Solutions of electrons!

We’ve spent quite a bit of time in class (and hopefully some time out of it) thinking about electrons. We know they exist, but they are notoriously difficult to capture. One method is to solvate them. When this happens, the solution turns blue!

The blue color in the solution shown to the left is due to the presence of solvated electrons in liquid anhydrous ammonia (NH₃).

You can learn more about solvating electrons at Molecule of the Day (an excellent blog for things chemical), and a bit more about the image at Professor Peter Edward’s site at Oxford.