Elephant Toothpaste???

What do you get when you put elephants and toothpaste together???

How's producing so much toothpaste even possible??

This probably comes to you as a surprise as steaming foam will look to you like toothpaste, in the amount that an elephant might use. So, buckle up and get ready to learn and experience chemistry in a different level!

To start off, you will need:

• 50-100ml of 30% hydrogen peroxide (H₂0_{2) solution}
• _{Staturated potassium iodide (KI) solution}
• _{Liquid dishwashing detergent}
• Food colouring
• 500ml graduated cylinder
• Splint (optional)

Before beginning the experiment and for safety purposes, wear disposable gloves and safety glasses. Oxygen is evolved in this reaction, so do not perform this demonstration near an open flame. Also, do not lean over the graduated cylinder when the solutions are mixed as the reaction is exothermic(in other words, heat is released)!


To begin,

1.        Put on gloves and safety glasses. The iodine from the reaction may stain surfaces so you might want to cover your workspace with an open garbage bag or a layer of paper towels.

2.        Pour roughly 50 mL of 30% hydrogen peroxide solution into the graduated cylinder.

3.        Squirt in a little dishwashing detergent and swirl it around.

4.        You can place 5-10 drops of food coloring along the wall of the cylinder to make the foam resemble striped toothpaste.

5.        Add ~10 mL of potassium iodide solution. Do not lean over the cylinder when you do this, as the reaction is very vigorous and you may get splashed or possibly burned by steam.

6.        You may touch a glowing splint to the foam to to relight it, indicating the presence of oxygen.

You will be able to observe this! :)

What actually happens is this:

2 H₂O₂(aq) --> 2 H₂O(l) + O₂(g)

However, the decomposition of the hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen is catalzyed by the iodide ion.

H₂O₂(aq) + I^-(aq) --> OI^-(aq) + H₂O(l)

H₂O₂(aq) + OI^-(aq) --> I^-(aq) + H₂O(l) + O₂(g)

The dishwashing detergent captures the oxygen as bubbles. Food coloring colours the foam. The heat from this exothermic reaction causes the foam to steam. If the demonstration is performed using a plastic bottle, you can expect slight distortion of the bottle from the heat. What a simple yet interesting experiment! So, remember what you can do when you're on a mission to help brush an elephants teeth! hehehe!

Ozone Sterilization (Food)

Today, ozone sterilization, sanitation, disinfection for food and water has been the hot topics. It just came to realization that ozone is the best technology available and is gradually replacing older methods for many cleaning applications. The idea of ozone sterilization is so brilliant that almost all water suppliers in almost every country use ozone as disinfectant while replacing its old sterilizing methods like chlorination. Furthermore, ozone is at least ten times stronger than chlorine as a disinfectant. However, the use of ozone has penetrated the food industry as well. By law, every grocery store, restaurant, bar, and all other commercial food suppliers are obligated to disinfect food sources from harmful bacteria, viruses, and a host of parasitic microbes before they sell it. Ozone was found to be amazingly effective in destroying pathogens on the surfaces of consumable items like meat, vegetables, fruits and etc. To find out why ozone is so magical, let's consider the following aspects:

What is ozone?

Let's begin by understanding what ozone basically is. We have heard of the stratosphere, also called the ‘ozone layer’ in our earth’s atmosphere. This where direct ultraviolet sunlight has its shorter wavelengths of light being filtered for our safety. Ozone is found abundant at 50~70 miles above the earth's surface which its occurrence and existence is a natural phenomenon. Ozone is nothing more than three oxygen molecules electrically bound together. Unlike the stable oxygen you breathe (O2), ozone has extremely great oxidative power and very ready to react to germs, viruses, and a host of microbes that are known to cause illness. Moreover, ozone is derived naturally from oxygen in air usually by electrical discharges such as lightning or by high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Since ozone has a very short life span, it tends to convert back into oxygen. That's why ozone has to be produced on-site upon demand and it cannot be purchased conveniently in a container or vial.

