Deb Moran

You were in the grocery store shopping for holiday candy. You spotted your favorite and grabbed a bag. (Maybe two if it was on sale!) You tossed your holiday treats into your cart. As they landed face-down among your other chosen items, you noticed the nutritional information printed on the back of the bag. Among the statistics printed on the back was the amount of fat in a serving of your beloved chocolate. Important information even if you don’t really…

As we learned from a previous post, supercritical fluid is (sort of) another state of matter. It’s one that’s not a gas, not a liquid, but with properties of both. While the phenomenon was discovered over two hundred years ago by Baron de la Tour of France (more on that in a minute), its use really gained popularity in the 1970s. Long before you could pop a pod into the sleek machine on your countertop and push a button, there…

Supercritical fluids – so much more than decaffeinating coffee If you’re in science, you may have heard about supercritical fluids in your physical chemistry class. If you’re not, we’ll get you up to speed. The example most often cited for the use of supercritical carbon dioxide is for decaffeinating coffee, replacing the old method which used toxic chemicals. That is only one use. There are so many more! It’s like asking what you can use water for… You can use…