chadvelscience

I am quiet confident that you must be enjoying your christmas holidays to the fullest. Welcome to my blog Chadvelscience.  Till now we have learned, what are organic compounds and individual names of all alkanes from methane to decane. Today we will study how alkyl groups are formed and how they are named as per IUPAC nomenclature of organic compounds. Formation of Alkyl group: An alkane missing one hydrogen atom, then that particular alkane is called an alkyl. As per IUPAC nomenclature system, such an alkyl-group is named replacing "ane" from an alkane. For example: methane becomes methyl, Ethane becomes ethyl. These alkyl groups contains free electrons ready to be donated, cannot exists by themselves; in order to achieve more stable form they must attached to nearby halogens( fluorine, chlorine, bromine and iodine). In order to name any chemical compound there is a standard method of naming called IUPAC nomenclature. The long form of IUPAC is " International Union of P

Alkanes: I have discussed definition of Organic compounds in my earlier blogs but still we will go through the definition once again. So, The organic compounds are the compounds containing carbon and hydrogen atoms. These organic compounds may also contain oxygen, sulphur, nitrogen, phosphorous, and halogens. Alkanes are the organic compounds formed of carbon and hydrogen, bonded only by single bonds. Carbon chain in alkanes contains only single bond and this is a unique characteristic which differentiates alkanes from other types of organic compounds. Let's see who are the members of alkane family in the figure as follows: You can see in the figure above all the condensed structural formulas of alkanes from Methane to Decane shows all carbons attached by single bond in a straight chain. But there are the type of alkanes with a structure having a branch or group(functional group) attached to such a single chain structure. Hence, keeping this in mind, structure of alkanes can be of

What is Organic? The word organic is derived from the word Organism. Organic is something which is directly obtained from Nature or derivative of a nature. All Organic substances you will find are majorly formed of carbon and hydrogen. We all use organic substances/compounds such as all fossil fuels(diesel, petrol, gasoline, and natural gas), clothing, drugs, and cosmetics. What is an Organic Chemistry? Now, as you are well aware of the word Organic, it is easy for you to understand Organic Chemistry. Compounds containing carbon and hydrogen atoms are called Organic compounds. These organic compounds along with carbon and hydrogen may also contain oxygen and other non metallic elements such as Nitrogen, Sulphur, Halogens and Phosphorous in trace amounts. The branch of chemistry which studies properties, and reactions of organic compounds is called an Organic Chemistry. Carbohydrates, fats, proteins, caffeine, heroine, oxytocin, glucose, fructose, DNA, RNA, alcohols, Carboxylic acids an

Today, Modern science and technology has given us all the possible luxuries and amenities that previous generations could not. And it won't be an exaggeration if I told you that all this development in science and technology would not have been possible without these scientists from respective fields. Their education, working style, Intelligent quotient, and hard work has inspired every science enthusiast to become a scientist and contribute to over all wellbeing of the society. You might have read books or heard stories or seen in the movies about Einstein or Nikola Tesla and many others like how these scientists had a magical and mystical aura around them. For the first time, in my childhood, when I saw a time travel movie,I was so awstuck by the phenomenon that I could not sleep whole night. But by adulthood I got to know that time travel theory is still in its juvenile state and yet to be explored. What makes these scientists different form us and So, the question arises here,

Today I woke up at 6 0' Clock in the morning, brushed the teeth, rinsed my mouth and washed the face with a splash of water. Then, I went in the bathroom, and enjoyed a hot water shower; Got out of the bathroom, applied organic oil, to my hairs and moisturizer to my body. After this, I went towards my wardrobe, took out a beautiful pair of cotton formals, wore it and thus, I was ready to go in the field. Dear readers, this is a small glimpse of my daily routine, where I used a plastic brush, hot water, tooth paste, hair oil, moisturizer, cloths, and like this there are millions of things, which I and you people must have come across, are possible due to Chemistry. Chemistry basically is a science of matter. Matter includes all the substances of the Universe.  Definition of Chemistry: "In chemistry, we study the composition, structure, properties and reactions of matter" . If you are a student then you might be thinking that laboratory is the only place where we see chemis

What is an Alchemy? "Starting from the ancient Greek in 8th century, to about 16th century, early scientists or say chemists are called Alchemists and their philosophy, knowledge and their unique, approach is called an Alchemy". An elderly Chemist sitting next to his equipment. Engravin wellcome V0025557.jpg. The file is licensed under The Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. Image source: https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/image/V0025557.html History of Alchemy: The word "Alchemy" found its origin in ancient Egypt. Egyptians used word "Khem"(in Egyptian) meaning flooded plains of the great river Nile. This, Egyptians, were well advanced at mummification that is "preserving dead bodies for centuries". This particular ritual based on their belief of life after death, developed their rudimentary chemical knowledge to achieve the goal of next life and thus, immortality. By 332 BC, Alexander the great, conquered Egypt and thus, Greek sch

