• Question: Whats your favourite chemical

    Asked by chris to Matthew, Andrew on 21 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Andrew McKinley

      Andrew McKinley answered on 21 Nov 2014:

      I don’t know – there are so many cool (and frankly scary!) things out there.
      For me, I find that azulene has an absolutely beautiful blue colour, the sort of blue colour that makes you go “ahhh….” when you see it!
      It’s weird also – it’s a hydrocarbon – only made of hydrogen and carbon, with the formula C10H8 (try and draw a structure of that!)
      You have probably seen gases of methane, ethane, and heavier hydrocarbon oils, and their colour is almost non-existent. This makes azulene really quite special for a ‘low’ molecular weight hydrocarbon – and the fact that the colour is so beautiful is an added bonus!

      It also does some really weird stuff from a molecular-physics view also – it is polar, and spectroscopically the behaviour of the electrons breaks a number of ‘rules’ in photochemistry!

    • Photo: Matthew Camilleri

      Matthew Camilleri answered on 21 Nov 2014:

      Wow, I have no idea where to start with this one, there are so many chemicals I have used in my life, and so many beautiful colours as well.

      At the end of the day I have to go for ethanol, it is that strange chemical found in alcohol, and it tends to be drunk in a number of different occasions; to celebrate an achievement or maybe cos you are feeling a little bit blue.

      When it comes to chemicals I also have to give a special mention to H2O as it would not be possible to be alive without it!

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