Effectiveness of Ozone

Microorganisms that can be treated with ozone covers an tremendously wide range. There is quite a long list of microorganisms that ozone effectively kills without hurting the food or surface where they reside, but the following is a summary or rough idea of the categories of contaminants that can all be treated with ozone:

• Bacteria—all known
• Fungi and yeast—all known
• Protozoa (including parasites and amoebae)—all known.
• Its effectiveness against Cryptosporidium has some limitations, yet is still
the most effective of all known sanitation agents for this organism.

In general, ozone is used commercially to:

• Disinfect water before it is bottled
• Kill bacteria, yeast and protozoa on food-contact surfaces such as fresh fruits, vegetables, grains, seeds, nuts, legumes, and all animal meats
• Kill yeast and mold spores that float in the air in food processing plants
• Chemically attack (oxidize) impurities in water such as iron, arsenic, hydrogen sulfide, nitrites and organic clumps
• Oxidize and degrade many organic pollutants including pesticides, herbicides and other persistent environmental chemicals

In addition, ozone treatment was  proven to eradicate hazardous E. Coli bacterium that recently invaded Germany causing  a national epidemic. Evidences presented by Penn State University are as follows:

(Click to enlarge)

How it works?

 Comprehensive diagrams with explanation to further aid your understanding:

The red object resembles a healthy bacillus bacterial cell found on surface of a piece of meat.

This is a closer look of the bacterial cell at its surface membrane which is the cell wall where it is exposed to ozone. Ozone attaches itself to the cell wall of the bacterium.

Ozone carry out a very vital reaction called the oxidative burst that creates a tiny hole or puncturing the wall.

Cell wall of the bacterium breached, exposing its internal features to the surrounding.

The cell wall is essential for the survival of the bacteria as it supports the structure of the cell physically. Once breached, it starts to lose its shape and disintegrate while ozone molecules continue the attack at the cell wall.

After thousands and millions of ozone collisions under only a few seconds, the bacterial wall no longer be able to maintain its shape and is destroyed into debris. Hence, resulting in the lysing and death of the bacterial cell.

Ozone Sterilizer / Sanitizer 

With the help of technology we have today, access to ozone has been as easy as merely pressing a single button. As for today, machines that generates ozone or also known as ozone sterilizers or ozone sanitation machine are commonly found in the market. There are basically two types of these machines, namely the air-based and water-based ones. However, they both work under the same concept as they differ only in the method of ozone delivery.

Concept of generating ozone in an ozone sterilizer

The primary process used commercially today to make ozone is called electrical discharge or corona discharge. Inside the machine, a high voltage electrical spark is fires across a gap like a spark plug in a car engine) to turn oxygen into ozone. The other products formed in the process is destroyed through various mechanisms, all of which is done safely and efficiently as part of the ozone generation process. Once ozone has done its damage to its target, it naturally converts back to oxygen, or so called stable oxygen.

Types of ozone sterilizer

Water-based Ozone Sterilizer

For this particular type of ozone sterilizer, ozone gas are pumped into a basin where the target items such as meat,vegetable and fruits are submerged in water. The activity of ozone occurs in the water itself leaving coagulation of impurities like pesticides, herbicides, and bacteria clump floating on the surface and further being discarded. This is the most preferred type of machine as it is multifunctional (also capable of sterilizing water), clean and simple to be used.

Air-based Ozone Sterilizer

Unlike the water-based type, the delivery method used in air-based ozone sterilizer is rather simple. Food items are placed directly into the enclosed chamber of the machine and ozone gas generated are shot directly onto the surface of the target allowing the disinfection activity to occur in the air. This machine uses less power compared to a water-based machine.

 
So what are you waiting for? 
Get one of your own and start living a healthier life.

Man-Made Fake Egg

You will never know what you will get for what you paid in China. The most trusted products can be inspected to find the “Made in China” mark. And now, even dairy product like Egg is included to the list.

