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Are there any known chemical properties of tritium water that make it unusually different from protium water?

I suppose the first question supporting the main question is, has tritium water ever been synthesized in sufficient quantity to test chemical properties? If so, and apart from the obvious radioactive nature of the molecule, and possibly self-heating…
docscience
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What is natural bond orbital theory used for?

My understanding is that the NBO methodology transforms the molecular orbital picture of a molecule into a collection of pairwise interactions (bond orbitals). This is obviously handy for didactic and comprehension purposes as it distils what might…
Richard Terrett
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Why is NaCl3 possible?

There. And there. Almost a year ago, a group of scientists claimed to have reached compounds of $\ce{Na}$ and $\ce{Cl}$ with weird stochiometries ($\ce{NaCl3, Na3Cl, NaCl7, Na3Cl2}$ and $\ce{Na2Cl}$). What one of the articles says: These compounds…
M.A.R.
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Why is salt needed when using vinegar to clean pennies?

Let's say you have a solution that is vinegar and it has salt (NaCl) dissolved in it. Then you place old dull pennies in it. Then you look at it 5 minutes later and the pennies are clean and looking like new again. I understand acid can etch the…
MDB
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Conductivity as a function of acid concentration

I have conducted an experiment measuring the conductivity of both hydrochloric acid and sulfuric acid in solution respectively, with varying concentration. Wikipedia as well as a question on the site suggests a $\sqrt{c}$ relationship is viable.…
user1997744
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Are geminal disubstituted alkenes more stable than their cis/trans isomers?

I know for a fact that cis alkenes are less stable than trans alkenes due to steric repulsions. But what bugs me is the fact that why systems such as 2-methylprop-1-ene, where I believe steric repulsions are greater than that in cis-but-2-ene, are…
Karan Singh
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Non-integer hybridization

I've known that hybridization in distorted geometries is not exactly $sp^3$ or $sp^2$ or whatever. For example, $\ce{PH3}$ has nearly pure $p$ orbitals in the $\ce{P-H}$ bond, and the lone pair is in a nearly pure $s$ orbital. Basically, since…
ManishEarth
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Why is sand, sand; and why is glass, glass; While both mainly contain Silicon Dioxide?

I know that there is the famous process of heating material and converting them to glass; but what I don't know is, what is the chemical process of the creation of glass? Is it crystallization? How could it result in so much visual…
M.A.R.
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What's the strongest known organic acid?

What's the strongest known organic acid? Is it maybe trifluoromethanesulfonic acid or tautomer of pentacyanocyclopentadiene? EDIT: Since the question was reactivated I thought about formalising it. I can think of a few categories of compounds:…
Mithoron
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What makes an epoxide stable?

Overall ring strain seems to be a big issue when it comes to organic chemistry. That is why cyclopentane may be in an "envelope form" or why cyclobutane may be in a kinked, kite form. Both of these example molecules are not planar. So, why is…
Cardtrick
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Are there any major exceptions when comparing electron affinity?

I was tasked with figuring out whether carbon or nitrogen has a more negative electron affinity value. I initially picked nitrogen, just because nitrogen has a higher $Z_\mathrm{eff}$, creating a larger attraction between electrons and protons,…
Zolani13
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True or false: "A used AA battery contains fewer moles of electrons than a new AA battery."

I recently took a Gen. Chem. 2 exam that contained this question. I answered false, but my professor said the answer is true. My reasoning was that any electrons that leave the anode end up at the cathode, so the number of electrons should be…
Logicus
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Why was Avogadro's number chosen to be the value that it is?

I understand that the mole is an extremely useful way of measuring and understanding atomic quantities. I did find some history of the number in its wikipedia article, but I did not find an answer to the question "Why is the number chosen to be what…
Lucas Willhelm
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What are the chemical reactions behind fire?

I've always wondered what the chemistry behind fire is. What are the basic chemical reactions behind a simple wood fire, and how do they manifest into this phenomenon?
Atif Imran
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Why are atoms with eight electrons in the outer shell extremely stable?

Atoms that have eight electrons in their outer shell are extremely stable. It can't be because both the $s$ and the $p$ orbitals are full, because then an atom with 13 or 18 valence electrons would be extremely stable. ($d$ has 10, and 5 is also…
Friend of Kim
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