He loves me...he loves me not...

Ethylene is the gas that causes blossoms to fall. In nature, it's a plant hormone. It is also used in a controlled way because fruit is picked before it is ripened and then travels to the destination spot as so. When it finally arrives, a whiff of the gas is given to ripen the fruit to be of a consumer's use.

                                                           A Cherry Blossom Tree

                                             

What could be stronger than steel, might you ask?

Maybe you all remember the video we watched in chemistry not too long ago about Kevlar. If so, here's a refresher... Kevlar is a plastic that can stop bullets. It's used in some things such as bullet-proof vests, helmets, and planes. The material is resistant to fire. What makes it so strong is that the fibers in it are in organized, parallel lines- not just a mess. When it's spun into fibers and then heated, it becomes even stronger and is used for military armor, space suits, and safety gloves. It's also 5x stronger than steel and more elastic than carbon fiber. Kevlar is hard to compress and to paint so instead of being used on a car, it's used in the driver's cell when it comes to racing cars. It isn't affected by long exposure to weathering or to the sea.
    
                                                    Muscular Man Wearing a Kevlar Vest

Indestructible Glass and the Man That Went With It

In 37AD an unknown man created unbreakable glass. He foolishly showed it to Tiberius, who was the Emperor of Rome at that time. Tiberius killed him and ruined his workplace because he didn't want anyone to have the knowledge of that special material. The man used a form of sodium borate which is the key ingredient in Pyrex glass. Pyrex glass is the presently known unbreakable gass. If it wasn't for Tiberius who destroyed the man's work we would have had that glass since then...

To Be Bitter, or Not To Be Bitter? That is the question

Bitrex Taste Test

Bitrex: the chemical name for it is denatonium benzoate. It's a non-toxic white powder. In order to obtain the piercing bitter taste, you only need it in small quantities. To give you an idea of how bitter it really is, Bitrex is in the Guinness Book of Records as the bitterest substance known. It is added to household chemicals so that if it is consumed by a child then they will spit it out immediately.

Rhino Horns

Keratin is present in rhino horns. This is THOUGHT to be the best aphrodisiac of all. It is also in fingernails. There are no beneficial effects of eating keratin and it does not arouse anyone. Unfortunately, rhinos are still being killed because the thought of their horns having a sexual stimulating quality. To me, it seems ridiculous because keratin does not give you any of those feelings! Greedy, misinformed people!):


How can we stand to turn something so innocent into this?

Salt, anyone?

The average person eats about 10g of salt per day- three times as much as we need. Sodium chloride is just one salt. We encounter many others in our life. Sodium chloride triggers a specific reaction on the tongue that no other salt or mineral does. There can be substitutes for sugar but NOT for salt.
Every cell in our body needs sodium. Sodium is used mainly with potassium to move electrical impulses along nerve fibers. We must continuously consume salt because it is lost through our sweat glands to try and cool us down. It seems as if sodium has a bad reputation but: if you took a large dose of sodium chloride you would only vomit, while taking a large dose of potassium chloride would kill you because it disrupts the rhythm of your heart.
It is not necessary to add salt to your food- there's already plenty in there! Excess salt is bad for people with kidney disease and it raises their blood pressure. In a study conducted in London it was concluded that 70,000 deaths could be prevented per year in the UK by reducing salt in the diet.
Salt and sugar can save millions of lives in tropical countries. Diarrhoea, and the dehydration it causes, kills twelve million children every year. Here's the solution: a drink made of 8 teaspoons of sugar and one of salt in a pint of water. It will save a sick child's life. These two chemicals can effectively and cheaply restore lost bodily fluid.

Bones!

Calcium phosphate is very insoluble and tough. No wonder why dinosaur bones have survived all this time! Human skeletons can be perserved for 1000s of years under normal conditions- no special treatment necessary. In 1994, Mark Roberts discovered the oldest bones in Europe, belonging to Boxgrove Man who lived half a million years ago!
As we get older the replacement of calcium does not entirely compensate for the loss, and so to delay this erosion we need a daily intake of calcium and vitamin D. Teenage boys should take 750mg of calcium a day, teenage girls: 650mg, and breast-feeding mothers: 1100mg.
The weight of calcium phosphate in our skeleton reaches its maximum when we are about 30. Then after that, we lose 1% each year.More women die from the after-effects of osteoporosis fractures than from all cancers of the ovaries, cervix, and womb put together!
Fluoridation (adding fluoride to water) is the cheapest way of reducing tooth decay. If our diet contains too much fluoride we may get osteosclerosis, which is the hardening of our bones which could also lead to a deformed skeleton. The skill is in finding a balance between the two. "This is easily achieved with regular snacks like sardines on toast made with white bread." I have yet to meet someone who eats sardines regularly...

