Subscribe to the OSS Weekly Newsletter!

It All Comes Out in the Wash

11 Dec 2024

Unless you are in the habit of reading the ingredients list on your laundry detergent, you are not likely to be familiar with sodium carbonate. Yet this industrial chemical of great importance has...

Bubbling In the New Year

28 Dec 2022

A fascinating story is told by the guide on a tour of perhaps the most famous champagne house in the world. Moet et Chandon in Reims is the producer of Dom Perignon, the king of bubblies. The...

Plexiglass: Protection for 鈥淭he Pieta鈥 and Us

11 Sep 2021

Some companies have benefitted from COVID-19. Like those that manufacture plexiglass. Banks, stores, automobile dealers all feature plexiglass panels to reduce the chance of viral transmission. The...

What is Safety Glass?

2 Jul 2021

Basically, glass that keeps you safe from flying shards should you be nearby when it breaks. There are two types of safety glass, laminated and tempered. The laminated version has an interesting...

The Connection Between Frosted Lightbulbs & Bad Pick-Up Lines

21 May 2019

Way back in 1771, Swedish chemist Karl Wilhelm Scheele was investigating the properties of a mineral known as fluorspar (calcium fluoride). He mixed the pulverized rock with sulfuric acid and...

How are mirrors made?

13 Jun 2018

Imagine the surprise of the first cave person who ever glanced into a reflecting pond.聽The image probably wasn't too pleasing but the effect was surely intriguing.聽Vanity was instantly born and the...

Borax and slimy concerns

31 Mar 2017

Health Canada recently issued an advisory about minimizing exposure to borax based on some studies that have found developmental and reproductive problems in animals. This raised questions among...

Pyrex Wonders

20 Mar 2017

Glass is made by mixing and heating silica (sand), sodium carbonate (soda) and limestone (calcium carbonate).聽 But, as we know, glass breaks quite easily, especially when subjected to sudden...

Happy New Year to All! Pour the Champagne!

20 Mar 2017

Champagne time! Make sure you drink it from the right kind of glass!...

Pages

Back to top