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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...
I don’t think it would be helpful to talk about essential oils without talking about the chemistry, so I’m going to take a few days to review what we find in these oils. If you’re interested in learning more chemistry, this’ll be a two-fer as we delve into the various molecules we might find in...
Atoms are the building blocks of all molecules, so we need to know a little about them to understand how molecules work. An atom is happiest when it has eight electrons on its outer shell. (This is called the octet rule and it applies to the elements we’ll get to know the best – those under number...
In this post, Lalla writes: If the solubility is 0.5% at 25°C, does it mean if we dissolve a higher concentration at say 35°C the allantoin will crystallize as it cools down? If I try to dissolve MSM and allantoin and caffeine in water, will their respective solubility decrease because of the other ingredients? Solubility is generally...