February 2010
Physics
March 2010
Organic reagents
April 2010
Organic synthesis
Mechanism shown is converting 1-hexene to 1-hexanol, first performed in 1957.
May 2010
Aromatic chemistry
May 2010 - Steroids
A steroid is a type of organic compound that contains a specific arrangement of four rings that are joined to each other. The sterane core of steroids is composed of seventeen carbon atoms bonded together to form four fused rings: three cyclohexane rings (designated as rings A, B, and C in the figure to the right) and one cyclopentane ring (the D ring). The steroids vary by the functional groups attached to these rings and by the oxidation state of the rings. Sterols are special forms of steroids, with a hydroxyl group at position-3 and a skeleton derived from cholestane.
June 2010
Physics
The photoelectric effect is a phenomenon in which electrons are emitted from matter (metals and non-metallic solids, liquids or gases) as a consequence of their absorption of energy from electromagnetic radiation of very short wavelength, such as visible or ultraviolet light, or "photoelectrons". As it was first observed by Heinrich Hertz in 1887. Hertz observed and then showed that electrodes illuminated with ultraviolet light create electric sparks more easily.
The study of the photoelectric effect led to important steps in understanding the quantum nature of light and electrons and influenced the formation of the concept of wave–particle duality, which is the concept that all matter exhibits both wave-like and particle-like properties.
July 2010
Biochemistry
