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Chemicals in the Home
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Chemicals in the Home
Identifying Chemistry Behind Some Common Household Products
May 9, 2009 © Harry P. Schlanger
Everyone probably comes into contact with more chemicals and chemistry in their own home than at any
other place.
Chemicals abound in the home. The kitchen is filled with cleaners, soaps and detergents, of which most are
held in plastic containers. The bathroom is filled with medicines, soaps, toothpaste, and cosmetics. In
the laundry, there are detergents for the washer and the laundry cabinet contains methylated spirits for
general purposes and shoe polish.
Chemistry in the Laundry
Retailers advertise "miracle" products to render your clothes clean removing the surface dirt and the
grease and oil in the clothes.
Surfactants (surface active agents) are wetting agents that lower the surface tension of a liquid,
allowing to "wet" nonpolar substances such as grease and oil. There are
two general types of surfactants used in cleaning of clothes:
- Soaps, with usage dating back almost 5000 years, react in a hydrolysis of fats
or oils in a basic solution, referred to as saponification.
- Detergents have the same basic structure as soap. Laundry detergents contain a number of additional
compounds: builders to increase efficiency, fillers to
give bulk, enzymes as biological catalysts, and suspension agents to stop redeposit on clothes.
Chemistry in the Kitchen
Taking a peek under the average kitchen sink reveals countless products that are made with chemicals.
Multipurpose cleaners "clean it all" and are composed of surfactant allowing spreading and
disinfectant, which are antimicrobial agents applied to non-living objects in order to destroy
microorganisms. In the kitchen,
- Baking Soda, or
sodium bicarbonate has many uses from baking to cleaning to personal use.
- Ammonia is commonly used because of its ability to react with grease and it leaves no residue.
- Pine oil, a solution of compounds called terpenes, is used for its pleasant odor, its ability
to dissolve grease, and its anti-bacterial nature.
- Dishwashing detergent has some surfactant, a little colorant and something to make the hands feel soft.
Chemistry in the Bathroom
There is much chemistry going on in the bathroom. There are skin and hair care products, as well as
products to make one look and smell good, even taste good.
- Toothpaste has a range of chemicals to fill different functions: solvent and filler, abrasive,
sweetener, thickener, fluoride, and flavoring.
- Deodorants contain fragrances to cover up body odor and an antibacterial agent to destroy the
bacteria. Antiperspirants inhibit or stop perspiration. They act as astringent constricting
the sweat gland ducts.
- Creams and lotions used to soften and beautify the skin. Emollients are skin softeners:
Petroleum jelly, lanolin (from sheep wool fat) and coco butter (from cacao bean). Cold creams are
used in the removal of makeup and moisturizers. Vanishing creams make the skin appear younger by
filling in the wrinkles.
- Shampoos are detergents for the hair - simple surfactants such as sodium lauryl sulfate
and other ingredients to prevent precipitates, give a pleasant odor, and replace natural lubricants.
- Hair contains two pigments - melanin and phaeomelanin, whose ratio determine natural color.
Red heads have much less melanin, brunettes much more, and blondes have very little of either.
Chemistry in the Medicine Cabinet
The medicine cabinet usually contains a lot of drugs and medicine with multitudes of actions and
interactions. The following is a brief about a few interesting items:
- Aspirin is the trade name for acetylsalicylic acid, first made in 1899 by the German
Bayer Company. As early as the fifth century it was known that chewing willow bark could relieve pain.
But it wasn't until 1860 that the chemical compound responsible for the analgesic effect was isolated.
Aspirin is the most widely used drug in the world with more than 55 million tablets sold annually in
the United States alone.
- Monoxidil was discovered by accident. Male pattern baldness affects millions of men and
women in the world. Monoxidil was originally used as oral treatment for high blood pressure, when
patients reported hair growth.
- Viagra has been much publicized. It was also discovered by accident in the treatment of high
blood pressure and angina (heart pain).
The copyright of the article Chemicals in the Home: Identifying Chemistry Behind Common Household
Products is owned by Harry P. Schlanger. Permission to republish in print or online must be granted
by the author in writing.
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