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Real-Life Chemistry Experiments You Interact With

chemistry experiments

Real-Life Chemistry Experiments You Interact With

Chemistry is everywhere in the world. Every day you interact with it but you may not be aware. Somethings that happen around you are caused by chemical reactions. If you realize these chemistry experiments, you can enjoy your chemistry classes.

Real-Life Chemistry Experiments

1. Soaps and detergent

Carboxylic acid or salt that has alkyl chains longer than eight carbons exhibits unusual behavior in water. This is because it contains both hydrophilic (carbon oxide) and hydrophobic (alkyl) regions in a single molecule. Therefore, the hydrophilic end bonds with the water while the hydrophobic end easily bonds with the oil.

Soap is a sodium salt or a potassium salt with a combination of fatty acids that allows it to have a cleansing power in the water. Detergent on the other side is better in cleaning because the hardness of water does not affect it.

When you wash clothes using soap and detergent a chemical reaction takes place.  Also, dirty dishes get clean because of the chemical reaction between soap and water. The soap or the detergent acts as an emulsifier to clean the dirt on clothes and dishes.

2. Digestion

Imagine a chemical reaction takes place inside your body. The food you eat reacts with acids and enzymes in your body. Then, the molecules are broken down into nutrients that your body requires to stay active. To start with, the salivary glands in your mouth produce enzymes that help to break down food into smaller molecules.

Then, the digestion continues in the stomach and the small intestines where chemical reactions take place. Chemical digestion in your body breaks down fats into fatty acids and monoglycerides. Also, nucleic acids are broken down into nucleotides.

Proteins are broken down into amino acids during the chemical digestion. Without chemical digestion taking place in your body, you won’t be able to absorb nutrients. This can lead to malnutrition or vitamin deficiencies. Therefore, chemical digestion is an important chemistry experiment that takes place inside you.

3. Preparing food

For your food to get ready, it undergoes some chemical reactions. Chemistry experiments happen in your kitchen when preparing different meals. For example, the browning of food is a chemical reaction called the Maillard reaction. This is when simple sugars combine with proteins. It plays an important role in baked items’ aroma and flavor.

Another great chemistry experiment that you interact with in the kitchen is the formation of gluten. This is where you knead wheat flour to make rotis. When you need the flour using water, two proteins in the wheat becomes moisturized. This makes it to stretch and form something like thin sheets that behaves like rubber balloons.

Have you ever asked yourself why fruits like apple turn brown when cut and leave them open to air? Oxidation takes place. That is why you wrap them tightly using a plastic foil or put them in a tightly closed container. This is because oxidized fats taste bad.

How about cutting your onions? Sometimes you cry-right? This is because a chemical reaction takes place. When you cut an onion, it produces a chemical called thiopropanol S-oxide. It then wafts upwards toward your eyes. Once it reaches the cornea, it ignites a nervous response from the tear glands. The tear gland produces the tears to neutralize the chemical produced by the onion. However, that does not happen and instead, the tears react with the acid thus producing sulphuric acid. This causes an irritating sensation in your eyes.

To make the matter more interesting, you stop crying once you cook the onion. This is because the cooking process deactivates the enzymes and the onions no longer produce thiopropanol S-oxide.  

4. Brain chemistry

It is a chemistry experiment that takes place in your brain. Your emotions like the feeling of sadness or happiness can be explained through chemistry. Your brains contain several chemicals that affect your emotions. For example, serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine are some of the chemicals in your brain that controls your reaction to situations.

When you pass a test in your chemistry tuition, you feel excited. That is a chemical reaction that takes place in your brain. The chemical communicators influence your behavior. The neurons in your brain connect when chemical flow and allows you to find a survival environment.  For instance, when you get hurt an alarming chemical is released called cortisol. It alerts your body to run for protection.  

Therefore, when your neurotransmitters are not balanced, you experience insomnia, restlessness, lack of energy, irritability among other bad feelings. The chemical reactions take place in your brain to alert you. It helps you to know that you need to react.

5. The blue sky

When you look up to the sky, sometimes it appears blue. First, the atmosphere contains particles like dust and water that you can see with your naked eyes. But there are other smaller particles like those of nitrogen and oxygen that you do not see. When the light passes through the atmosphere, it hits these smaller particles like gases and oxygen.

Second, the gases absorb part of the light, that is, about 7 colors. This color happens to be blue and in turn, the molecules give it out in all the different directions of the atmosphere. Once the light is scattered all over, the moment to set your eyes on the sky it appears to be blue.

It is an interesting chemistry experiment, right? Also, it explains the phenomenon of why the sun looks yellow. Remember light looks white but is a combination of different colors. Therefore, when you take out the blue color from the rainbow, the remaining colors together looks like yellow.

Chemistry makes life more interesting. It helps you to understand what happens around you daily. The chemistry experiments bring out the hidden meaning of what goes on. Therefore, you need to undertake chemistry tuition in Singapore to realize these experiments. The tutor guides you on how to realize and carry out some of these experiments to understand the world better.

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