All Questions
Tagged with everyday-chemistry water
112 questions
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Why does bread soften when wet?
Why does bread structure weaken when wet (or cake, biscuit, corn puff, etc)?
This is really simple question, but I couldn't find answer myself for weeks.
First theory was that adding water dilutes ...
- 237
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1
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106
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In cooking does KCl draw water from food "same as" NaCl? [closed]
For medicinal/health reasons, cardiac and high blood pressure in particular, Potassium Chloride (KCl) is often used in place of Sodium Chloride (NaCl) AKA table salt for food purposes. It is offered ...
- 11
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What is the chemistry underlying chlorine recommendations in spa water care guides for UV/Ozone pools?
An example is here: https://alpinespas.co.nz/content/uploads/2021/01/2020-Water-Care-Guide-Spa-Supplies-SSDEC08-WEB.pdf
It recommends ignoring test strips, using a "shock dose" of chlorine ...
- 109
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235
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Is a Sodium Chlorite Product Safe for Car Odor-Removal? [closed]
I would like to ask the science community's opinion about the safety of sodium chlorite for use as an odor-eliminator in an automobile's interior.
While the ingredient in the product is sodium ...
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2
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58
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Relationship between grams of root and content in a tea
When we make a tea from a some herb, what exactly is the relation between the weight of the herb/root stepped in hot water and how many grams/milligrams are in the tea.
For context and giving a ...
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2
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118
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Which water is easier to filter? Rain water or tap water [closed]
I understand the water greatly varies depending on the region and filtration differs as well. Is it better to filter rain water or tap water from contamination like hormones, pesticides, and cloud ...
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3
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219
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Non toxic Chemicals that will react in water?
Long story short, I'm planning an in-home escape room and want to create a puzzle where the guests find a vial containing some sort of chemical that they can dump into a water fountain. My intention ...
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59
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Hazardousness of Chlorothalonil & metabolites in shower water? [closed]
Recently it came out, that in some parts of Switzerland (where I live), there is Chlorothalonil & metabolites/breakdown-products of it in the drinking water. Yikes.
Problem is, chlorothalonil ...
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4
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401
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Why is NaCl so abundant in the ocean [closed]
Why is sodium chloride far and away the most abundant salt dissolved in ocean water. Its two constituent ions do have a very high frequency in the crust of the earth but they are far from the most ...
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3k
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A solution is cloudy at lower concentration and becomes clear at higher concentration. Why?
This might be just an "everyday life science" question. I am a university professor but not in chemistry so please educate me. Today I was adding some floor cleaner formula to water as ...
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524
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Can potassium carbonate be used to calibrate hygrometers?
Context:
In the process of trying to calibrate a number of hygrometers, with Sensirion MEMS electronic sensors, I came across the method of using wet salt: an airtight container will stabilize at a ...
- 163
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Do water filters expire even if underused? [closed]
This filter rates a 3 month lifespan with 1210 liter capacity, but I expect to filter only 300 liters in 3 months. Is it still expired after 3 months - if so, why? What degrades a filter while it's ...
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549
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Calcium chloride as a drying agent for solutions
I'm aware of the reaction Calcium chloride has with water vapour and how it can therefore be used as a good and inexpensive drying agent but could that be applicable for solutions?
For example if ...
- 748
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1k
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Freezing point of solution of Water, Ethanol and Sugar (aka, Limoncello)
I'm looking for a diagram of the freezing point of a water solution depending on its content in sugar and ethanol. More colloquially, I want to know how to balance alcohol and sugar so that my ...
- 111
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1k
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Can Na2CO3 remove temporary hardness of water?
This was asked in my test and I remembered that all compounds that can remove permanent hardness of water can remove temporary hardness of water also. But my teacher marked it wrong and I cannot find ...
- 89
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3k
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Why does boiled water have a different taste as compared to cool water? [duplicate]
I have noticed it frequently and decided to check with some of my peers and friends about this and they too have felt such a thing.
