Mendelejev

To obtain the formal charge of an atom in a compound : just count how many bonds there are + the number of free electrons. And compare that number with the number of valence electrons. In his example S has six bonds (a double bond with oxygen counts for two.) and no free electrons. So a total of six. S, group VIa, so six valence electrons. 6 - 6 makes a formal charge of 0. Oxygen had one bond with S, six free electrons, total is 7, but group VIa, so 6 - 7 is -1 => formal charge of oxygen. Other oxygen had two bonds with S, four free electrons, total is 6, so formal charge of 0 The sum of all the formal charges is the charge of the compound. Here 0 + 0 + 0 - 1 - 1 = a total of -2. Correct, becouse SO4 is SO4 2-

Think I'll just go to the chemistry shop (Don't have friends with a Birkeland-Eyde reactor at home )

Correct. I have some old books of "chemistry", almost "kitchen chemistry", in fact a mix of alchemy an chemistry and cooking. But extremely interesting !! The first chapter is "Het vervalschen van goud' ! Means : 'adulterating (?) gold' with some common metals. I search in old bookstores, but it's hard to find old books on chemistry. Maybe if I go to Germany, I could find something interesting. Becouse, yes it's true, during WWII, the germans were very good in chemistry (think of Haber for example), and they have written some great books. Also the book of Oliver Sacks 'Uncle tungsten' is a nice book. Not really descriptions of the experiments, but it could give you some new ideas. Schoolbooks for the basic experiments. History books, for old experiments, like Hennig Brand's extraction of P

Mmm, very nice experiment. I'm certainly going to try it ! I'll let you know if it worked well or not. But I was wondering. Aren't there nice experiments with chromyl chloride for example ?? Would be nice

Yeah, EthyleneDiamineTetraAcetic acid Thanx, I hate it when I forget something like that

And are you really going to use bodily fluids ?? At school ??

EDTA is a ligand. Some 'chelated' complexed ions have EDTA as ligands. I'm searching for the full name of EDTA, but can't find it anymore

Well, I have a lot of formic acid. Could I do some nice experiments with it or not ? I also have ethanol, methanol, acetic acid (vineagar). But that's almost everything. (I have more inorganic products.)

Mmm, a plasma arc. Don't think I've got that in my lab.

Indeed, and when it's on the second C of the chain, instead of the first, we call it iso-... For example CH3-CH2OH-CH2-CH2-CH3 is iso-pentanol (or 2-pentanol) (or 2-hydroxo-pentane, but I don't think it's what the IUPAC wants)

Yes, indeed. So one half of all the elements we can collect are radicals. Chlorine for example, has a valency of zeven, so 3 pairs of two electrons and 1 apart, the radical.

Mmm, thanx a lot for the information. But don't forget H202. Are there simple and cheap methods for his synthesis ??

YES, INDEED !!! People always tend to forget her, but without her scientific research, watson and crick would never have been able to discover the strucure of DNA.

I would like to make H202 with very cheap chemicals. Also NaI ! Does someone knows a good method ??