Nanotubes: The Materials of the 21st Century
Carbon nanotubes, some 1000 times smaller than conventional carbon fibers, have tensile strengths 100x that of steel and conduct electricity like metals. They promise a revolution in structural and electrical engineering.
More details | Watch nowArchitects of the Microcosmos
In thistalk Harry Kroto explains that molecules have structures that are every bit as real in the mind of the chemists who create them, as are the edifices of brick, steel and concrete designed by architects and built by engineers.
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John Murrell discusses the basic physical principles relating to the gaseous, liquid and solid states with the aid of models and demonstrations. Attention is drawn to phase changes and subtle features involving intermediate phases such as liquid crys....
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Born in Lithuania, Aaron Klug, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1982, tells us about his early life and education growing up in Durban, South Africa. He developed an early interest in physiology and anatomy but did not find his teacher very inspiring and ga....
More details | Watch nowRichard Ernst
Nuclear magnetic resonance (nmr), a powerful technique for determining molecular structure, has totally revolutionised chemistry. From its inception half a century ago, its potential as an analytical tool for identifying compounds was clear, albeit l....
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Prof. C.N.R. Rao was born and brought up in Bangalore, India where he developed his interest in science. He studied for his Ph.D at Purdue University in the US but returned to India to continue his career. He has had numerous visiting positions abroa....
More details | Watch nowRudolph A. Marcus
Winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1992 'for his contributions to the theory of electron transfer reactions in chemical systems'. We ask Marcus to explain how he works and he replies that he draws pictures in order to visualize problems. On relig....
More details | Watch nowC-60, the Celestial Sphere that Fell to Earth
In 1985 an experiment, designed to unravel the carbon chemistry in Red Giant Stars, revealed the existence of C-60 Buckminsterfullerene (the third allotropic form of carbon). The story of the discovery and the way its symmetry relates to the natural ....
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We have synthesized different alkali metal peroxychromates and K3NbO8 doped with K3CrO8crystals based on rare oxidation state of Chromium (V).We have studied their spectroscopic properties using EPR and pulsed EPR. Coherent spin manipulation on Cr+5 ....
More details | Watch nowChemistry and Astronomy: Unification of Sciences
Takeshi Oka, Professor of Astronomy at the University of Chicago and discoverer of H3(+), positively ionised molecule of three protons, talks about the ways in which the various aspects of science are are all interlocked. In particular he shows the ....
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Dan Nocera of MIT gives a review of the world's current power demand and projects it forward to 2030. By using readily available data he shows that providing the increase needed is remarkably difficult given the need to restrict the production of ca....
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Dan gives a brief introduction into his group's discovery of a new and efficient catalyst which could be of vital importance in our search for better ways of capturing solar energy.
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