The taste comparison occurs after the boiled water is cooled down to ...
- 431
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Will charcoal briquettes (not activated) absorb water out of the air in the house in a subtropical climate?
I live in Florida, an incredibly wet environment where it's very difficult to get moisture out of house without using a dehumidifier 24/7, which is too expensive. Would charcoal briquettes be of any ...
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When it rains, it puddles. Spilled salt cycles between wet and dry with humidity. Is this akin to a phase change?
I have some spilled un-iodized table salt (NaCl). It is very humid where I live, and when it gets very humid for a few days, the salt absorbs so much water that it becomes a puddle of (probably) ...
- 5,997
2
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1
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899
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What are we seeing in this AC salt-water copper-wire experiment?
There's a highly watched video on YouTube by "ElectroBoom" on the effects of passing AC (not DC) current through salt water. The water gets cloudy and at the end of the video we can see one of the ...
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2
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What is the best way to calculate the mass percentage of Calcium Carbonate from water?
Where I live it's believed that local tap water is really bad for drinking because of the amount of limestone. As a science experiment for school I wanted to approximately calculate the percentage of ...
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5k
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Why does ice crack when a drink is poured on it?
I think most people have experienced this, but while pouring a beverage over ice I noticed the ice cracked.
Before
After
My initial thought was that because the beverage has an antifreeze property ...
- 12.7k
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53
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Is there a non toxic moisture indicator that can be applied on a wall?
I am looking for a substance that could serve as an indicator for a risk of mold growth, e.g. by a change of its hue. Cobalt chloride is both irritant and carcinogenic so is not an option. I've found ...
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Does coffee have the ability to dissolve less sugar into it than water?
Like water can absorb such and such an amount of sugar, can coffee absorb less as it already has coffee in it.
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774
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What component(s) of instant coffee make it deliquescent?
If I put small, separate piles of instant black coffee powder, sugar, powdered creamer, and even something very ionic like table salt out in humid air and come back in a few days, only the instant ...
- 5,997
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Is there a substance that hardens in water? [closed]
Im trying to invent a product that starts as a liquid but when exposed to water it hardens. Is there any chemicals that can cause this reaction??
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2
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94
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How to find the mass of the following solution? [closed]
What is the weight of a 1L of 0.5M solution of NaCl? Is it the whole solution weight 29.22 grams?
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6k
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Why does adding salt to boiling water cause it to flare up suddenly?
I was expecting that the water would become less "boily" since the ions in $\ce{NaCl}$ would require energy to disassociate. Instead it turned whitish and the water level suddenly rose and then ...
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3
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1
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560
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From where does sea water get salt?
I have learned that in primary classes that sea water is salty and I had also wondered that, what makes it salty? and my question is, where does sea water gets its salt?
- 431
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1
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296
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Is water with oxygen-17 safe to drink? [closed]
Is it safe to drink and what else can it be used for?
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22k
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Why don't we explode after drinking water?
It is known that acid should be added to water and not the opposite because it results in an exothermic reaction.
Our stomach contains HCl, so why don't we explode when we drink water?
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1k
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How does % purity on household products work?
For example, toilet bowl cleaner is 9.5% HCl. Does this mean that for every 90.5 moles of H2O (or other stuff) there is 9.5 moles of HCl? Does it mean that for every 90.5 g of H2O there are 9.5 g of ...
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429
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Why does hot oil fry things, but hot water does not?
When a slice of potato is dropped into hot oil, it gets fried but the same in hot water, gets ‘cooked’. What is it about oil that gives the slice of potato the crispy feature while water only makes it ...
- 470
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Gel in water machine
I have a hot and cold water dispensing machine from my water company. I use 5 gallon water jugs delivered ever 3-4 weeks. The machine has a tank in it where water is kept cold until dispensed by ...
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96
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Cool air on sweat
When my face is full of sweat, I go near the A.C. and when the cool air touches my sweat it feels colder than dry parts? Why does the sweat feel colder than dry parts?
