Which of these amino acids, first isolated from gelatin, is the simplest?

In the early 18th century, what startling conclusion did John Dalton reach regarding the “ultimate particles,” or atoms, of each of the chemical elements?

Which element puts the green in emeralds and the red in rubies?

Soldering wire, widely employed in connecting electrical leads, is almost always made of which pair of metals?

In petroleum refining, what name is given to the process by which heavy hydrocarbon molecules are broken up into lighter molecules by means of heat and pressure?

Which precious metal is widely employed as a catalyst?

What is dry ice?

Which common element, once called brimstone, can be pumped up from underground deposits using superheated water or recovered in large amounts as a by-product of oil refining, coal burning, and other industrial processes?

John Wesley Hyatt, an American inventor, combined nitrocellulose with other volatile ingredients to make the first of what important material?

What is baking soda?

What important industrial compound did Italian chemist Ascanio Sobrero invent in 1846 by adding glycerol to a mixture of concentrated nitric and sulfuric acids?

Early chemists thought that all burning substances released an element called phlogiston. In the 18th century, which element did the French chemist Antoine Lavoisier show was really responsible for combustion?

In 1938 what new material did chemist Roy Plunkett find in a container that had contained tetrafluoroethylene gas?

What is a buckyball?

The Bronze Age was made possible when which two metals were combined?

What is aqua fortis?

Stephanie Kwolek, employed by the DuPont Company from the 1940s to the 1980s, helped to invent a revolutionary new synthetic fibre essential to which apparel?

In 1824 Joseph Aspdin ground and burned a mixture of limestone and clay to make what important material?

Which pair of scientists received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1935 for their discovery of artificial radioactive isotopes?

What is quicksilver?

What did Willard Frank Libby invent when he observed that one in a trillion carbon atoms is radioactive and that these radioactive atoms decay at a constant rate?

Traditional pewter, used since at least ancient Roman times, is an alloy of which two common metals?

What is the common term for hydrated iron oxide?

Acid rain is formed by the reaction of which two waste gases with water?

Brass, an alloy that is hard, easily shaped, and corrosion-resistant, is mainly a mixture of which two metals?

Which of these derives its name from the Latin word for “ant”?

What is aqua regia?

What is the common name for trichloromethane, a substance used as an anesthetic and a solvent?

Stainless steel, used wherever hardness, corrosion resistance, and a high polish are prized, acquires its special properties mainly from the addition of which metal?

In 1774 Joseph Priestley heated red mercuric oxide and obtained a mysterious gas that enabled a candle to continue burning. What was this gas?

What gas slowly leaks into the atmosphere from the Earth’s rocks and is captured for use as a preservative and in incandescent lights, among other applications?

Cooking egg white results in irreversible modification of the molecular structure of its protein. What is the process called?