                                                             Cross Section of a Bone

                                            

Literally everywhere

It was thought that phthalates cause cancer and infertility in humans- there were previous scares- but that statement has been proven false. Phthalate is in everything we eat! It is a derivative of phthalic acid. In addition, even in remote places in the world, phthalates have been found in rain water. Plasticizer phthalates are now among the most investigated of all chemicals. Our average daily intake is about 0.35mg.
Even if all the phthalates in a year's supply of milk were to be consumed at one feeding, it would not be enough to make a baby sick, let alone anything more serious!

Aspirin

Salicylic acid is a strong irritant that causes bleeding and ulcers in the mouth and stomach but is effective at lowering high body temperatures. Acetylsalicylic acid is a derivative of it. In 1893, Felix Hoffmann and Heinrich Dreser named it aspirin. 10 grams, or 30 tablets, is a lethal dose for an adult because it will make your blood too acidic. A questionaby helpful hint: a way to raise yout salicylate intake is to drink a lot of tea.
Crazy how we use that to get BETTER.

Less is more

Methyl mercaptan may be one of the worst smells we encounter in normal life but it gets worse with their selenium versions. Selenium is similar to sulfur in a chemical way but if you replace sulfur with it the smell INTENSIFIES DRAMATICALLY.
Most chemicals come to a point where it's enough to kill you and selenium is no exception. A single dose of 50mg is enough to end your life. Although it doesn't take much to kill us, it is still vital to our existence; we only need it in microgram quantities.
We store most of it in our skeleton but the places where the highest levels of selenium are other than that is in kidneys, hair, and testicles.
This element is also more rare than silver!

Now this is coined as the worst smell in the world!

Methyl mercaptan. These words mean nothing to us. Who knows what it is when hearing these words! Two regular chemistry words that no one understands (except probably Ms. Cerqueira) that bring so much dread! We breathe it out after consuming garlic. We can smell it on others but not ourselves. If it brings a super strong scent then it indicates gum disease. (Random Fact: my dog's gums were really bad, almost rotting, and her breath smelled HORRIBLE because of this!) Some bacteria can make a person's breath vile by releasing a lot of methyl mercaptan.
Another explaination- our feet can harbor microbes that give off methyl mercaptan! But a solution for raunche smelling feet would be to use charcoal-filled insoles because the layers of carbon will absorb this repulsive smell.
Methyl mercaptan is used to make pesticides and methionine, an important amino acid.
Ladies and gentleman, methyl mercaptan... ):

Dipropenyl Disulfide- close to being "the worst smell in the world"

Dipropenyl disulfide is an antioxidant that is a flavoring and a medicine that is present in garlic. On a side note, garlic oil is the best-selling over the counter drug in Germany.
Dipropenyl disulfide has 2 sulfur atoms which produces a strong odor. A way to dispose of some of the sulfur is to turn it into methyl mercaptan- THE WORST SMELL IN THE WORLD...

Rust Removers- phosphoric acid

Not sure if any of my fellow bloggers remember, but phosphoric acid is also present in Coca-Cola. This acid is the active agent in rust removers and its salts are used in detergents. While that sounds quite disturbing (as Victoria would say), phosphates are vital to our diet! They make DNA and are needed for the making of ATP (hopefully everyone remembers what that is!) ; they also regulate calcium transport.
It is unusual that we would have a shortage of phosphoric acid in our diet since our body recycles it so effectively- but if that were to happen, we have a large storage of phosphate in our skeleton.
In fact, in the 1950s and 60s, many people used cola to clean their chrome bumpers. The phosphoric acid reacted with the chrome to get the final product of chromium phosphate, which protected it! This dissolved any rust which is why anti-rust paints rely on its component of phosphoric acid.
Yes, colas do contain an "industrial cleaner," but not to worry: any phosphate in our food becomes phosphoric acid in our stomach anyway. ALL living cells need phosphoric acid, yet it does not matter where this acid actually comes from.
We obtain most of the phosphate by eating fish, meat, eggs, and dairy products. Some unnatural sources are colas, processed cheese, cheese spreads, sausages, and cooked meats.

Addicted to Caffeine?

Rich sources of caffeine: coffee, tea, and COLA! Main ingredients in cola are sugar (or an artifial sweetener), phosphoric acid, caffeine, and other ingredients that were once secret.
Dr. John Pemberton invented Coca-Cola on June 28, 1887 in Atlanta, Georgia. Coca-Cola: coca- coca plant is the source of cocaine; cola- cola nut is rich is caffeine. Neither ingredients are presently in there today. Pemberton wanted his drink to be unique so he found a blend that he liked and called it 7X. The Cola company wanted to keep the secret recipe unknown- they took drastic meaasures! In India, it was a law to know what is in a drink, so that instead of revealing the secret, they stopped marketing Coca-Cola!
The 7X consisted of oils of a lemon, orange, nutmeg, cinnamon, neroli, and coriander. He mixed this with alcohol and let it sit for one day for his special extract. Obviously, there is no alcohol in coke but it was thought that he kept the blend a secret because of prohibition during that time.
There is 40mg of caffeine in a can of coke and in a cup of tea but only half of that in coffee. The same volume of instant coffee is 60mg though, which has been the most popular way that caffeine is consumed. International trade in coffee beans is over $7 billion in just one year! Strangely, Americans do not consume the most caffeine- Scandinavians do!
A lethal dose of caffeine that is taken by mouth would be about 5000mg. This is equal to 80 cups of coffee or 120 cups of tea. Your body recognizes this as a toxin and starts to dispose of it. Your body takes off carbon atoms from it which still lead to other dangerous molecules but then the end product of this is xanthine which will leave the body as urine or is put to other uses. The caffeine effects the body for 5 hours while in smokers it is strangely only 3.
More than 60 plant species produce caffeine and this is the reason that insects do not bother those plants. Caffeine has medicinal benefits and is used in painkillers, asthma treatments, and diet aids. Caffeine is the product when you decaffeinate coffee- you extract it with liquefied CO2. There are many myths about caffeine, most of them being health problems. It was believed that it is not possible to be addicted to caffeine, but now some caffeine withdrawal symptom are (in order of appearance): headache, depression, fatigue, irritability, nausea, and vomiting.

