#chemistry

Science, Social Media, and Sensationalism

March 27, 2014 by Nick 6 Comments

Today I logged into Facebook, and near the top of my newsfeed was a link to an article that caught my eye. It was entitled “8 Beers That You Should Stop Drinking Immediately” from the website www.organics.org. In fact, this article has been shared so many times on Facebook today alone that the website has crashed due to the high traffic volume and has not yet been resorted at the time of this posting. The link was shared by one of my old high school teachers, and below it there were already a few comments thanking him for sharing such valuable information. What toxins could these adult beverages possibly contain—what ingredients could be so harmful to be warranted by such a fear-imbuing title? I decided to investigate—immediately! Lest someone consume one more bottle of these fermented killers.

At this time the only form of the webpage to which I have access is a Google cached version of the page from shortly before the website crashed. Here’s a screenshot of the article’s introduction:

The article proclaims, “All the work for your body can be ruined in a weekend out,” apparently as a result of harmful ingredients found in beer—“a HUGE mistake.” A Google search turned up a similar article from a website named foodbabe.com. Both articles enumerate the harmful ingredients we should avoid. Many of the listed harmful ingredients in the article are indeed controversial, from genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to high fructose corn syrup and BPA. But what the article fails to mention is that, although these substances are controversial, they are found in a multitude of other foods that are commonly consumed in much greater quantities than beer. In essence, the premise of the entire article, claiming the harmful ingredients consumed from beer can ruin your body’s well-being, is a bit of a hyperbole with one blatant omission—the ingredient in beer that is most likely to do your body harm is the alcohol itself. So if you’re concerned about the harmful effects of caramel coloring in beer, it might be wiser to worry about getting alcohol poisoning from consuming the enormous volume of beer necessary for the caramel coloring to have an effect. Or just avoid everything else in your diet that has caramel coloring (hint: it would be difficult). So without further ado, let’s take a look at some of the ingredients and where they occur in much high quantities in a typical diet.

GM Corn – Do you eat corn or anything made from corn? Yes? Then if you live in the United States you probably eat genetically modified corn, considering the 90% of corn grown in the United States is of genetically modified varieties. Studies on the potential health effects of GM crops are ongoing, but no definitive links to adverse health effects have yet been proven.

Fish Bladder – Not as gross as it sounds. The article leaves out the key detail that it is the swim bladder of the fish that is used, not the type of bladder most people think of. The swim bladder in a fish stores air, which helps the fish control how much it floats—not fish waste, as the title might have you believe. Guinness uses it in the form of a powder to clarify their beer—the powder is filtered out after it does its job.

Propylene Glycol – The foodbabe.com article describes it as “an ingredient found in anti-freeze.” Well, kind of, but not. The problem with that description is that there is no one substance called “anti-freeze.” Many different chemicals can act as anti-freezes because they don’t freeze—a property that is not directly correlated with their toxicity. Ethylene glycol is a poisonous antifreeze, but propylene glycol is specifically used as a non-toxic anti-freeze. And just because it has properties that enable it to be effective as an antifreeze doesn’t mean it can’t perform other functions as well—it is labeled by the US Food and Drug Administration as GRAS (Generally Regarded as Safe) as a food additive.

Caramel Coloring – Another controversial substance as a result of the use of various acids and bases in its production, such as hydrochloric acid and ammonia. It is most commonly found in any type of dark colored beverages, such as colas and root beers, and it is one of the most widely used colorings in food products. It is also used to color breads, chocolate, cookies, liquors, and sometimes potato chips, as well as a long list of other foods, although there are different classes of the coloring that can be used in different types of foods.

The safety of some of the listed ingredients is indeed up in the air, and more scientific research is certainly necessary for further investigation—I can’t dispute that. However, it is extremely difficult—near impossible—to prove that a substance is completely safe, and therefore proving 100% safety of a chemical used in foods (or any substance) should not be expected by the public.

I do, however, believe that the sources of articles such as these should be taken to task for their incomplete, evidence-lacking, and selective journalistic practices that seem focused solely on attaining shares, likes, and retweets instead of on spreading accurate, fact-checked information. Both articles show evidence of a lack of thorough background research or obvious omission of key details that would lessen the “impact” and “buzz” of the article. I call into question the ethics behind this type of journalism, as I believe that such articles serve to alter the public perception of chemists, the chemical industry, and the entire scientific community in a negative manner. Yes, some ingredients and food additives could potentially be dangerous, but if you’re going to publish a seemingly investigative article, at least for the benefit of your readership and society in general perform the basic background research necessary to cite relevant sources and provide more than two sentences about each substance instead of an (apparently successful) sensationalist attempt to increase web traffic. Or maybe hire a proofreader–take baby steps.

