Questions tagged [everyday-chemistry]

Applications of chemistry to reagents, reactions and processes of everyday life. Use this tag for question on chemistry in an out-of-laboratory/class context. DO NOT use this tag merely because the question is about simple chemistry.

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Seashell and grape juice

My daughter is working on a 5th grade science fair experiment. She soaked white seashells in various drinkable liquids to test the effects of those liquids on teeth (teeth are represented by ...
Annette Gorneault's user avatar
9 votes
7 answers
6k views

Examples of non-volatile, but flammable liquids?

As far as I know, most flammable liquids are volatile. Are there flammable liquids that are non-volatile?
Lila's user avatar
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1 answer
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Why does my sand dissolve in citric acid?

I soaked and washed white Darice decorative sand in distilled water. I added food-grade citric acid to different distilled water, then I sprinkled in a few grains of the sand. The sand bubbled and ...
Jason Martin's user avatar
9 votes
3 answers
28k views

Is it possible to light a match by scratching it on hard surfaces, like they do in movies?

In movies cool guys don't need a matchbox − they just light a match by scratching it on whatever hard surface − concrete walls, wooden bar tables, leather belts, etc. Is it just a movie trick, or is ...
user1306322's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
1k views

How does a mercury detector work?

I am new to chemistry and saw a "portable mercury vapor monitor." How do these machines work?
user40071's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
32k views

What happens to the bleach after mopping?

At home, I clean the tiled floors by mopping with highly diluted bleach. After mopping, I let the floor dry. What happens to the acid in the bleach? Will it crystallize on the floor, stay there ...
b_jonas's user avatar
  • 249
9 votes
2 answers
8k views

Why do soft drinks fizz?

I know it has something to do with carbon dioxide, but what exactly happens and causes the characteristic sound we hear (especially after we shake the bottle)? How do we manage to dissolve a non-polar ...
user avatar
9 votes
3 answers
786 views

How can I easily explain to a layperson the difference between types of "contains"

I had a conversation with somebody who had somewhat confused ideas about food. He thought that "all food contains sugar" and when I gave a bottle of oil as the counterexample, he said the glycerol is ...
rumtscho's user avatar
  • 478
9 votes
3 answers
3k views

How can I make an acidic pen to burn paper on writing on it?

If I have a pen with refillable ink, can I just pour in concentrated Hydrochloric acid or concentrated sulfuric acid in the ink chamber to make it an acidic pen? Would it be better to use the acid of ...
user3459110's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
381 views

Why N2O is a "laughing gas"?

It is (mostly) used as an "oxidizer" in motors and engines, I understand that much. The oxygen "oxidizes" with other chemicals, while the nitrogen returns to the air. But $\ce{N2O}$ also produces "...
Tom Au's user avatar
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1 answer
4k views

Phenol smell from hands

It is a question which I faced when I was in Senior year in high school, I used my hands to handle phenol which has turned pink due to oxidation, I washed my hands with all kind of soaps but smell in ...
murmansk's user avatar
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1 answer
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What turns clear liquid soap blue? [closed]

Liquid soap that sits in metal pump handles turns blue after a week or so, as in this photo comparing the soap in its initial clear state and then after pumping from the dispenser. The pumps are ...
feetwet's user avatar
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1 answer
4k views

What is the optimal voltage for storing a 3.7 V lithium polymer battery?

According to this website, storing a lithium polymer (LiPo) battery/cell at around 40% capacity would be more beneficial for the lifespan of the LiPo cell comparing storing the battery at 100% ...
Aqqqq's user avatar
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1 answer
4k views

How does the Mentos-Coke explosion work?

We all might have seen this in some videos or in real life. But how exactly does this work? What is the chemical reaction involved? And why is the reaction of Mentos with Diet Coke more vigorous? ...
Vishnu JK's user avatar
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9 votes
1 answer
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Why does lactose-free milk last so much longer than regular milk?

I buy lactose-free milk. The sell-by date is usually as much as eight weeks from the date of purchase, which is in the neighborhood of twice that of regular milk. This seems puzzling; lactose-free ...
BillDOe's user avatar
  • 632
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1 answer
567 views

Organizing my "chemical" cabinet

I'm reorganizing my garage (I do metalworking and some machining), and now I have an empty white cabinet that I'd like to dedicate to chemical stuff. I'm not a chemist, and I don't have the typical ...
Scott Smith's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
13k views

Why does water volume decrease when salt is added? [duplicate]

Why does water volume decrease when salt is added? Our teacher asks us in the class but I don't find any strong reason.
Fazla Rabbi Mashrur's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
6k views

Why does permanent marker writing come off a white board when coated with white board marker?

