Question: What is the longest equation you've ever had to remember?

Gemma Purser answered on 28 Jun 2012:

Hi hannahisawesome,

Do you mean mathmatical or chemical equations?

I guess one of the longest chemical equations I have had to remember are those that involve chain reactions, where one reaction (with the reactants on the left hand side) goes to products (the part on the righ hand side) and then these products react with something else to form new products and this just carries on and on.

Like a good example is CFC’s (chloroflurohydrocarbons) with ozone. CFC’s used to be a big problem some years ago and they were also polluting the atmosphere. They are a problem because chlorine and fluorine form highly reactive ‘species’ called free radicals and these are like atoms with a bit more energy. They cant be broken down easily either and so keep on doing damage because at the end of the big equation the are reformed again. So the reaction just goes on and on and on. The gases still exsist but we are more aware of their problems. They are responsible for what we call the ‘hole’ in the ozone layer. The ozone layer is important because it protects us from some of the suns harmful rays. Anyway….heres the equation (it is a bit scary!) :

CCl2F2 —————–>Cl +CClF2
Cl +O3 (ozone) ———>Clo +O2
ClO +O ——————-> O2 +Cl
ClO ————————> 2Cl +O2
Cl + CH4 ——————>HCL + CH3
ClO + NO2 —————–> ClONO2
2Cl ————————–> Cl2

I had to learn it for my chemistry A level and my degree!

I think the longest mathematical equation I know is probably the ones to do with calculating the amounts of radioactive elements. I used to be on the 4th side of paper before I had got to the point where i could write down the answer! 🙂