Chemistry Riddle

Question

Here is a riddle for all you science nerds out there! Each clue will give you a word or chemical. Tell me how these link together.

Clue 1: Work out the chemical and take its atomic symbol
part 1: strong metal, to do with wolves
part 2: electrons are equal to sqrt(7225)
part 3: named in the same way as ytterbium and yttrium, found by Mosander

Clue 2: Figure out what you get from the instructions
Take pure hydrogen gas and pump it through oxygen gas. Then, mix this with sulfur dioxde. (H₂ + O₂ -> ? + SO₂ -> ?)

Clue 3: Tell me what these physics terms are measured in
part 1: Energy
part 2: Resistance
part 3: Take the last letter of part 2 and split it in half
part 4: Y

$H_2O + SO_2 \to H_2SO_3$, sulfurous acid, which makes the final rhyme fail. You need to oxidize the $SO_2$ to $SO_3$ first, which is done using a vanadium catalyst. Wikipedia — Ross Millikan, Jul 24 '19 at 03:26
The rhyme is Johnny was a chemist's son but Johnny is no more for what he thought was H2) was H2SO4 — William Pennanti, Jul 24 '19 at 10:12
Yes, I know it from decades ago. Unfortunately in step 2 it appears you will not get $H_2SO_4$. You need sulfur trioxide to do $H_2O+SO_3\to H_2SO_4$ — Ross Millikan, Jul 24 '19 at 13:56
OK. Well it's just a riddle and further knowledge is accepted — William Pennanti, Jul 27 '19 at 16:53

score 15 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 23 '19 at 18:02

15

Clue 1:
1) Tungsteen, aka Wolfram W
2) sqrt(7225) -> Astatine At
3) Erbium -> Er
Clue 1 = Water (H2O)
Clue 2 = H2SO4 (sulfuric acid)
Clue 3:
1) Energy -> Joule (J)
2) Resistence -> Ohm (Ω)
3) Last letter of Ohm is m (thanks @hexomino) which split in half gives us n & n
4) Y
Clue 3 = Johnny Solution (thanks to @Bananekopp))
Johnny Was A Chemist’s Son
but Johnny is no more.
What Johnny thought was H2O was H2SO4
I guess it has to be sung under the tune of "Old McDonald had a farm"
Explanation: Johnny drank "a glass of water" but he drank sulfuric acid

edited Jul 23 '19 at 18:02

William Pennanti

2,630
8
32

answered Jul 23 '19 at 09:16

rhsquared

9,220
3
31
52

2

Clue 3: rot13(qvivqvat z tvirf hf gjb a, fb jr unir W Bu aa L... whfg tbbtyr "wbuaal jnf n purzvfgf fba") – Bananenkopp Jul 23 '19 at 11:00

Nautilus · Answer 2 · 2019-07-23T14:52:04.450

It's apparently not the intended answer, and you could argue it would need a language tag if it was, but still:

Clue 1: Work out the chemical and take its atomic symbol
part 1: strong metal, to do with wolves
part 2: electrons are equal to sqrt(7225)
part 3: named in the same way as ytterbium and yttrium, found by Mosander

1. Wolfram (W).

2. The number of electrons in an elemental atom is normally equal to that of protons, so it's astatine (At).

3. It could be terbium (Tb) or erbium (Er), but only the latter allows the answer to be a substance.

Clue 1: Water

Clue 2: Figure out what you get from the instructions
Take pure hydrogen gas and pump it through oxygen gas. Then, mix this with sulfur dioxde. (H2 + O2 -> ? + SO2 -> ?)

H2SO4

Clue 3: Tell me what these physics terms are measured in
part 1: Energy
part 2: Resistance
part 3: Take the last letter of part 2 and split it in half
part 4: Y

1. Energy: Joule (J)
2. Resistance: Ohm (Ω, or sort of O)
3. The letter m becomes n.

Jony means ions in Polish.

Solution:

Like other acids, sulphuric acid also releases ions when dissolved in water.

Chemistry Riddle

2 Answers2