Why is it that dry erase markers allow permanent markings to come off? Here's a demonstration.
DarkLightA's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
15k views

Why does milk flake?

While drinking milk (or better 'while seeing the milk I'm gonna drink') a question came up to my mind: Why does the milk sometimes flake, even if not in contact with some other substances? I guess ...
Em1's user avatar
  • 201
9 votes
1 answer
3k views

What's the chemical nature of a dishwasher's rinsing agent?

It seems that a rinsing agent helps the dishes in the dishwasher dry much better than they do without it (which I recently noted on my new dishwasher). What molecules are used in the composition of ...
F'x's user avatar
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1 answer
7k views

Why do purple Pedialyte freezer pops turn green when frozen?

I bought some Pedialyte freezer pops for my kids: And I've noticed that after spending a long enough time in the freezer, the purple "grape" pops change color from purple to green: After ...
parktomatomi's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
2k views

What causes the smell of something being "musty"?

You know the smell that arises when you leave a wet sponge out for too long? Does anybody know the chemical structure of the molecule that causes that smell? Similarly, what chemical process might be ...
mousadafousa's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
291 views

Why Is This The Worst Beer Cup

My wife bought me a special cup for me to drink beer out of. The problem is that, if I pour any beer in it, it goes crazy with foam. I will get just a few ounces of beer in there and the rest of the ...
J126's user avatar
  • 239
9 votes
1 answer
88k views

What is the white substance left behind after boiling down water

I was boiling down water in a stainless steel pot as an experiment the other day. When the water was completely vaporised, a white substance was left behind on the bottom of the pot. I tried rubbing ...
Guest's user avatar
  • 107
9 votes
2 answers
5k views

Why do tealights burn violently when nearly burnt out

I'm not entirely sure if this is the right place for this question, but I decided that it's better than physics.se (and I had no other ideas). I hope this is a good match, otherwise please move the ...
tomasz's user avatar
  • 193
9 votes
2 answers
10k views

Is bamboo based plastic less likely to leak chemicals?

Some plastics have been known to leak plasticizers (bisphenol and phthalates) into the food they contain, especially when heated. Because such compounds are suspected of being endocrine disruptors it ...
Ivana's user avatar
  • 249
9 votes
1 answer
309 views

Smoke alarm ion neutralisation

Smoke alarms are a necessary part of many modern day buildings, especially in laboratories and of course, the family home. According to the World Nuclear Association page Smoke Detectors and ...
user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
7k views

Mixing solvents, or how does paint thinner work?

I would like to understand how a mixture of solvents works together. For example, there are two solvents combined, and each one alone can dissolve some material, but one acts faster. How do they ...
Volker Siegel's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
7k views

What forces hold ink on paper?

On regular paper, ink is absorbed, while on photopaper ink stays at the surface and dries for a longer time. What forces act in these two different cases? (see also related questions about pencil ...
Sparkler's user avatar
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1 answer
1k views

What do graphene "armchair(5,5)" and "zigzag(5,0)" refer to?

I am reading some articles about the electronic properties of graphene and while reading it I came across graphene armchair and zigzag structures, which have different bond structures. The two ...
Eka's user avatar
  • 2,758
9 votes
2 answers
2k views

How to fluorinate polyethylene?

I seek to put a layer of fluorine on a rotationally molded cross-linked polyethylene (XPE) plastic gasoline tank. I sell tanks and they will be more eco-friendly if I can accomplish this. I am an ...
Krista K's user avatar
  • 193
9 votes
1 answer
6k views

What is the chemistry behind cleaning silverware with aluminium foil

This question has a accepted answer on this site already: What happens during cleaning silverware? but the reason I ask the question again is because I found different "recipes" for the technique ...
Spade's user avatar
  • 241
9 votes
2 answers
905 views

Additives to allow wax to melt in the microwave?

I'm working with microcrystalline wax that I would like to be able to microwave to heat up. I've found that wax doesn't seem to microwave, with the most common answer I've come across for why being ...
Matt's user avatar
  • 101
9 votes
1 answer
243 views

Is there any relationship between ultrasonication and temperature

In chemistry we use ultrasonication for cleaning vessels ,synthesis of chemical compounds (sonochemistry) etc.I know that during ultrasonication high temperature and pressure is formed "locally".But I ...
Eka's user avatar
  • 2,758
9 votes
1 answer
370 views

Does 95.8% silver tarnish as fast 92.5% silver?

