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Original post can be found here… When we have a double bond on a fatty acid, it can be in either the cis- or trans- configuration. What exactly does this mean? In the cis configuration, the missing hydrogen atoms are on the same side of the double bond (cis means “same”). The molecules bend at...
Nope, I haven’t gone all granola on you! Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and preparation (by synthesis or by other means) of carbon-based compounds, hydrocarbons, and their derivatives. These compounds may contain any number of other elements, including hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, the halogens...
So you get jokes like this! (Click here for more! They’re not all as awesome as this!) I find it interesting how many of us say, “I’m not good at math”. When was the last time you truly tried to do any real math beyond adding up the bill at a restaurant and trying to...
If you’re new to chemistry, please read the first two posts in this series (found here and here). Covalent bonding is the bonding between atoms when they share the electrons. If you look at this picture above, each hydrogen atom has one electron. They come together and share the electrons, forming H2 instead of each...
This post was originally written on December 30, 2010, but I’ve added and updated it! So what the heck are terpenes? Terpenes are organic compounds, the major building blocks within nearly every living creature. For instance, steroids are derivatives of the triterpene squalene. (Quote from Wikipedia .) They are derived from units of isoprene (that’s the...