Which best describes diethyl ether?
AnswerA volatile, highly flammable liquid
Diethyl ether evaporates quickly and its vapor ignites easily.
Science · Facts & stats
Ether facts & stats
7 fact-checked facts about ether in chemistry and physics, each with the reason behind it. 5 more are in today's round and join this page after it closes.
The basics
What was the 'luminiferous aether' supposed to carry?
AnswerLight waves
Physicists once thought light needed an invisible medium, the luminiferous aether, to travel through.
Going deeper
In an ether molecule, the oxygen atom is bonded to what?
AnswerTwo carbon-containing groups
Ethers have the structure R-O-R', with oxygen between two carbon groups; alcohols have O-H.
The Michelson-Morley experiment of 1887 tried to detect what?
AnswerEarth's motion through the aether
It found no sign of the aether, a key clue that led to modern physics.
Tetrahydrofuran (THF) is what kind of ether?
AnswerA cyclic ether
THF's oxygen sits inside a five-membered ring, making it a cyclic ether and a common solvent.
Expert level
Crown ethers are known for binding which particles in their ring-shaped centers?
AnswerMetal ions
Crown ethers wrap around metal cations like potassium, work honored by the 1987 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Which 1905 theory made the aether unnecessary to explain light?
AnswerEinstein's special relativity
Special relativity described light's constant speed without needing any aether.
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