In the world of biology, Calvin cycle is known by many names like Light-independent reaction, Dark reaction and Calvin-Benson cycle. It is absolutely true that, this reaction is not dependent on light, but it can happen in both, presence and absence of light and that's the reason, few experts do not prefer the term dark reaction. An another great plant-biochemistry expert named Andy Benson discovered carbon-fixation mechanism and helped Calvin in his discovery. Hence, Calvin-Benson cycle is also a popular name. Let's understand what actually happens during the said process: Whole Calvin cycle starts with a simple yet, one of the most important character called CO 2 (carbon dioxide). This CO 2 after being permitted by stomata present in the lower epidermis, diffuses through intercellular spaces and reaches mesophyll layer inside the leaf. After reaching mesophyll, CO2 enters Stroma, present in the Chloroplasts. This stroma is the site where Calvin cycle takes place. We are now

In my 1st web blog I discussed how one can make photosynthesis, an easy learning experience. Most of you might be knowing everything about photosynthesis but this process has been my fascination since my school days.  Let's dive little dip in the process. Today we will learn about chlorophyll, chloroplasts, light-dependent reactions, and dark reactions. The figure: 1.1 above is the section of chloroplast, showing 1).Thylakoid, 2).Thylakoid lumen, 3).Granum, 4).Stroma, 5).Outer membrane, 6).Inner membrane. No.1 Chlorophyll: Almost all plants we see around are green in color, is due to the green pigment called chlorophyll, found in plants. In the chloroplasts, chlorophyll is located in the membrane of thylakoids.(refer fig:1.1) Further, Chlorophyll has the unique charachteristic or capability of absorbing sunlight, which in turn helps plants manufacture their own food in the form glucose and other organic molecules. No.2 Chloroplasts: Chloroplasts are found in the green tissues of pl

Process of photosynthesis with no if and but, without any doubt, will retain a position forever, among one of the most important chemical reactions occurring on the planet earth. Let's go through historical timeline of who, how and when, great people contributed to understand exactly what happens during Photosynthesis: In c350BC, Aristotle proposes plants, like animals, require food. In c300BC, Theophrastus writes that plants gets food through their roots. In 1450, Nicholas of cusa he proposes an experiment which he never performed, in which the plant is weighed and then planted in the weight amount of soil in the container. Plant, soil and applied water are weighed after a period of growth. He speculated this experiment will proove that the mass gained in the plant, is only due to water and not the soil. In 1648, Jean Baptist Van Helmont performs the experiment originally proposed by Nicholas Cusa, 200 years earlier. The experiment was performed on willow tree, which prooved that

Universe is unimaginably vast and complex. In spite of all advancements in science and technology we are clueless of many mysteries of our solar system. We are still in cradle, we have to go a long way ahead to unfold what Universe has in its sleeves. You would be amazed to know that although Sun, being the biggest star of our solar system is nothing compared to the size of stars seen in galaxies far away. Sun is the center of our solar system holding whole planetary system in place giving life, light, energy to our planet earth. Sun is a huge ball, containing hydrogen and helium held together by its own gravity From the center to the out most layer Sun is divided into two main regions:                         1.Interior regions of the sun.              2.Outer  zones of the sun.           The figure above shows all inner and outer layers/zones of sun.You can see heliosphere, a Magnetic bubble extending beyond all 9 planetary orbits. Lets study Interior regions in detail. Interior regi

Water is the base of all life on any planet and that's why, experts look for traces of water on unknown planets, if it is or it was able to sustain any life. Planet Mars have been center of attraction since decades; And you might be aware of the efforts of the various field experts to find water in any form on Mars. Finally in 2018 scientists were successful in finding a huge subglacial lake below southern polar ice caps. Right from the morning to evening and from the birth till our death, water is an inevitable part of our life. In fact we live, eat and breathe water every day of our life time. So, the question comes why it is so important and inevitable?. Answer to these questions lies in the chemical and physical properties of water. Lets go through the unique Chemical behavior of water molecules in three physical states: The figure above shows bend or inverted V -shaped molecular structure of Water (H 2 O),  consisting of two hydrogen atoms attached to the  single oxygen atom.