I've been trying to find out whether 95.8% (Britannia silver) would tarnish as fast as 92.5% (Sterling silver)? I haven't been able to find much on tarnish for Britannia silver. Given that both ...
O S's user avatar
  • 255
8 votes
5 answers
2k views

Is identifying a chemical equivalent to be able to produce it?

This question is a follow up of another thread, where we are discussing Theresa May's accusation of the Russian government which is supposedly behind the recent chemical attack in the UK. Soon after ...
Jacobian's user avatar
  • 206
8 votes
2 answers
2k views

Are food calorie values really integers?

According to what I've seen, fat has a listed caloric value of 9 Cal/g, while carbs and protein have listed caloric values of 4 Cal/g.* Are these numbers exact, or have they been rounded? And if they ...
Constantthin's user avatar
8 votes
4 answers
12k views

Synthesis of hydrazine with bleach and ammonia

I am trying to make rocket fuel using hydrazine, hydrogen peroxide and home products. I want to put an action figure in orbit. Is there any way to synthesize hydrazine with bleach and ammonia, using $...
MirlvsMaximvs's user avatar
8 votes
3 answers
2k views

How much salt (or any other substance one can find in a kitchen) do I need to add to make water boil at 104 °C?

I've seen some formulas around in other questions and Google searches, but my chemistry is pretty much dead so I have no clue where to find the relevant values to calculate it myself. I just need to ...
Louis Victor's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
968 views

Quantifying soapiness; there's pH, pKa and pO2, is there a p_soap or p_surfactance?

Yes, $\mathrm{pH}$ is a concentration, $\mathrm{p}K_\mathrm{a}$ is a dissociation constant, and $\mathrm{pO_2}$ is a partial pressure. These are (roughly speaking) ways to indicate how much of a key ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 5,768
8 votes
3 answers
365 views

Clogged drain, commercial products are ineffective

I have a clogged drain from my shower. Commercial products like Savo or WC Net totally don't work. Is there any chemical substance which can be bought without permission or which can be made easily to ...
Salda's user avatar
  • 183
8 votes
2 answers
5k views

Methane seems to dissolve more readily in cold water. Why?

When you are diluting air in the system and/or properly evacuating it, you must consider water temperature. Methane is completely dissolved in water at 42 degrees Fahrenheit (5.5 C) but can be ...
readyready15728's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
5k views

Why does dry ice "dissolve" so quickly in water?

I just stumbled across an ancient video of some people putting a 60 pound block of dry ice in a swimming pool. Pretty cool stuff. It's pretty interesting to me that in the video, the dry ice ...
jheindel's user avatar
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8 votes
2 answers
47k views

Does an onion completely remove "fresh" paint VOCs and other chemicals emitted?

I have read that paint contains VOCs(Volatile Organic Compounds), and solvents generally, and I could wait for them to dissipate, but i've read there are ways to remove the smell of paint such as half ...
barlop's user avatar
  • 503
8 votes
3 answers
13k views

Chemically removing rust without leaving any unwanted residues

I have this iron pan that got rusty from not being properly dried. Scrubbing it I was able to get rid of most of the rust, but there's still some I just can't remove. I thought I could chemically ...
Alex's user avatar
  • 1,717
8 votes
1 answer
7k views

Is an explosion merely an exothermic reaction?

An exothermic reaction is apparently one that releases energy to it's environment. According to Wikipedia, an explosion is a rapid increase in volume & energy. Does this mean that an explosion is ...
Everyone's user avatar
  • 904
8 votes
1 answer
1k views

Is powdered acid dangerous? [closed]

I was told that an acid is only dangerous because it releases $\ce{H+}$ ions when in contact with water. Therefore, powdered acid should be completely safe on skin provided that your skin is not ...
will-'s user avatar
  • 91
8 votes
3 answers
5k views

Does motor oil get more viscous when heated & what is the meaning of the SAE motor oil code?

The motor oil in my 2004 Pontiac Vibe is 5W-30. My (incorrect) understanding of this SAE nomenclature is that 5W means "Viscosity index of 5 in the winter" (or when really cold - like $\pu{-30 ^\...
Shrout1's user avatar
  • 188
8 votes
6 answers
10k views

How do I lower the surface tension of water without using a detergent?

For many years I've used a Rainbow vacuum, which uses a reservoir of water as the filter. While I'm quite pleased with it, I've found that when trying to vacuum cement dust or wood ash not all of ...
gaaah's user avatar
  • 81
8 votes
2 answers
16k views

Why is the smell of car exhaust much stronger in winter?

I noticed that in winter, the smell of cars (to be precise the smell of the exhaust gases) is much stronger in winter. I just can't figure out why. Has this got something to do with the air ...
WayneEra's user avatar
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