Take a closer look at the problem of faked eggs in China. It seeks to inform the scientific and medical communities regarding the problem of consuming these products as well as the short-term and long-term epidemic consequences.

The most disgusting faked eggs are the human-made eggs. One will be absolutely sick in the stomach just by consuming the fake eggs.

In June 2003, there was a Chinese article about a consumer purchasing a bag of human-made eggs from the food market in Beijing. The fake eggs look exactly like the real ones,but the consumer smelled chemicals when cooking the eggs. The egg yolk dispersed quickly when it mix with the egg white, and the color was pale. No flavor could be tasted after cooking. According to the officials of the National Bureau of Industry and Commerce, the faked eggs were made from chemicals.

Here are the steps for making a fake egg

Steps for Making A Fake Egg

1) Sodium Alga Acid + Water. Constantly Stirring for 1.5 hours until crystallized.

2) Add Gelatine : Stir and Mixed thoroughly, Wait for 10 hours until all bubbles disapeared.

3) Mix in Sodium Benzoate + Lactone + Carboxymethyl Cellulose + Calcium Carbide + Lysine and Etc.

4) The Mixture is mixed well and a small portion of the mixture is added with Food Colouring Agent (Yellow) to be the "Egg Yolk".

5) Pour the "Egg Yolk" mixture into a plastic model and soak it into liquid calcium chloride solution to retain the shape of the "Egg Yolk". ( Calcium Chloride will cause the Mixture to form a thin membrane thus retaining the shape of the "Egg Yolk". )

6) "Egg White" (Mixture without Yellow Food Colouring Agent) is poured into another container which is similar to the shape of an egg.

7) The "Egg Yolk" is transferred into plastic model that contain "Egg White" and Soak into the Calcium Chloride to stabilise the shape of the Egg.

8) After the Shape of the "Whole Egg" is stabilised in the Calcium Chloride solution. The "Whole Egg" is surrounded with the mixture Of Paraffin Wax + Gypsum Powder and left to be cooled.

9) Now, The "Fake Egg" is ready for shipping.

How To Identify Fake Eggs

1) The unusual shape of the fake egg is much more larger compared to normal eggs.

2) Fake Eggs has Rougher Surface Compare to normal eggs

3) When Broken, Fake Eggs Shows no Chalazae that holds the Egg Yolk.

4) Egg Yolk Mix Faster with Egg White when membrane is broken.

5) The Colour of Fake Egg Yolk is of much darker yellowish hue.

Speculations on fake eggs

Are fake eggs cheap? It's said to cost 0.55 yuan/kg, while genuine eggs “at market price” are 5.6 yuan/kg. Maybe the low cost of fake eggs is achievable with economy of scale. 

Is there merit in fake eggs? There are no apparent merits in the manufacture and the consumption of fake eggs. The ingredients do not suggest any nutritional value. Taste-wise, the “eggs” themselves are said to be bland. The only redeeming feature would be the very low price which, even then, could be disputed.

Are fake eggs dangerous? Of its ingredients, potash alum is said to cause dementia. Benzoic acid is a food preservative which is permitted, but only at very low concentrations (measured in parts per million).

Composition	Usage	Side effects and harms
Glucolactone	Solidifier	Metabolism disorder
Benzoic acid	Preservative	Harmful to brain, nerve cell. May cause liver dieses, senile dementia.
Calcium Chloride	Egg Shell	May cause nerve, liver dieses. May affect ability to produce blood.
Cellulose	Additive	Metabolism disorder
Alum	Softener	May cause nerve, liver dieses. May affect ability to produce blood.
Amino Acid	Additive	Metabolism disorder
Food coloring	“Egg yolk” color
Sodium alginate	“Egg white” and “egg yolk”
Gelatin	“Egg white” and “egg yolk”

Cross-linkers and redox chemistry all in the name of beauty

Human always want what they don't have. When they have naturally curly hair, they want it to be straightened, when they have naturally straight hair, they want it to be curled. Well, no matter which style you want to wear, theres always chemistry involved! 

