💡 Science Fact
The Haber process for ammonia synthesis operates at 400-500°C and 150-300 atm,
producing 150 million tons annually.
A typical oil refinery can process up to 600,000 barrels of crude oil per day into
gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel.
The Reynolds number (Re > 4000) determines turbulent flow - discovered by Osborne
Reynolds in 1883.
Distillation accounts for ~40% of all energy used in chemical processing. Heat
integration can cut this in half.
Bioreactors can produce 200+ grams of monoclonal antibodies per liter - up from
milligrams in the 1980s.
The CSTR (Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor) achieves perfect mixing - exit stream
composition equals tank composition.
Catalytic cracking was invented in 1942 and revolutionized gasoline production,
doubling yields from crude oil.
Heat exchangers can achieve effectiveness >95% using counterflow design vs ~60% for
parallel flow.
The Fischer-Tropsch process converts syngas (CO + H₂) into liquid fuels - developed in
1920s Germany.
Membrane separation uses 90% less energy than thermal desalination for seawater
purification.
PID controllers (Proportional-Integral-Derivative) control over 95% of industrial
control loops.
The Clausius-Clapeyron equation relates vapor pressure to temperature - essential for
distillation design.
Fluidized beds provide 100x better heat transfer than packed beds due to particle
motion.
The Arrhenius equation shows reaction rates double roughly every 10°C temperature
increase.
NPSH (Net Positive Suction Head) must exceed vapor pressure to prevent pump cavitation
damage.
Polyethylene is the world's most produced plastic at 100+ million tons per year.
The ideal gas law PV=nRT was formulated in 1834, combining Boyle's, Charles's, and
Avogadro's laws.
Steam reforming of natural gas produces 95% of the world's hydrogen supply.
The McCabe-Thiele method graphically designs distillation columns using equilibrium
and operating lines.
Industrial crystallizers can produce 99.99% pure products through controlled
nucleation and growth.
Water has an unusually high heat capacity (4.18 kJ/kg·K), making it excellent for
industrial cooling.
A single mole contains 6.022 × 10²³ particles - Avogadro's number, determined in 1909.
Diamond and graphite are both pure carbon - only their crystal structure differs.
The pH scale is logarithmic: pH 4 is 10 times more acidic than pH 5, and 100x more
than pH 6.
Helium was discovered in the Sun's spectrum (1868) before being found on Earth (1895).
The triple point of water (273.16 K) is used to define the Kelvin temperature scale.
Fluorine is the most electronegative element - it will react with almost everything,
including glass.
The human body contains about 7×10¹⁸ atoms of gold - about 0.2 milligrams total.
Gallium melts at 29.76°C - it will literally melt in your hand.
The lightest element (hydrogen) comprises 75% of all normal matter in the universe.
Sulfuric acid is the most-produced chemical worldwide at 200+ million tons per year.
A hydrogen bond is ~20x weaker than a covalent bond, but strong enough to make water
liquid at room temperature.
Buckminsterfullerene (C₆₀) resembles a soccer ball and was discovered in 1985, earning
a Nobel Prize.
Noble gases were called "inert" until 1962 when Neil Bartlett made the first xenon
compound.
The periodic table was independently proposed by Mendeleev and Meyer in 1869.
The Navier-Stokes equations governing fluid flow remain one of the Millennium Prize
Problems in mathematics.
Absolute zero (0 K = -273.15°C) is impossible to reach due to the third law of
thermodynamics.
The speed of light (299,792,458 m/s) is now used to define the meter itself.
Entropy always increases in an isolated system - the second law of thermodynamics.
The Stefan-Boltzmann law: radiative heat transfer scales with T⁴, making high
temperatures extreme.
Bernoulli's principle explains why airplane wings generate lift and venturi meters
measure flow.
Supercritical CO₂ (>31°C, >7.4 MPa) is used for decaffeinating coffee and dry
cleaning.
One atmosphere of pressure (101.325 kPa) equals the weight of a 10.3 meter column of
water.
The Carnot efficiency sets the theoretical maximum for heat engines: η = 1 - Tₗ/Tₕ.
Sound travels faster in solids (~5000 m/s in steel) than in air (~343 m/s) or water
(~1500 m/s).
Viscosity of honey is about 10,000x higher than water - both are Newtonian fluids.
Surface tension allows water striders to walk on water - caused by hydrogen bonding.
The Joule-Thomson effect cools most gases when expanded - the basis of refrigeration.
Fourier's law of heat conduction: Q = -kA(dT/dx), proposed in 1822.
The Boltzmann constant k = 1.38×10⁻²³ J/K links temperature to molecular kinetic
energy.