How do we turn that into something much more useful, namely electricity? A nuclear power plant works pretty much like a conventional power plant, but it produces heat energy from atoms rather than by burning coal, oil, gas, or another fuel. The heat it produces is used to boil water to...
How do breathalyzers detect alcohol? Since alcohol is a volatile substance (it evaporates at room temperature) its fumes start mixing with your breath. The more concentrated it is, the more of these fumes enter the blood stream. Of course, when air with these fumes is exhaled, breathalyzers ...
The effects of dopamine on your brain depend a lot on which neurons are involved and which receptors are binding the dopamine [sources: Brookshire, Purves et al.]. As molecules go, dopamine is fairly compact, consisting of just 22 atoms. Only a tiny portion of the brain's 100 billion or...
When these photons strike a metal surface, they act like billiard balls, transferring their energy to electrons, which become dislodged from their "parent" atoms. Once freed, the electrons move along the metal or get ejected from the surface. The particle theory of light had returned -- with...
The pressure is high enough to force atoms of hydrogen to come together in nuclear fusion reactions — something we try to emulate here on Earth. Two atoms of hydrogen are combined to create helium-4 and energy in several steps: Two protons combine to form a deuterium atom (hydrogen atom ...
The researchers at Antora Energy are developing a new type of thermal storage. It’s ararely used approachthat retains energy in the form of extreme heat or cold in a variety of substances, like underground rocks or ice blocks. In Antora’s case, the substance inside the tank...
How is a new substance produced when a molecule is formed? Is a new substance produced because a chemical bond or covalent bond has formed, which is what makes it a new substance?� Describe a covalent bond. What happens when two atoms form a chemical bond?
A diamond is an amazing miracle of nature made up of billions of carbon atoms. Diamonds have a unique cubic crystal lattice structure. Each carbon atom in a diamond is strongly bonded to four others, making them the hardest known natural substance. Diamonds also exhibit high thermal conductivity...
First, water molecules (two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen joined together) naturally stick to one another, so they clump together in big droplets on the window. The forces that make them do this are called cohesive forces (and the process involved is called cohesion). Second, ...
Two atoms of hydrogen are combined to create helium-4 and energy in several steps: Two protons combine to form a deuterium atom (hydrogen atom with one neutron and one proton), a positron (similar to an electron, but with a positive charge) and a neutrino. A proton and a deuterium atom...