Sources:

www.organics.org/8-beers-that-you-should-stop-drinking-immediately/

http://foodbabe.com/2013/07/17/the-shocking-ingredients-in-beer/

http://umpir.ump.edu.my/3162/1/CD5934_KHALIZATUL_RADHIAH_KASIM.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_food

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifreeze#Ethylene_glycol

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caramel_color

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swim_bladder

Filed Under: Passion Tagged With: #chemistry, #food, #journalism, #king, #media, #passion, #rcl1314, #science

To Shampoo, or Not To Shampoo?

February 27, 2014 by Nick 7 Comments

It seems like it’s been forever since I’ve written a passion blog post! My last was an investigation of what exactly is in laundry detergent, how it works, and an intro to some of the chemistry behind why it works. In a similar vein, this week I’ll turn the microscope on something each of us uses (hopefully!) every day—shampoo. (Thanks to Sarah for suggesting the topic!) I have to say I’m a big fan of long showers, and sometimes you just don’t want to step out into the cold just yet, but you’re getting a bit bored just standing there. So what do you do? Read the shampoo bottle, of course (…or am I the only one?) The ingredients list is my personal favorite—I always try to pronounce the long, complicated chemicals and compounds, some upwards of 30 letters. But more importantly, I’ve always wondered what each does. What exactly is shampoo, and why does it need so many seemingly complicated ingredients to get some dirt out of my hair? Let’s find out.

Ingredients

Above is a picture of my the ingredients list of my personal shampoo bottle—Suave, to be specific.

The first shampoos were similar to typical bar soap, but as it turns out, modern shampoos are actually closely related to the laundry detergent I previously described. That’s not to say that they are identical, but they function on the same premise. They both use surfactants to get rid of dirt and grime, only this time the dirt is on your hair instead of your clothes.

Now let’s go through the list.

Water: The base into which all the other ingredients are added: the foundation of the shampoo.

Sodium Laureth Sulfate: A surfactant and foaming agent (it removes dirt and helps create that nice lather). SLES can cause skin irritation.

Sodium Laureth Sulfate

Cocamidopropyl Betaine: Another surfactant and foam booster. It’s name sounds like “coconut” because it’s derived from coconut oil.

Cocamidopropyl Betaine

Sodium Chloride: Table salt. But what’s it doing in your shampoo? It’s used as a thickening agent.

Fragrance: To make your hair smell fresh and clean (but shampoo manufacturers aren’t required to list the specific chemicals in their “proprietary” fragrances)

Tetrasodium EDTA: Full name: tetrasodium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (that’s “tetra-sodium eth-ul-lean di-am-mean tetra-aceetic acid” if you want to say it out loud). I actually used this chemical in my chem lab last semester. It’s technical term is a chelating agent. The problem with tap water is that it’s often “hard” (meaning that it has a lot of dissolved minerals). Water hardness depends on where your water comes from—what rocks and minerals it flows through and picks up on its way to your tap. Why is this a problem? Surfactants are attracted to these minerals, so they’ll go after them instead of targeting the dirt on your hair. That’s where tetrasodium EDTA comes in—it grabs on to the minerals allows the surfactants to work on the dirt on your hair instead.

EDTA “Grabbing onto” Mineral (M)

DMDM Hydantoin: A preservative for the shampoo (who knew it shampoo could spoil…) It slowly releases formaldehyde in the shampoo, which prevents microorganisms from growing in it. This is a bit controversial because formaldehyde is a known human carcinogen (in much, much, much higher concentrations that in your shampoo), but it still has some risk.

DMDM Hydantoin

Citric Acid: The acid that gives citrus fruits their sharp taste. It’s used in shampoo mainly to lower the pH (make the shampoo more acidic). It turns out that a slightly acidic (pH ~ 5.5) shampoo will make your hair follicles lay flat, making your hair feel smooth and shiny.

Citric Acid

PPG-9: Here we go with the abbreviations again. Its name is polypropylene glycol, and it’s a chemical that seems to be primarily used in industry as a thickener and stabilizer, but other than that I could not find what it’s used for.

Methylchloroisothiazolinone and Methylisothiazolinone: (meth-ul-chloro-iso-thia-zol-linone) Used in combination (in a dilute form) as a biocide to deter the growth of bacteria and other organisms. In concentrated form, the chemical is so strong that it can burn human tissue. Some studies conclude that it is toxic, but it is not officially classified as known or probably carcinogen.

