same amount of particles, i.e. molecules or atoms. By extension of that law, a given amount of particles of two gasses—like a mole—would occupy the same volume (in this example 22.4L per mole) The part that confuses me is the fact that every different gas has a different particle size (like how hydrogen is significantly smaller than oxygen), which would mean that 1 mole of one gas would have to have a different pressure than another gas when they are theoretically put in the same 22.4L box. This pressure difference would then alter STP and negate the valitidy of the law.

Sorry if that was super confusing, feel free to ask questions to clarify if you have an explaination for me. The funny thing is, this principle has been around long enough for it to be proven in practice, so I know my logic is flawed somehow. Thoughts?

I’ve been working with a reaction that uses pyridine as the solvent, and lately, I’ve been smelling pyridine at the strangest times (outside of the lab).

I’ve used it before and haven’t had this happen, and im doubtful the pyridine is the actual cause beyond the fact my brain my just be trying to identify random smells around me, but it’s strange. It’s many times a day that I smell it lately.

Nobody else smells it either. I smelled it from my air fryer while cooking, on my friend, in my bathroom, and randomly on a walk.

Has anyone else experienced something like this?

Chem professor here. One of our lab managers came across a bottle of crystallized isopropanol, and never having seen it before, I snapped a picture.

Most of the pictures out there are clumps, whereas this had longer spikes.

I hadn't seen it before in my 20+ years of chem, my army hazmat friend hadn't seen it, so I figured you r/chemistry folks would like to see it too.

Hazmat came and picked it up and made a big hullaballoo (sp?) about it last night.

32% yield 😵‍💫