Acid

This week, the Other Couch's high-school-level understanding of chemistry is really put to the test as we talk about acid! What is it? How does it dissolve things? It has something to do... with protons? It seems way simpler in the movies!

Follow us on Twitter @SciShowTangents, where we’ll tweet out topics for upcoming episodes and you can ask the science couch questions! 

If you want to learn more about any of our main topics, check out these links:

[Truth or Fail]

Formic acid (general):

https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Formic-acid

Fire ant antivenom:

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/343/6174/1014.abstract

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/invasive-crazy-ants-are-eating-up-invasive-fire-ants-in-the-south-65189409/

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-rise-of-the-crazy-ants/

Bone-house wasps:

https://www.wired.com/2014/07/the-spider-eating-bone-house-wasp/

Electricity-generating wasps:

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/12/101221-solar-power-hornet-science-animals/

[Fact Off]

Internal sensor:

https://www.seeker.com/when-swallowed-this-sensor-is-powered-by-stomach-acid-2248294501.html

Pregnancy gif:

https://giphy.com/gifs/pregnancy-baby-fetus-WS91RYT47sA6I

https://imgur.com/gallery/d7n3eIH

Moss bandage:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-humble-moss-helped-heal-wounds-thousands-WWI-180963081/

https://images.app.goo.gl/TWkw555pqQcRF4Ap8

[Ask the Science Couch]

Battery energy storage:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-do-batteries-store-an/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV4IUsholjg&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtPHzzYuWy6fYEaX9mQQ8oGr

Lead-acid batteries:

https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/lead_based_batteries

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/leadacid.html