Methylchloroisothiazolinone

Mentha Piperita (Peppermint) Leaf Extract: A soothing agent and fragrance. (No, you still can’t eat it.)

That’s a lot of ingredients! It can be daunting to figure out what exactly manufacturers mix up to put in your shampoo bottle, and this has lead some people to advocate for the less frequent use (or non use) of shampoos. The rationale is that shampoos strip your hair and scalp of oils, which the body in turn compensates for by producing those oils at an even faster rate—a vicious cycle of shampoo use. If you didn’t use shampoo, your scalp would simply produce less oil. Some choose instead to wash their hair with baking soda, vinegar, or even honey or just warm water.

I don’t know about not using shampoo… I think I just wouldn’t feel “clean” if I didn’t use shampoo. But perhaps the projection of regular use of shampoo as a social norm has made us feel compelled to use it every day. What do you think?

Sources:

http://www.dow.com/polyglycols/ppgc/na/products/ppgs.htm

http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/cleansing/products/tetrasodium-edta-in-cleansers.htm

http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/08/28/deconstructing-your-haircare-ingredients

http://wikipedia.org

All images from the respective Wikipedia pages of each compound. Used under public domain.

Filed Under: Passion Tagged With: #chemistry, #king, #passion, #rcl1314, #shampoo, #shower

What’s in your laundry detergent?

February 13, 2014 by Nick 36 Comments

Continuing my recent theme of investigating the sometimes seemingly unusual ingredients that make up some of the most ordinary products. Last week focused on azodicarbonamide, a chemical used both in commercially baked breads as well as certain types of foamed plastics, such as yoga mats. Previously, we looked at how a typical plastic water bottle is manufactured, its journey from ink-black crude oil to a thin, clear plastic. This week we’ll investigate another product that is made from crude oil: laundry detergent. That’s right—the essential ingredient in many detergents that cleans your clothes is derived from an extremely dirty looking substance.

Source: http://www.moneysavingmadness.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/tide.jpg

Source: http://www.commodityonline.com/images/21446208241380876995.jpg

There are several main ingredients in detergents that help them get your clothes fresh and clean, and each serves a specific purpose. The main obstacle in cleaning your clothes is the type of dirt that needs to be removed. We’re humans, and our skin sweats. Sweat and other dirt and grease found on your clothing, however does not dissolve readily in water and therein lies the biggest problem of all. This means that we can’t just swish our clothes around in water and expect them to come out clean. That’s why we need a detergent with a chemical that will remove the dirt from fabrics.

We know that grease won’t dissolve in water—oil and water simply will not mix. We need something that will dissolve oils and dirt. Oils will mix with other oils, but we can’t wash our clothes in oil! We fill our washing machines with regular old water. So we need a chemical that can dissolve dirt and dissolve in water so it can carry all the dirt down the drain. Meet the main ingredient of laundry detergent: a surfactant. This dirt-removing chemical has some pretty neat properties that allow it to get dirt and grime out of our clothes.

A surfactant molecule
Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Sodium_dodecylbenzenesulfonate.png

There are many types of surfactants. The one pictured above is called a linear alkylbenzenesulfonate (I can’t pronounce it either…), a type of surfactant commonly used in laundry detergents. The special feature of a surfactant is that is has two distinct “ends”—a head and a tail. Its tail—the long zig-zag chain—is attracted to grease and oils. It’s hydrophobic (meaning that it repels water), but it will bind to the dirt in your clothes. The surfactant’s head, however, is attracted to water (hydrophilic). This is the part with the hexagonal shape in the picture. This is what allows the detergent to dissolve in wash water and carry the dirt away from the clothing (also known as lowering the surface tension of the water).

But where do linear alkylbenzenesulfonates come from? Crude oil, of course! Well, actually a chemical called benzene, which is a prominent component of crude oil. Another common place to find benzene: in gasoline (in small quantities). However, with a bit of chemistry, benzene can be transformed into a surfactant. And when combined with other ingredients that make up laundry detergent—such as enzymes that help break down dirt, bleaches that make clothes look brighter, and “antiredeposition agents” that prevent the dirt from going back onto the clothes—it makes for a very effective cleaning agent. Who would have thought?

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laundry_detergent
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzene
http://home.howstuffworks.com/laundry-detergent.htm
http://www.madehow.com/Volume-1/Laundry-Detergent.html#b

Filed Under: Passion Tagged With: #chemistry, #detergent, #environment, #king, #laundry, #passion, #rcl1314

What’s in your food?

