Fun Facts

Chemistry helps solve many pressing and weighty global challenges. But it is also involved in our everyday life, in what we wear, what we write with, what we eat, what we sit on or travel in. It has that magic component and it explains many of life’s little mysteries.

In this section we’ll help you explore the fun questions (Why do leaves change colour?), debunk myths about chemicals and discover Canadian milestones in chemistry.

Read Joe Schwarcz's blog, "Chemically Speaking," about the role of chemicals in our daily lives.

The following facts are taken from the high school publication Discover Canadian Chemistry,  which was published by the Chemical Institute of Canada from 1991 to 2001 and the middle school publication Exploring Chemistry, which was published in 1996 and 1997.

The following are all in pdf () format.

Electronics Industry

Copper Conducts Computers: These words could be the slogan for a new car, but they are also the three driving forces behind computer chip technology …

Flying Gold Molecules:Organometallic chemists are finding new ways to make gold molecules that "fly," and to control where they land. The result is a new way to make thin gold films for the electronics industry …

Food Industry

The Chemical Detective: Is apple juice made just from apples? It sounds like a simple question that has an easy answer. However …

The Chemistry of Chocolate: "Chocoholics" everywhere will tell you that eating chocolate makes them feel good, but why? Chocolate contains more than 300 known chemicals …

Friendly Fertilizers: The perfect fertilizer is one that will provide that plant with the right nutrients …

Green Chemistry

Ecologically Friendly Inventions: A company called Spilkleen in North York, Ont. is making great strides in the chemistry of absorbent materials …

Health

Antimatter and Positron Emission Tomography: PET is a noninvasive diagnostic technique that takes three-dimensional images of the body …

Canadian Chemists Make Molecular Bracelet: Roland Pomeroy and Weng Kee Leong of Simon Fraser University Burnaby, B.C. have made a new compound with an unprecedented ring of twelve metal atoms …

Cobalt Radiation Therapy: In 1951 at the Chalk River Nuclear Plant, in Chalk River, Ont. a group of Canadian scientists isolated a source of radiation even stronger than X-rays …

The Technology behind Drug Patches: A company called Pharma Patch plc in Toronto, Ont. is involved in the study and development of through-the-skin (transdermal) delivery of difficult-to-deliver drugs …

Finding Cures in our Trees: It is no joke to say that everything in our world is chemical. Even trees have chemistry! ...

New Canadian Studies on Cystic Fibrosis: Cystic Fibrosis is an inherited disease that affects the epithelial ("surface" or "lining") tissue throughout the body …

New Cancer Drug Given the Green Light for a Red Light Solution: A Canadian scientific team led by Julia Levy and David Dolphin from the University of British Columbia has developed a new technique that fights the war against cancer tumours …

No Simple Rx for Developing a Medication: A new medication is seldom really new—the search for a new drug usually starts 10 or 15 years before it is ready for patients to use …

Solution for Blood Shortages: Have you ever wondered what is done to blood after it has been donated? Donated blood is screened, tested, and stored …

Life’s Little Mysteries

Amber: Prehistoric Preservations: Did you know that amber isn’t a fossil but cross-linked polymerized terpenes? Amber is the result of sticky plant secretions …

The Bermuda Triangle Mystery Solved?: "The mysterious loss of a ship and all of its crew." "The disappearance of aircraft …

New Products to Improve Your Life

Big Accomplishments for a Small Particle: In 1990, Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL) received an award for developing one of the 100 most-significant technical products of the year. This product is a family of electron accelerators …

Butyl Rubber and Bubble Gum: Butyl rubber has unique properties. The most important property of butyl rubber is that it is the best sealant of all the known rubbers …

Chemical Breakthrough: Quesnel, British Columbia, for those who don’t know, lies in the centre of the province, about 600 kilometers northeast of Vancouver …

Chemistry in Cosmetics: It is often the search for excellence which leads us on to bigger and better things. Just ask John and Lotte Davis, who founded Advance Group Hair Products Ltd. (AG) in Burnaby, B.C. in 1989 …

Cleaning Up with Crystal Engineering: Crystal engineering, a relatively new field of chemistry, has been rapidly expanding since it was first introduced in 1971. Crystal engineering is a cross-disciplinary field …

Separation of Compounds by Chromatography: Suppose you had a mixture of compounds. Would it be possible to separate them from one another? …

Protection

Anti-Chemical Warfare: Chemical warfare agents, as defined by the United National Chemical Weapons Convention, are "any chemical which, through its chemical effect on living processes …

Canadians At The Top Of Explosive Detection: The first Explosives Vapour Detector (EVD) was recently invented by Lorne Elias of the National Aeronautic Division of Canada's National Research Council in Ottawa, Ont. …

Chemistry Defending Plants: According to Soledade C. Pedras, her greatest success and pride is in being able to apply her passion for and knowledge of chemistry in the field of plant biology …

Other

Environmental Analysis Through Chemistry: Since the industrial revolution in the 19th century and the numerous technological breakthroughs that have occurred up to the present day, a large number of companies have emerged in Canada …

Fun Facts: An assortment of fun facts about gas, teeth, leaves and more.

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