- 747
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166
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How do water based solutions (cream, gels) etc permeable through hydrophobic skin? [closed]
Most skin care products or the sort are oily, lipid based.
Our skin is hydrophobic. I reckon the reason is to be easily permeable through the skin.
So how do these skin care or any products which are ...
- 1,954
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3k
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When heat is increased, does water move upward in a straw due to increased capillary action or increased pressure?
I left a water bottle with an internal straw in my car throughout a long, hot day. When I opened the bottle at the end of the day, water immediately splashed out from the straw. This made me wonder if ...
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Why does hot water eventually turn cold, and why does cold water eventually turn hot? [closed]
I get cold water from my tap and put it in my water bottle. Over the day as I drink it, the water looses it coldness and slowly becomes warmer.
On the other hand, if I get hot water (maybe I'm sick ...
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A glass of water with ice-cubes in it. Where's the water the coldest; at the top or bottom?
Suppose that I fill a glass with ice water. As the ice melts, it cools the water around it. Given that cold water is denser than hot water, I would presume that the cold water would sink to the ...
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2k
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How to dissolve slime jelly?
Suppose I have a small kid that had two cans of slime jelly (a Jelly made of water, glycerin, thickeners, dispersant, flavorings and pigments).
And that two cans were inside a backpack, and somehow ...
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2
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1
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467
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What happens with ammonia ions in tap water after they are separated from chlorine?
Tap water is increasingly treated with chloramine which is composition of chlorine and ammonia. Chlorine can be removed by catalytic activated carbon and ammonia ions are then left. What happens with ...
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2
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336
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What fraction of the vapour in electronic cigarettes is water?
Not a chemist but looking for an answer I can understand.
Electronic cigarettes use propylene glycol and/or vegetable glycerin as a base liquid. This is heated and vaporized at a low temperature (my ...
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2
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10k
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Lugol's iodine 5 % aqueous solution
There is Lugol's 5 % solution with 5 g of pure iodine and 7.5 g of potassium iodide.
In one ml there should be 12.5 mg of iodine in sum.
But there are suggestions telling that two drops of this ...
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How is seawater alkaline?
If when water and carbon dioxide react they form carbonic acid, carbonate, and bicarbonate, how does seawater still have a pH of around 8? Doesn't a compound need an hydroxide ion to be a base?
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Purple rinse water
After forming a white substance while on the stove, I rinsed the Pyrex pot under tap water (from a well), whereupon the water in the pot turned purple. Why did this happen?
Iron and sulfur are ...
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Can drinking a lot of water be fatal?
I vaguely recall having heard that drinking too much water can, over time, prove fatal to the human body.
Nothing special about the water; not distilled or de-ionized or anything … just plain ol' ...
- 18.8k
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How do I select a sub-freezing temperature for my experiment that will allow the formation of frost, but not supercooled liquid water (rime)
I once conducted a set of experiments in which I had to form ice by direct vapor deposition (not condensation of liquid water followed by freezing, aka riming) onto a Peltier-cooled glass-coated ...
- 17.7k
13
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1
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615
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Why are snowflakes shaped as they are?
(It was the Winterbash icon that got me thinking on this.)
Snow flakes take on a variety of intricate shapes, but what processes are responsible for this?
(Got the image off of Wikipedia)
I mean, ...
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4
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What kind of string to use for the ice fishing experiment for kids?
Classic ice fishing experiment for kids.
I used nylon because I saw it in a stationery, and apparently that doesn't work because I guess it's too slippery. I tried thread from my mom's sewing kit, ...
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Water condensation above dew point
Anyone who stores rust-prone instruments knows that even in temperature-controlled air spaces rust can form on uncoated steel. Since rust requires water, this suggests that water will condense out of ...
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Using table salt as a way to limit humidity in an unoccupied house
We own a static caravan in the UK (Snowdonia region, so rainy and wet all year round, moderately cold winters) and we leave it unoccupied during Winter (Oct-Feb).
We were advised of an apparently ...
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