                                                       Some Caffeinated Drinks

                                       

Oxalic Acid- friend or foe?

The previously mentioned chocolate also contains oxalic acid. It's a harmful chemical that can be lethal but usually isn't. Many foods harbor this chemical but only a few contain a lot of it. Green leaf vegetables have the most oxalic acid in them, the most being 700mg per 100g in Swiss chard. Rhubarb (aka- pieplant) was thought to contain a lot of it since this food is reponsible for quite a few deaths, yet only has 500mg per 100g. People consume about 150mg a day of oxalic acid. It is deadly when you eat about 1500mg of it.
Rhubarb used to be internationally eaten in a stew with sugar. It can be classified as a laxative because our bodies automatically dispose of the toxin, oxalic acid. Eating the rhubarb stew could be deadly, while chocolate doesn't contain nearly enough of the toxin to poison you. Unfortunately, rhubarb took its toll on soldiers during World War I-  many men were killed!
The Greek physician and botanist Dioscorides recommended it to treat some health conditions. Most of the rhubarb came from China! More than 4,000 years ago, rhubarb root was used medicinally by the Chinese. Carl Wilhelm Scheele found oxalic acid in its roots in 1784 and noted that there was too much present in the leaves for them to be edible. But later it was in every kitchen and when you stewed it, it also cleaned the aluminum pans nicely because the acid dissolved a very thin layer of the metal but was not a health risk. The dissolving oxalic acid performs on metals explains why it interferes with iron, magnesium, and mostly calcium in our body. When oxalic acid and calcium form, it produces calcium oxalate, which causes bladder and kidney stones.
If you drink antifreeze then you are in trouble! Antifreeze contains ethylene glycol which our body converts to oxalic acid!
Sugar can be made into oxalic acid by treating it with nitric acid and cellulose can become the acid by treating it with sodium hydroxide. This acid is water soluble. Expectedly, it's found in stain-removers for iron-based stains because of its interactions with metals.

A Helpful Reminder

For those of you that forgot or are confused: you must go to settings then posts and comments then check the circle that says user with Google accounts so that we can all comment on your posts. A few of you haven't done that yet. Thank you!

Chocolate!

Many girls go by this guide in life: chocolates makes everything better. Actually, they got it partially correct! Phenylethylamine (PEA) would be the contestant to get all the credit for that one. Apparently, it has a "feel-good" effect on our brain, which explains it all.
The Mayas first used chocolate as a drink for the so-called rich. Nowadays, the liquid they consumed would thought to be far from delicious. Soon after, the Aztecs took over that civilization and thought chocolate was sexually stimulating. Of course, the Europeans came over and, them being their greedy selves, took the cocoa beans back to Europe with them. The Aztecs were misguided because chocolate was not an aphrodisiac (sexual stimulant). The "feel-good" effect could have been mistaken for it being something more.
Anyway, chocolate is only 7% PEA; PEA is produced by cooking the cocoa beans in the sun. The happiness someone may obtain is credited to the rise of glucose in our blood and also our blood pressure increasing. This molecule might cause the release of dopamine which makes us happy- meaning PEA acts similarly to ECSTASY!
There is PEA in our bodies, so eating chocolate isn't the only way to get that more-than-satisfactory feeling. It's formed from phenylalanine, which is a vital amino acid.
Chocolate fat is unique because it was made to melt at about 35 degrees Celsius. This is impressive because most fats melt much before then. In addition, there is only one proper stage for solid chocolate to be in, otherwise it will have a weird, greasy, white outside but will still be perfectly edible. Chocolate-making is an art! :D
...I shall cover oxalic acid this weekend, for the fear that the abundance of words will make this seem boring. Also for the fact that I wouldn't want anyone to be too mind-blown just yet!  

A Quick Summation

The book Molecules at an Exhibition: Portraits of intriguing materials in everyday life by John Emsley shines a light on many common molecules- sure we don't all know them by name but they are everywhere! Two of the sections that I have just read are phenylethylamine (PEA) and oxalic acid...more to follow up shortly!