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The next time you heat leftovers in your microwave, we can't guarantee you will get a great meal. But if you check out this video, you can find out the physics and chemistry behind how your food is cooked!

Disappearing ink. Trick birthday candles that relight after extinguishing. Pulling an egg through the mouth of a bottle without breaking it. These tricks seem to defy the laws of nature, but they’re not magic. Let’s apply a little chemistry to reveal the mysteries behind these magic tricks.

It’s National Chemistry Week, and we at Bytesize Science are celebrating it by rolling out the red carpet and going Hollywood; All week, we’ll be exploring how chemistry helps create some of the amazing special effects found in blockbuster films

Intro theme and various sound effects by Adam Dylewski; music by DoKashiteru (via ccMixter.org); Creative Commons licensed audio from freesound.iua.upf.edu includes sound by Justine Angus, thanvannispen, cognito, dobroide, Erdie, theta4, belloq, Connum, mikejedw and batchku.

Take fake snow for an example.  One of the paradoxes of fake snow is that it is better than the real thing. According to Richard Rickitt, author of Special Effects: The History and Technique, once snow is trampled, it can’t be restored, so snow shots can be repeated just once or twice, after which a movie crew needs to move to a new location.

Intro theme and various sound effects by Adam Dylewski; music by DoKashiteru (via ccMixter.org); Creative Commons licensed audio from freesound.iua.upf.edu includes sound by Justine Angus, thanvannispen, cognito, dobroide, Erdie, theta4, belloq, Connum, mikejedw and batchku.

Making artificial skin is a big challenge, especially since we as humans are very familiar with how real skin wrinkles and moves, as well as how it looks with its slight translucency and flaws. Anything that is not quite right about artificial skin—such as a visible blend line at its edge—immediately tips us off and destroys the illusion.

Intro theme and various sound effects by Adam Dylewski; music by DoKashiteru (via ccMixter.org); Creative Commons licensed audio from freesound.iua.upf.edu includes sound by Justine Angus, thanvannispen, cognito, dobroide, Erdie, theta4, belloq, Connum, mikejedw and batchku.

When it comes to explosions, flames, or other similar effects—also called pyrotechnic special effects—the problem is to create an illusion of towering fires and shattering explosions by the safest possible means. Special effects expert Joe Viskocil, who has spent nearly 40 years blowing up miniatures.

Intro theme and various sound effects by Adam Dylewski; music by DoKashiteru (via ccMixter.org); Creative Commons licensed audio from freesound.iua.upf.edu includes sound by Justine Angus, thanvannispen, cognito, dobroide, Erdie, theta4, belloq, Connum, mikejedw and batchku.

From the sizzle of the fuse to the boom and burst of colors ––a new American Chemical Society (ACS) video brings you all of the exciting sights and sounds of Fourth of July fireworks. The Chemistry of Fireworks, part of the ACS Holiday Video Series, illustrates in brilliant high-definition detail how the familiar rockets and other neat products that light up the night sky all represent chemistry in action. The video, released today, features a demonstration by fireworks expert John A. Conkling, Ph.D., Washington College, Chestertown, Md., author of The Chemistry of Pyrotechnics, Basic Principles and Theory.

With the Fourth of July weekend rapidly approaching, what better time to watch our new video on the dos and don’ts of cooking your favorite foods on the barbecue grill? The video features Shirley O. Corriher, an award-winning author whose latest book is BakeWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking, and Sara J. Risch, Ph.D., noted food chemist and founder and principal in the consulting firm, Science by Design.

In this episode, find out how scientists are developing "greener" plastics using plant materials. By 2020, these bioplastics could provide an alternative for about a fifth of the estimated 200 billion pounds of plastics manufactures produce each year worldwide.