Periodycal #20: Lunar New Year, love, and quiz prizes

Plus a call-out for more women in chemistry history

Feb 14, 2024

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Periodycal newsletter! It’s Valentine’s Day, so this month’s newsletter has some love chemistry for those of you who love chemistry (see what I did there?). There’s also a new graphic on Chinese Lunar New Year customs and the chemistry behind them and a chance to win a Periodic Graphics tote bag. Plus there’s the usual round-up of upcoming graphic tie-ins, so get scrolling and get stuck in!

Love Chemistry

Infographic on Valentine's Day chemistry, showing the chemical structures of dopamine, serotonin, adrenaline and oxytocin, and explaining how each contributes to the feeling of being in love. — Click to view and download this graphic on the Ci website

Love isn’t in the air, it’s in your brain and your bloodstream, but I guess that sounds a little less romantic. This graphic highlights some of the key chemical players in feelings of love, infatuation, desire, attachment, and so on.

Is love just a game? Bit of a deep question for a chemistry newsletter, but today’s Google Doodle is, at least, a love-themed game with a chemical twist. Their game gets you to pick an element, then swipe left or right, online dating style, on other elements depending on whether you think they’ll bond. We’ll forgive them that some of their dating picks aren’t diatomic molecules as advertised and just enjoy the fact that everybody has a bit more chemistry today as a result.

Title screen for the Google Doodle game, reading “Chemistry: bond with your fellow elements.” The chemical symbols for copper and palladium are show

Lunar New Year

An infographic that examines the customs of Chinese New Year and the chemistry behind them.

Jiaozi is a dumpling, made from water and flour, traditionally made during Chinese New Year. Varying water temperature affects the dough's properties. Near-boiling water denatures flour proteins and gelatinizes starch. This inhibits gluten formation, producing a softer, less elastic dough that's easier to shape.

In China, red is associated with happiness, success, and good luck, and it is prominent in New Year celebrations. The Chinese red pigment (mercuric sulfide) was used to color murals and ceramics. Because of its toxicity, it's no longer used. People in China also used dyes from safflower and madder roots to color clothes red.

Firecrackers are widely used to celebrate Chinese New Year. The first natural firecrackers were heated bamboo stalks that exploded as air pockets inside them expanded. Later, black powder produced their bang. Today, manufacturers use flash powder instead. — Click to view the full graphic on the C&EN site

In the past week, we’ve entered the year of the dragon - much to my dragon-obsessed four-year-old’s excitement. To celebrate, the latest edition of Periodic Graphics in C&EN looks at the chemistry behind some of the Chinese customs when it comes to celebrating Lunar New Year. This includes the wonderfully complicated chemistry of making dough and the occasionally toxic history of dyeing things red, before going out with a bang with a look at the compositions of gunpowder and flashpowder used in celebratory pyrotechnics.

Win a Periodic Graphics tote bag

Image showing a calendar and the text "C&EN presents periodic graphics quizzes - do your best and enter to win a C&EN tote bag"

If you like short online quizzes and prizes, you’ll be wanting to check out the relaunched Periodic Graphics quizzes on the C&EN site. Everyone who submits their quiz answers (to the latest quiz on the above Lunar New Year graphic) and signs up for C&EN’s weekly newsletter will be eligible to win a free Periodic Graphics tote bag. The team at C&EN will be giving them away each month, so keep your eye out for the latest edition!

Women in chemistry history

Image showing a range of "Women in Chemistry" infographics. Full versions are available at the link in the post.

For the lengthily titled International Day of Women and Girls in Science, I shared some of the resources I’ve made in years past featuring literally hundreds of women in chemistry, all available on the site’s category page. With one eye on International Women’s Day next month, I’m looking to put together another edition of the Women in Chemistry History graphics. I’ve got a few names already, but if there’s someone who hasn’t been featured in a previous edition that you think should be featured in a future one, let me know in the comments!

Upcoming chemistry tie-ins

Here’s a quick run-down of upcoming events or days and links to some relevant chemistry graphics from the archives:

17 February: National Cabbage Day – The chemistry of red cabbage indicator
19 February: Svante Arrhenius’s birthday – Svante Arrhenius and the Arrhenius equation
26 February: Ahmed Zewail’s birthday – Ahmed Zewail and femtochemistry
27 February: National Strawberry Day – The chemistry of strawberries
28 February: Linus Pauling’s birthday – Linus Pauling and electronegativity

That’s all for this edition. If you loved it, share the love with someone you think might love it too!

If you have suggestions for newsletter features, graphics, or something else, drop them in the comments below – it’s always great to hear from you.

Thanks for reading,

Andy

Michelle Cook

Feb 14

Dr. W. Jean Horkans. I worked with Jean at IBM's TJ Watson Research Center in the 80's and early 90's. She's a dedicated researcher in the field of electrochemistry and was very supportive of young women in IBM's intern/pre-professional summer programs as well as new hires. I lost touch with her years ago, but I believe she still lives in the extended NY metro area.

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