Magnificent molecules

BaZnGa

By 2018-09-17T11:43:00

Person wearing a 'Bazinga!' cape, from The Big Bang Theory TV series

Source: © Thibault on Flickr - CC BY SA

How a TV catchphrase inspired a synthetic chemical compound

If you’re familiar with the TV show The big bang theory, you’ll know the catchphrase of one of the leading characters, physicist Dr Sheldon Cooper, ‘Bazinga!’ sometimes written out as the chemical element symbols Ba Zn Ga, for barium, zinc and gallium. But you’d have to be a hardcore chemistry fan to sit in front of your TV and wonder if you could actually make that compound in real life. Yet that’s exactly what Iowa State University graduate student Na Hyun Jo did.

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