February 6, 2014 by Nick 8 Comments

This week’s passion blog post was inspired by a social media trending topic. Multiple sources are carrying the story that the sandwich shop Subway is eliminating the use of the chemical azodicarbonamide in their breads. The topic was just too hard to pass up—just this past weekend I recorded my “This I Believe” essay, which I wrote about how I bake my own bread. In fact, I even listed the same chemical in my essay to exemplify the unfamiliar, hard to pronounce ingredients that are commonly used in processed breads as further reason for me to bake my own bread. It turns out most news sources are jumping on the fact that azodicarbonamide is also used in the manufacturing of foamed plastics—such as yoga mats.

Ingredient: Azodicarbonamide
Source: http://www.studlife.com/files/2013/02/Subway-Bread.jpg

Ingredient: also azodicarbonamide Source: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71cwPmthlJL._SL1500_.jpg

Ingredient: Azodicarbonamide
Source: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71cwPmthlJL._SL1500_.jpg

So today I’m going to further investigate the chemical azodicarbonamide, as well as some other food additives that are used in products other than food.

To start off, azodicarbonamide is indeed approved as a food additive by the US Food and Drug Administration, achieving “generally recognized as safe” status in concentrations below 45 parts per million—that’s 0.0045% by weight. Its use in food is banned in Australia, Europe, and Singapore. It is added to flour as a dough conditioner and strengthener, and it can be found in many brands of commercially produced breads. The ingredient did not become controversial overnight, it seems—while researching the topic I came across all sorts of blog articles about this reportedly dangerous food additive surrounded by attacks on the processed foods industry. It’s hard to figure out which articles are accurate and not just angry venting against artificial foods. I did some research about the chemical itself and some scientific studies conducted to test its safety, and it appears that azodicarbonamide can indeed by harmful in its raw form. Accordingly, the UK does label it as a respiratory irritant, indicating that it can be harmful to workers who inhale the chemical.

Azodicarbonamide Chemical Structure
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Azodicarbonamide.png

Azodicarbonamide in its Powdered Form
Source: http://pantryparatus.com/media/wysiwyg/All_Images_2013/Other_Peoples_Photos/azodicarbonamide.jpg

However, when used in bread, azodicarbonamide doesn’t actually stay in its raw form. When it is combined with flour and water, studies found that “it is rapidly and completely converted into biurea, which is stable under baking conditions” (www.inchemg.org). Biurea has been found to be rapidly eliminated from the body after consumption. Other by products besides biurea need further investigation to determine how much of a threat they pose to humans, but by all studies it seems that azodicarbonamide, at or below the maximum allowed proportion, does not pose as significant of a threat as some news headlines would have you believe.

A main non-food use of azodicarbonamide is in the manufacturing of foamed plastics, such as the material yoga mats are made of. It’s important to note that there is a distinction between the chemical that is delivered to bakers and that which is used in plastics manufacturing—as a food product, the quality and purity standards are higher. But in making a yoga mat, azodicarbonamide is what makes the foamy texture. It produces gases when it is heated, and those tiny gas bubbles are trapped in the material, creating a springy, cushioned foam.

But azodicarbonamide is just one of many food additives that is used in other ways besides food. Take, for intense titanium dioxide. It is a chemical pigment and whitener that is commonly found in sunscreens because of its ability to block UV rays from the skin. It is also used in cosmetics. But where is titanium dioxide also used? Sometimes in skim milk and low fat cheeses—products that may not be as bright white due to their decreased fat content. Titanium dioxide is used to make them look brighter and more appealing—closer in color and appearance to their full-fat versions. Titanium dioxide is also an airborne irritant, but is otherwise rather chemically nonreactive and harmless.

Ingredient: Titanium dioxide
Source: http://pics1.ds-static.com/prodimg/214628/300.JPG

(Possible) Ingredient: Titanium dioxide
Source: http://images.wisegeek.com/pitcher-of-milk-cream.jpg

I can definitely understand the public reaction to the use of azodicarbonamide in bread products as well as other artificial ingredients in various food products, and I generally believe that simple and natural is usually better in terms of food. My only concern would be that the food industry will find another chemical to use instead—a chemical that no one will notice until someone investigates and petitions bakeries to stop using it. And who knows how long that would take.

