Chemistry at Home: Exploring the Ingredients in Everyday Products

Chemistry at Home: Exploring the Ingredients in Everyday Products

Hand cream, detergent, shower gel, toothpaste, toilet cleaner, air freshener, lipstick, perfume, low-fat spread, painkiller, diet drink, insect repellent… hundreds of everyday products that make our lives so much better than those of our forebears. And yet most of us know little about the ingredients they contain and why they deliver the benefits we enjoy. Some people find it worrying when they examine the list of ingredients on a packaging label, because all they read may be unintelligible names or E numbers. It appears to be just chemicals, chemicals, chemicals. The aim of this book is to examine the ingredients more closely and explain the reasons for their being used. Start reading and stop worrying. Chemistry at Home has been written by award-winning popular science writer and chemist, John Emsley, using non-technical language. The book has 12 chapters, each devoted to the kinds of products we are likely to find around the home, including in the garage and the garden shed. Chemistry at Home also includes a glossary which gives more technical information about the molecules mentioned in the book. This book is highly recommended, not least to teachers, and is an anidote to smear stories in the media ― Chemistry World 'an outstanding book by British chemist John Emsley' ― CJAD 800 radio We should all have a copy on our shelves - it is very browsable, and you never know when some of the many bits of information it contains will come in handy ― Chemistry World Hand cream, detergent, shower gel, toothpaste, toilet cleaner, air freshener, lipstick, perfume, low-fat spread, painkiller, diet drink, insect repellent… hundreds of everyday products that make our lives so much better than those of our forebears. And yet most of us know little about the ingredients they contain and why they deliver the benefits we enjoy. Some people find it worrying when they examine the list of ingredients on a packaging label, because all they read may be unintelligible names or E numbers. It appears to be just chemicals, chemicals, chemicals. The aim of this book is to examine the ingredients more closely and explain the reasons for their being used. Start reading and stop worrying. Chemistry at Home has been written by award-winning popular science writer and chemist, John Emsley, using non-technical language. The book has 12 chapters, each devoted to the kinds of products we are likely to find around the home, including in the garage and the garden shed. Chemistry at Home also includes a glossary which gives more technical information about the molecules mentioned in the book. Chemistry at Home Exploring the Ingredients in Everyday Products By John Emsley The Royal Society of Chemistry Copyright © 2015 John Emsley All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-84973-940-5 Contents Technical Words You May Need to Help You Understand the Text, Chapter 1 The Medicine Cabinet, Chapter 2 The Utility Room, Chapter 3 The Bathroom, Chapter 4 The Desk, Chapter 5 The Toilet, Chapter 6 The Cupboard Under the Stairs, Chapter 7 The Bedroom, Chapter 8 The Kitchen, Chapter 9 The Dining Room/Food and Drink, Chapter 10 The Living Room, Chapter 11 The Garage and the Car, Chapter 12 The Garden Shed, Glossary, Sources and Web Sites, Subject Index, CHAPTER 1 The Medicine Cabinet Every home should have a medicine cabinet, which needs to be out of the reach of children. In it are kept the medicines for the various everyday afflictions that beset us, such as headaches, indigestion, coughs, colds, aches and pains, spots, cuts, sore eyes, blocked ears, warts, and other more personal problems. (Constipation relief is covered in Chapter 5. ) The family medicine cabinet might also include medication that has to be prescribed by a doctor, and while these are also products produced by pharmaceutical chemists, they are not something included here. The products in our medicine chest are: 1. Pain relief (Solpadeine® Plus, Cuprofen®, Disprin®) 2. Indigestion (Rennie® Spearmint, Alka-Seltzer®, Zantac®) 3. Eye wash (Optrex®) 4. Cough medicine (Venos® Chesty Cough Expectorant, Tixylix Dry Cough Linctus®) 5. Earwax remover (Otex®) 6. Cracked soles of feet (Flexitol® Heel Balm) 7. Rheumatism avoidance and relief (Boots Glucosamine Sulphate, Ibuleve™ Gel, Voltarol®) 8. Skin infections (Bazuka™ Gel, Canesten®) 9. Antiseptic ointment (Savlon®) 10. Diarrhoea (Imodium®) 11. Sore throat remedies (Strepsils®) 12. Anti-itching cream (Eurax® Cream) 1. PAIN RELIEF The Chemistry There is no need today to suffer the everyday aches and pains that afflicted past generations. There are three popular painkilling chemicals that can be obtained over-the-counter and these are aspirin, paracetamol, and ibuprofen. Ibuprofen is a good anti-inflammatory, paracetamol is a good painkiller, while aspirin can do both but it brings the risk of stomach bleeding. These medications are also able to reduce fever, the higher temperature