ChemHub
An interactive chemistry reference - periodic table, core concepts, at-home experiments, and the chemistry happening around you right now.
🔬 Interactive Periodic Table
All 118 elements. Hover to preview - click for full details on the elements we have data for. Colour-coded by element category.
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📚 Core Concepts
The fundamental ideas every chemistry student should understand - from atomic structure to thermodynamics.
How the periodic table is organised and why it's one of the greatest intellectual achievements in science.
Why atoms bond together - ionic, covalent, and metallic bonds explained simply.
The laws that govern all chemical reactions - conservation of mass, energy, and equilibrium.
The pH scale from 0–14, what acids and bases are, and why this chemistry governs life, industry, and your stomach.
The chemistry of carbon - the foundation of life, plastics, medicines, fuels, and food.
The laws that govern energy, heat, and entropy - why things happen (or don't) in chemistry.
⚗️ At-Home Experiments
Real chemistry you can do at home. Click to reveal step-by-step instructions.
🌍 Chemistry in Everyday Life
The chemistry happening around you right now - in your kitchen, your phone, your body, and your walls.
Fat + strong base (NaOH) → soap (sodium salt of fatty acids) + glycerol. The long non-polar tail of the soap molecule traps oil; the polar head is attracted to water. Soap is a surfactant - it bridges oil and water, allowing water to carry away grease.
A battery is a spontaneous redox (reduction-oxidation) reaction in a box. Electrons flow from the anode (oxidation) to the cathode (reduction) through the external circuit. Li-ion batteries use lithium intercalation - Li⁺ ions shuttling between electrodes through an electrolyte.
The Maillard reaction (amino acids + sugars at >140°C) creates hundreds of flavour and colour compounds in browned food. Protein denaturation (egg "cooking") unfolds protein chains, changing texture. Baking soda (NaHCO₃) releases CO₂ in acid, making cakes rise.
Iron + water + oxygen → iron(III) oxide (Fe₂O₃·nH₂O). Rust is an electrochemical process: iron acts as an anode (oxidised), oxygen at the water surface is reduced. Salt accelerates corrosion by increasing conductivity. Galvanising (zinc coating) makes iron the cathode instead.
Different metal salts emit different colours when heated: lithium → red, sodium → yellow, barium → green, copper → blue, strontium → crimson. Electrons absorb energy, jump to higher energy levels, then fall back, releasing photons of specific wavelengths (colours). This is also how emission spectroscopy identifies elements.
Yeast converts glucose to ethanol and CO₂ in the absence of oxygen: C₆H₁₂O₆ → 2C₂H₅OH + 2CO₂. This is how beer, wine, bread, and kombucha are made. The same process in your muscles during intense exercise produces lactic acid instead (causing the burn).
The nuclear connection
Nuclear physics and chemistry are deeply linked - from radioactive decay to nuclear fuel chemistry. Explore the nuclear side on NexoHub.