Sources:

http://www.wakingtimes.com/2013/09/11/ingredient-found-cereals-breads-also-found-foamed-plastics-rubber/

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/06/health/subway-bread-chemical/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanium_dioxide/

http://www.inchem.org/documents/jecfa/jecmono/40abcj28.htm

http://www.wakingtimes.com/2013/09/11/ingredient-found-cereals-breads-also-found-foamed-plastics-rubber/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azodicarbonamide

http://www.inchem.org/documents/cicads/cicads/cicad16.htm#PartNumber:2

Filed Under: Passion Tagged With: #azodicarbonamide, #bread, #chemistry, #food, #ingredients, #king, #passion, #rcl1314, #Subway, #titaniumdioxide

The Journey of the Plastic Bottle

January 30, 2014 by Nick 4 Comments

Ah yes, the ubiquitous plastic bottle. Despite the growing trend of reusable bottles, America is still in love with disposable, one time use plastic bottles. According to the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA), bottled water consumption in 2012 amounted to 9.67 billion gallons, just large than a 6% year over year increase. Bottled water is a multi-billion dollar industry—$11.8 billion in 2012. Why do people consume bottled water? Our nation is in constant motion; with so many people constantly on the run, perhaps bottled water is a convenience factor. The IBWA asserts that “[Consumers] know that safe, convenient, refreshing bottled water has zero calories and is the healthiest option on the shelf.” I’m no expert, but I would hope the general public is educated enough not to need to be informed by the bottled water industry that water is a healthy, zero calorie beverage. I would hope.

But no matter how they sell it, bottled water, along with the billion dollar market for carbonated beverages, it means one thing: they need a whole lot of plastic bottles. But how do you make a plastic bottle? Physically making the bottle is simple compared to the task of making the plastic itself. What even is plastic? Most plastics begin miles below the earth’s surface, in the form of viscous black liquid petroleum—crude oil.

But how is that black oil turned into a clear plastic bottle? Most plastic bottles are made out of polyethylene terephthalate (there’s a reason why they abbreviate it PETE). These bottles are lightweight and are imprinted with the recycling code “1.” The entire process requires many complicated steps, the technicalities of which will not be described in detail here. The concept is that plastics are polymers. “Poly” means many, and “mer” comes from the Greek merlos, meaning part. Thus, polymer means “many parts.” This is indeed the case. A polymer is essentially a chain of monomers (“one part”). One simple structure repeats itself in a seemingly endless chain. The repeating part of PETE is shown below.

In a (complicated) process called polymerization, these parts are linked together to form a long chain—the polymer.

But if only it were that simple. It turns out that crude oil can’t simply be processed directly into plastic. There are several other processes that must occur to transform crude oil into intermediate products that can then be used to make the plastic itself. After the plastic itself is made, it must be shaped into whatever shape specified by the beverage company. A common process for this is to first mold it into a test-tube shape with threads for a cap, called the preform (pictured at right). The walls of the preform are intentionally thicker than the walls of the finished bottle. This is because the preform is placed between two halves of another mold, and air is injected into it until it conforms to the shape of the mold. Essentially, the preform is inflated like a balloon until it reaches its final shape. Pretty cool, huh?

All in all, crude oil has to be drilled from a well and shipped from the well to a crude oil refinery. From there, intermediate products must be produced, and finally the plastic itself. After that, it still has to be formed into a bottle shape. All steps have potentially involved transportation of the finished or unfinished products to and from different facilities. And the bottle doesn’t even have water in it! The bottles still have to go to the beverage maker’s facility to be filled and then shipped to local distributers and stores.

The moral of the story? In the case of the plastic bottle, there’s more than meets the eye. So think twice before you choose bottled water over tap water.

Sources:

http://www.bottledwater.org/us-consumption-bottled-water-shows-continued-growth-increasing-62-percent-2012-sales-67-percent
http://www.theworldofenergy.com/blog/how-deep-petroleum-companies-look-for-oil/

Filed Under: Passion Tagged With: #bottle, #chemistry, #environment, #king, #passion, #plastic, #rcl1314, #soda, #water, #week02

Friend or Foe: Deceptive Chemistry

January 23, 2014 by Nick 4 Comments

Which of these two molecules looks more menacing–the one on the left, or the one on the right? To me, the one on the left is a sprawling creature, its “tentacles” branching out in all directions. The one on the right looks innocent–almost too simple to do any harm. But the fact of the matter is that while one of them will give you a headache, the other will relieve it: the one on the left is C₉H₈O₄–2-acetoxybenzoic acid–or, as most people call it, aspirin. The one on the right, however, is C₉H₈O and is known by its official name, 4-methylcyclohexane methanol (rolls right off the tongue), often abbreviated MCHM.

