Would you ban this substance?
Funny, a friend and I (she’s a chemist) were talking about this very thing the other day. Seems too many people are eager to poo-poo almost anything with a chemical name. Below is a similar story she shared with me. You just gotta laugh!
This is taken from Neil deGrasse Tyson’s book, Origins
…In 1997, Nathan Zohner, a fourteen-year-old student at Eagle Rock Junior High School in Idaho, conducted a now famous (among science popularizers) science fair experiment to test antitechnology sentiments and associated chemical phobia. Zohner invited people to sign a petition that demanded either strict control or a total ban of dihydrogen monoxide. He listed some of the odious properties of this colorless and odorless substance:
- It is a major component in acid rain
- It eventually dissolves almost anything it comes into contact with
- It can kill if accidentally inhaled
- It can cause severe burns in its gaseous state
- It has been found in tumors of terminal cancer patients
Forty-three out of fifty people approached by Zohner signed the petition, six were undecided, and one was a great supporter of the molecule and refused to sign. Yes, 86 percent of the passersby voted to ban dihydrogen monoxide (H2O) from the environment…
What a hoot! It reminds me of so many people who do reviews on Amazon and elsewhere, or peeps who post on FaceBook, talking about BAD chemicals and why they won’t use certain products. One review stuck in my head, for a woman was ranting on Amazon on how a shampoo company was misleading folks by telling them their product was all natural. I wanted to scream out, hey lady, molecules and compounds have chemical names!
Here are some common substances that would probably send her into a tizzy: Answers below.
- Acetyl salicylic acid
- Sodium hydrogen carbonate
- Sodium bicarbonate
- Amyl acetate
- Zinc carbonate
- Calcium carbonate
- Carbonic acid
- Potassium hydrogen tartrate
- Methyl salicylate
- Dihydroxyaluminum sodium carbonate
- Sucrose
- Acetic acid, ethanoic acid
- Ascorbic acid
And the names you would recognize!
- Aspirin
- Baking Soda
- Baking powder
- Banana Oil
- Calamine
- Chalk
- Club soda
- Cream of tartar
- Oil of wintergreen
- Rolaids
- Sugar
- Vinegar
- Vitamin C
This one would really throw her for a loop. It’s the chemical composition of yes, an ALL natural banana.
Now tell me that science isn’t fun!
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