Describe NewAcidisNotaSoreLoser here. Last November, Christopher Reed and his colleagues at the University of California, Riverside, announced that they had created the strongest known acid that can be isolated in pure form and beaten the world's record. The new acid, called carborane acids, are gentle enough to store in glass containers.

The carborane acids are very stable, even after they give away their protons. The anion that is left behind is a cluster of carbon, chlorine, and boron atoms which are the most stable group of known to chemistry.

The strongest carborane acid is at least a million times stronger than sulfuric acid. The previous single-component record holder, fluorosulfonic acid, is less than 1% as strong as the carborane acids.

Other very strong acids are so reactive that they have to be made just before use, and they decompose almost immediately. The carborane acids are good at giving protons to normally unreactive molecules without damaging them in the process.