Let's Go SCUBA Diving

In 2021, Mitchell Goodwin, an experienced SCUBA diver, was diving off the coast of Mandurah in Western Australia. According to the report in the "West Australian", he descended to a depth of 42 m and stayed at this depth for 27 minutes. On his ascent, he made one decompression stop. When he got back to the boat he felt nauseous, lost his hearing, his sight, and blacked out.

What had gone wrong?

Read more in the June 2022 edition of AUS-e-NEWS.

Subscribe to AUS-e-NEWS, AUS-e-TUTE's free quarterly newsletter for chemistry students and teachers, at https://www.ausetute.com.au/ausenews.html

Energy from Hydrogen

Hydrogen releases a lot of energy when it combusts, so much energy that it is hoped we will be able to use it to power our future.

Where does all that energy come from?

Read the June 2021 edition of AUS-e-NEWS to find out more.

Subscribe for free at https://www.ausetute.com.au/ausenews.html

Chemistry of Tooth Decay and Prevention

Tooth decay is a major health concern.

For more than 50 years we have been adding fluoride to our water supplies and toothpaste to help prevent tooth decay.

It is estimated that this fluoridation of drinking water alone has resulted in a 25% decrease of tooth decay in children and adults.

What causes tooth decay and how does fluoride prevent tooth decay and cavities?

 Learn about the chemistry of tooth decay and how to prevent it in the March 2021 issue of AUS-e-NEWS. Subscribe to AUS-e-NEWS for free at https://www.ausetute.com.au/ausenews.html

How to Kill the COVID-19 Virus

By the middle of 2020 millions of people had been infected with a virus which causes a disease known as COVID-19 and hundreds of thousands of people had died.

So I was intrigued when I read that Professor Mary-Louise McLaws, an infection control expert from the University of New South Wales, had stated that, "it's relatively easy to kill compared to some other viruses".

Why is the COVID-19 virus easy to kill and how do you kill it? 

Read this edition of AUS-e-NEWS to find out more.

Subscribe to AUS-e-NEWS at https://www.ausetute.com.au/ausenews.html

Micellar Water

Once upon a time you would buy a bar of soap and use it to wash your hands, face, body, and possibly even your hair.
Not today! Now you have hand-wash for your hands, body-wash for your body, shampoo for your hair, and a huge range of different products to clean your face including "micellar water" or "micellar cleansing water".
Unlike other face-cleaning products which need to be washed off with water, the makers of "micellar water" claim that it will cleanse your skin without vigorous rubbing or rinsing.
Intriguing! This "micellar water" sounds like some kind of magic doesn't it?
What's in "micellar water" and how does it work?

Read all about it in the September 2019 edition of AUS-e-NEWS, AUS-e-TUTE's free quarterly newsletter for chemistry students and teachers.

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24 Carat Chemistry

I was trying to buy a present for my mum for Mothers' Day. "A gold chain," I thought, "would be a nice present". But when I got to the jewellery shop I found that there is a huge variety of "gold chains", 24 carat gold, 18 carat gold, 9 carat gold, 995, 750, 375, white gold, rose gold...

So what is a carat?
What do those numbers mean?
How can "gold" be different colours?

Read all about it in the June 2019 issue of AUS-e-NEWS

Subscribe to AUS-e-TUTE's free quarterly newsletter at https://www.ausetute.com.au/ausenews.html