Real-Life Application Of Chemistry: The school system takes students through several courses they need to learn and master to graduate.
Most students, parents, and even educators are how some of the learned information is applicable outside of the school setting. But, as always, students find more value in gaining knowledge that will serve them in their careers and day-to-day lives.
It might come as a bit of a surprise to know that chemistry falls in this category. How is this so? Here are six real-life applications of chemistry.
Recognizing Chemicals
There are chemicals in virtually everything you use. From food, paint, make-up, toiletry, and so on. In short, this is not something we can run away from,
For people that are more discerning about their purchases for various reasons, their chemistry knowledge can help them recognize the different chemicals contained in certain items. This is the first step towards making sound purchasing decisions.
To Understand More About Medication
Drugs work because of chemistry. Essentially, this is by chemical compounds fitting into binding sites for natural chemicals in our bodies. This happens in numerous ways, for example, blocking pain receptors or attacking pathogens.
Another thing that involves chemistry as it pertains to medication is a drug’s half-life. The half-life of a medication determines the changes in the concentration of medication. You can use the half-life principle to know when the concentration of a drug you are taking has decreased by half.
As you learn this in school and its different applications, you can use this calculator to help you ace chemistry half-life questions.
Hygiene
We all know that a clean environment is aesthetically pleasing and supports good health. However, a house with dust, dander, debris, and can cause numerous health issues, including respiratory problems.
One way to prevent this is through cleaning, and cleaning uses chemical compounds. You can use your chemistry knowledge to determine which cleaning compounds are best for cleaning what and determine the interactions.
When you can recognize the different chemicals used to manufacture a particular cleaner, you can better understand how they work.
For Gardening
People are increasingly recognizing the upside of having a small kitchen garden with spices, herbs, and veggies for their use.
For people that love to do a little gardening, your chemistry knowledge will come in handy with the chemicals you will need to use from time to time for your garden. Various chemicals are used to kill fungi and bacteria and to keep crops thriving.
Chemistry will help you better understand insecticides, pesticides, and fertilizers. As a result, you can better pick the best ones to use, understand their interactions with other compounds, and so on.
Digestion
While this is something you will rarely think about, digestion uses chemistry.
Once you ingest food, chemistry takes over. Digestion heavily depends on chemical interactions between acids and enzymes and the consumed food to break down molecules into nutrients your body can use.
Understanding Our Environment
There is chemistry all around us and things that we would be hard-pressed to explain without a bit of chemistry knowledge.
Here are a few examples:
Discolouration of leaves: chemistry is significant to flora and fauna, from how plants make their food to how leaves change colour between seasons.
Crying when cutting onions: you probably shed a tear or two when chopping onions but have no idea why this happens. This is another chemical reaction stemming from the Sulphate in the onions. When you dice onions, the sulphenic acid in them converts to propanediol Sulphur-oxide. This compound is what causes the irritation that makes your eyes tear.
