/oss/taxonomy/term/203/all en /oss/article/history-general-science/worlds-first-commercially-available-laundry-powder <p>It was a scientific breakthrough. Persil, introduced by the German company Henkel in 1907 was the world’s first laundry powder. The name derives from perborate and silicate, two key components in the product. Persil was introduced as an improvement over the action of soap, the traditional cleaning agent first formulated around 1500 BC. Just heat some sort of fat with ashes from a wood fire and you get soap. The ashes supply the alkaline chemicals needed to break down the molecules of fat and convert them into salts of fatty acids which we know as soap.</p> Wed, 27 Jul 2022 19:55:26 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9191 at /oss /oss/article/did-you-know/washing-your-hair-vancouver-soap-will-work-montreal-it-has-be-shampoo <p>Did you know that in Vancouver you can wash your hair with soap but in Montreal you need shampoo? Why? Because Vancouver water is soft and Montreal water is hard. That makes a big difference when it comes to satisfaction with hair washing. Hard water contains dissolved calcium and magnesium ions which react with soap to form a precipitate. This is the classic “bathtub ring.” The grayish deposit is bad enough on a tub, but you sure don’t want it on the hair. Vancouver has very soft water and soap will suds nicely and will not leave a deposit.</p> Fri, 02 Jul 2021 21:03:43 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8775 at /oss /oss/article/did-you-know-health/why-does-orange-taste-so-horrible-after-brushing-my-teeth <p>If you have ever taken a good look at the back of a tube of toothpaste during those long two minutes of recommended brushing time, you may have noticed sodium laureth sulfate (SLES) and sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) listed as ingredients. Both of these are usually listed as a duo and are responsible for that bitter yucky taste that comes about when biting an orange after tooth brushing. Oranges contain a fair bit of citric acid, which has both a bitter and sour taste. For some reason, these compounds enhance the bitter taste and leaves the sour taste unaffected.</p> Thu, 06 Jun 2019 16:00:00 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 7788 at /oss /oss/article/did-you-know-health/under-microscope-hair <p><img height="2744" width="2744" style="width: 600px; height: 600px;" class="file-original " src="/oss/files/oss/img_4678_edited.jpg" alt="" /></p> <p><img height="2759" width="2759" style="width: 600px; height: 600px;" class="file-original " src="/oss/files/oss/img_9736_done_0.jpg" alt="" /></p> <p><img height="2790" width="2790" style="width: 600px; height: 600px;" class="file-original " src="/oss/files/oss/img_1911_done.jpg" alt="" /></p> Mon, 13 May 2019 17:46:07 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. and Joe Schwarcz PhD 7757 at /oss /oss/article/you-asked/why-do-we-use-hot-water-wash-clothes <p>Temperature is just a measure of how quickly, molecules are moving. When a substance dissolves in water, its components, be they ions or molecules, form stronger attractions to water molecules than to each other and therefore can be pulled apart from each other and become surrounded by water molecules. In other words, the water molecules have to wedge themselves in between the units of the solute to bring it into solution The faster the water molecules are moving, the greater their kinetic energy and the greater the chance that they can blast themselves into the solute.</p> Thu, 25 Oct 2018 18:49:44 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 7416 at /oss /oss/article/you-asked/why-are-people-popping-laundry-pods <p>Dousing oneself with a bucket full of ice water isn’t much fun, but at least that craze was cool. It had a point: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Bucket_Challenge">raise money for ALS research</a>. Biting into a laundry pod has no point, other than to demonstrate the mental shortcomings of the biter. For some bizarre reason people have been posting videos of their grimacing faces as they chomp down on a laundry pod. If they get away with just a grimace, they are lucky. They could just as well end up in hospital with chemical burns to their mouth.</p> Thu, 25 Jan 2018 16:42:45 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 6904 at /oss /oss/article/general-science/dirt-laundry-balls <p>As you can imagine, the ad caught my eye.  “Earth Smart Laundry CD works on the principles of quantum physics, not chemistry.” I had to have it. So I sent in my sixty dollars and waited. A couple of weeks later a translucent plastic disk full of a blue liquid appeared. It was also full of promises. Never again would I have to use detergents!  All I had to do was drop the disk into the washing machine, and through the miracle of “Structured Water Technology,” it would “activate the laundry water to mimic the cleaning effect of detergent.” There was no mention of what this technology was, or </p> Thu, 27 Apr 2017 17:00:11 +0000 Joe Schwarcz 2419 at /oss /oss/article/food-health-history-news-quirky-science-toxicity/beer-foam-and-artificial-hips <p>Forty eight years ago there was an epidemic of heart failure in Quebec City. The clue was that the thirty men affected were all beer drinkers. In a round about way, the culprit was the introduction of a new dish washing detergent that left a residue on glasses. Detergent is the enemy of foam on beer and brewers countered the problem by adding a foam boosting agent, cobalt sulphate, to their product. It seems the potential toxicity of the cobalt compound was not considered. It should have been because cobalt affects the heart and causes heart failure.</p> Wed, 05 Mar 2014 11:04:57 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 2108 at /oss /oss/article/environment-history-science-science-everywhere/solution-skunk-pollution <p style="text-align:justify"><a href="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/?p=5427"><img alt="skunks" height="192" src="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/files/2013/06/skunks-300x192.jpg" width="300" /></a>I remember the first time I ever smelled the fragrance of a skunk.  I thought someone had let off a stink bomb.  You see, even back then I was a lot more familiar with emissions from test tubes than from animals.  This certainly smelled as if someone had mixed sodium sulfide with an acid to release hydrogen sulfide-the classic smell of rotten eggs and stink bombs.  A smell potent enough to quickly drive any living creature away.  Which of course is exactly what the skunk has in mind when it lets loose from the little scent glands on either side of its rectum.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Scientists have long been intrigued by the chemical composition of skunk aroma.  Way back in 1862, the famous German chemist Friedrich Wohler received a gift of "Nordamerikanischen Stinkthiers" fluid from a "freunde in Neuyork."  It was too smelly for the great man to work with so he gave it to one of his underlings, identified only as Dr. Swarts of Gent.</p> <p><a href="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/2013/06/12/a-solution-to-skunk-pollution/">Read more</a></p> Wed, 12 Jun 2013 14:14:42 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1958 at /oss /oss/article/household-products-you-asked/you-asked-why-sodium-sulphite-added-laundry-and-dish-washing-detergents <p>Sodium sulphite is not added for cleaning purposes, at least not as far as the laundry is concerned.</p> Fri, 03 Jan 2014 19:55:30 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 2056 at /oss /oss/article/general-science-quackery/chemistry-lesson-food-babe-and-everyone-else-9-sls-synthetic-detergent <p>“Syndets” were originally developed by chemists to eliminate a problem commonly found with soap, namely “scum” formation. Soaps, unlike detergents, react with dissolved minerals in water to form an insoluble precipitate; often seen as the classic bathtub ring. With sodium lauryl sulphate there is no scum problem.</p> Wed, 15 Feb 2017 21:50:08 +0000 Joe Schwarcz 1461 at /oss