Our hair is made up mainly by a protein called keratin.The keratin arranged themselves in straight bundles, which is held together by the covalent disulphide (-S-S-) bonds. However, hydrogen bond is also responsible for the structure of our hair. That is why our hair becomes weak when it is wet because the hydrogen bonds found in the hair is being broken down by water but the hydrogen bond will reform again when the hair is dried.

The idea of hair straightening or perming is to break up the bond and re-shape it. Both hair straightening and perming can be done temporary by using a hair-blow dryers, which helps to rearrange the hydrogen bonding arrangement but the arrangement will looses it shape when it gets contact with water.

Hence, to achieve a permanent straightening or perming effect, a chemical straightener is what you need. The most common compound found in a chemical straightener is ammonium thioglycolate, the perm salt. The chemical formula for this salt is (HSCH₂CO₂NH4).  The -SH group which is also known as thiol group will replace one of the sulphur atom in the disulphide group during chemical reaction.

Keratin-S-S-keratin + 2HS-CH₂CO₂NH₄  --> -HO₂CH₂CS-SCH₂CO₂H + 2NH₃ + 2HS-keratin

Since the S-S bond is broken, the keratin bundles break apart, and hair is weakened, allowing it to be re-styled.

How to get your hair re-styled?

1) Wash your hair clean and remove any hair products or debris on your hair.

2) Apply the perm salt onto the hair for a short while. ( The ammonia released helps to loosen the hair so that glycolate can seep through)

3) For perming, tie your hair with curlers around to get the desired curl/ For straightening, press the hair firmly among flat irons until it becomes straight.

4) When the hair is shaped to your satisfaction, it needs to be strengthened so that the style stays permanent. An oxidation lotion is applied for this. The lotion contains hydrogen peroxide(H₂O₂), to the form new disulphide bonds.

2Keratin-SH + H₂O₂ --> Keratin-S-S-keratin + 2H₂O

However, all these processes have to be done

in a controlled way as the hair fiber can be damaged irreversibly if any of the processes is overdo. It is also important to handle the hair with extra care and treatment after straightening or perming as hair gets fragile after the processes. Oil and trim your hair frequently, choose the right shampoo and conditioner for your hair may also help to maintain the healthiness of your hair. 

Burning money?! I'd rather use them!

Like it. Loathe it. Want it. Waste it. But you just cannot ignore it. That rumpled piece of printed-paper in your wallet that the world bows to its power, that's money.

They say money holds the key to happiness. I'll leave that to you to decide. If so, who actually even thought of burning money? That must sound crazy to you, but this is true. This is one neat magic trick that will blow your mind!

(Do you remember this scene from The Batman movie? :D )

So, this is what you will need :

• dollar bill ( higher denomination for the dare devils)
• lighter
• salt (for a coloured flame)
• solution of 50% alcohol and 50% water
• tongs

Next,

1. Prepare the alcohol and water solution.
2. To aid in producing a visible flame, add a little salt to the solution of acohol and water.
3. Soak the dollar bill into the solution. Make sure it is thoroughly wet.
4. Pick up the bill with a pair of tongs, not your hands. Drain away the excess liquid then move away from the solution of alchohol and water.
5. Here's the interesting part. Light the bill up on fire, and the flame should go out after a while. What do you see???

C2H5OH + 4OH ---> 2CO2 + 3H2O + energy

Heat, light (energy), carbon dioxide and water is produced when combustion occurs between alcohol and water. The material of a bill is more like fabric than paper and alcohol has high vapour pressure. So, when the bill is soaked in a solution of alcohol + water, the alcohol mainly soaks only the outside of the bill material. It is actually the alcohol being burnt, when the bill is lit. The temperature at which alcohol burns is not high enough to evaporate water( and water has high specific heat capacity). This is why the bill remains wet and not caught on fire. You will get a slightly damp dollar bill, when alcohol is burnt and the flame goes out! Awesome!

Dare try it? :D