as soon as December enters, the smell of Christmas begins to emerge in the shopping mall. In China, it feels that most people will not go to celebrate Christmas specially. What we feel is more likely to be discounted promotions and Christmas limited goods.

but one thing that makes me happy about Christmas month is the Chemical Christmas Calendar on Compound Interest. Compound Interest is my favorite website for chemical information diagrams. From December 1st to December 25th, the author will update a small chemical picture of Christmas every day. Together, it will be a Christmas calendar. The contents of this year's Christmas are being updated daily:

visit this link to see the contents of the 2016 Christmas calendar: http://www.compoundchem.com/2016advent/

selects a few pictures to introduce:

on December 2, 2016, the aroma of roasted chestnuts

the process of cooking chestnuts produces a series of flavor substances, including furfural (sweet aroma). It has the flavor of wood and almond) and γ-butyrolactone (sweet caramel flavor).

on December 5th, 2016, the odor of the Christmas tree

the key substance is pinene, which has two different isomers. Borneol acetate also contributes to the smell.

gingerol

gingerol

Be beautiful, stylish and outstanding when in our grey prom dresses. They are classic and flawless for any occasion.

on December 9, 2016, candy canes

are made with water, sucrose and cornstarch, flavored with mint. The molecule on this picture is sucrose, and below is menthol, a cool ingredient in peppermint. Menthol deceives the body's thermoreceptors and makes people feel cool.

on December 10, 2016, artificial snow

sodium polyacrylate is a super absorbent resin that can be used to show the effect of "artificial snow". When drying, the long chains of these polymers are curled up and expand when they are exposed to water.

this is what it looks like:

more reading: a cup of "artificial snow"

there are also a lot of interesting things in previous years' Christmas calendars, such as the previously introduced small experiment on lighting candles. This picture is from the Christmas calendar on December 16, 2015:

all in all, I still like this series, and it's good to take a look at it every day. I recommend you to follow it. Will be updated until Christmas time

read the original text is also the original web link.