Chemistry. The Secret Life of Substances

This book is an exciting journey into the world of substances that surround us. You will read about why joints 'click', how taste is formed, why salt has many shades (pink, blue, and even black), what gold dissolves in, and how glass flows. You will also learn why aluminum is added to rocket fuel, why a device for lighting a fire creates sparks with a temperature of 3000 °C, and how chemists use polonium to expose forgeries of paintings by old masters. Ilya Abramovich Leenson (1945-2019) was a candidate of chemical sciences, senior researcher at the Department of Chemistry of Moscow State University, associate professor at the Higher Chemical College of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and author of scientific and popular science articles, books, and textbooks.