If the name 4-methylcyclohexane methanol rings a bell, that’s because it was the primary chemical involved in the recent chemical spill in West Virginia that left 300,000 people without safe drinking water beginning on January 9th. If it doesn’t sound familiar, that’s okay–most news agencies didn’t even attempt to have their news anchors attempt a pronunciation. (In fact, Stephen Colbert was the television report I saw that talked primarily about the chemical, even if it was in a rather satirical way–linked at the end of this post.) Even print and newspaper articles refrain from publishing its name, instead simply referring to it as “the chemical.”

So what what’s with MCHM’s big official name? And what does it even do? The name 4-methylcyclohexane methanol has a few different “parts,” so we’ll (briefly) tackle them one by one. The “hexane” part simply refers to a hydrocarbon with 6 carbon molecules (a hydrocarbon is a molecule comprise of only hydrogen and carbon). Not bad so far! The “cyclo” prefix means that the molecule is orientated in a ring. “Methyl” means that there is a methyl (CH₃) group attached to the molecule, and the 4- tells you where it’s located on the molecule (at the bottom of the ring). And finally, the “methanol,” which is located at the top of the ring, means that there is a methanol (CH₃OH) attached to the central ring–the OH is highlighted in red.

That was a lot of words to describe such a simple, innocent-looking molecule. It would take even more explanation to describe the aspirin molecule. At a simple glance, there would appear to be similar parts in aspirin as MCHM–for example, there’s a ring and even an OH in the aspirin molecule. However, the ring is a completely different animal, and the OH, due to the combination of elements in the aspirin, also serves an entirely different purpose.

Anyway, what does MCHM actually do? Every news report I’ve seen simply labels it a coal “frothing agent.” But what in the world is a frothing agent, why does coal need to be frothed, and how do you even “froth” coal? It all stems from the fact that coal is mined from the ground, which means it’s dirty. It needs to be cleaned.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Continuous_Miner.jpg

Underground Coal Mine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Coal_mine_Wyoming.jpg

Surface Coal Mine

Well, not cleaned like you might dust the blinds. The cleaning process removes impurities from the coal that is dug out of the mine–rocks, minerals, and other contaminants. “Cleaner” coal is more valuable and burns better. However, while some of the impurities can be physically removed (kind of like dusting the blinds, actually), some of the contaminants need chemical assistance to be removed. From what I can understand of the limited information available on the process, the coal is crushed and then a sort of slurry is created of coal and a liquid. The MCHM “frothing agent” serves to aid in creating bubbles in the slurry, and the contaminants are attracted to the bubbles and are carried away from the coal. Freedom Industries manufactures MCHM, which explains why it was sitting in their tanks.

But how dangerous is it? While you wouldn’t really want to rub MCHM on your skin or ingest it, according to an article in Scientific American, it turns out MCHM actually is broken down naturally by microbes in water. This is good news–nature can actually take care of the spill itself in a matter of weeks (in addition to the human efforts to clean up the spill). The Scientific American article also notes that people are in general exposed to more harmful chemicals that MCHM on a daily basis–gasoline, for example. So while the spill needs to be dealt with, it is a bit less dangerous than the media would have you believe–and that is precisely what I’m going to address in my next civic issues post. The bad news is that earlier this weeks, newly released reports stated that a second chemical may have been involved in the spill. Regardless, for now, hundreds of thousands of West Virginians are still without safe drinking water.

The Colbert Report segment on the spill:

Sources:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-dangerous-is-the-chemical-spilled-in-west-virginia/
http://www.chemspider.com/Chemical-Structure.105625.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4-Methylcyclohexanemethanol
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspirin
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/23/us/a-second-chemical-was-part-of-west-virginia-chemical-spill-company-reveals.html

Filed Under: Passion Tagged With: #4methylcyclohexanemethanol, #aspirin, #chemicals, #chemistry, #Colbert, #environment, #king, #passion, #passion01, #rcl1314, #spill

Science, Social Media, and Sensationalism

To Shampoo, or Not To Shampoo?

What’s in your laundry detergent?

What’s in your food?

The Journey of the Plastic Bottle

Friend or Foe: Deceptive Chemistry

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Science, Social Media, and Sensationalism

To Shampoo, or Not To Shampoo?

What’s in your laundry detergent?

What’s in your food?

The Journey of the Plastic Bottle

Friend or Foe: Deceptive Chemistry

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