Department of B. Sc

                                                                                                                                          Ms. Kimmi 

                                                                                                                                          Ms. Shabnam 

                                                                                                     Dept. of  Chemistry

Chemistry is all around you if you notice. Chemical reactions are taking place within our body, and outside in our natural environment all the time. However, we may not know about it unless we study or read about them, and then understand them. Most of the chemical reactions are not visible to our naked eye.

The way a plastic wrap protects your food and how it is extracted from polymers is all part of chemistry. In fact, polymers is the next biggest industry to textiles in the United States.

Obesity is such a big problem in the United States, and it is also a result of the chemical reactions taking place inside your body. Or rather, obesity is caused due to the absence of certain chemical reactions. Every single medication that you take when sick is made out of chemicals, and they react chemically inside the body. That is why they are able to cure the illness or disease.

Glass is a simple substance that is actually made using sand, lime and soda ash. There are hundreds of varieties of glass available, and they are all made using different compositions of these substances. Glass is very important as it is used in many places and making objects including, cars, vehicles, microscopes and anything you can think of.

Fermentation that you see in food items is a chemical process. Many day to day products like cheese, butter, milk, yogurt, and hundreds of products made from milk are due to a chemical process. Also, there are several kinds of cheese that can be made from a single chemical reaction.

How is chemistry applied to life ?

Chemistry is basically the study of everyday chemicals that are very much present around us and available, and that which can be applied in real life. These chemicals can be applied in many ways like in the kitchen. The kitchen is the ideal lab where people can experience various chemical reactions and even study them. They need not do anything special. They can simply do what they do in the kitchen everyday and still observe the chemical reactions that occur.

A simple task like boiling of water is a chemical reaction. We all know that water boils at 100 degrees Centigrade. When we boil water everyday, we can observe this.

Tamarind is a simple ingredient used in cooking in several dishes. It gives that extra tangy taste that you are looking for. However, when you cook or store tamarind in aluminum container, it releases certain types of chemicals into foods. When you learn about this, you would avoid cooking tamarind based substances in aluminum vessels, or storing tamarind in an aluminum container. A saturation point is when the water cannot dissolve anymore sugar or salt. This is why food ends up tasting very salty or sweet as it can take in no sugar or salt.

Checking the temperature when we feel feverish using a thermometer is a simple chemical process we do sometimes. The mercury in the thermometer rises if the body temperature is high. When we touch certain chemicals like chlorine we can burn the skin. This is because of the chemical properties of these chemicals that are causing this burning sensation.

Chemistry comes in use for killing pests and rodents at home. When we use naphthalene balls at home we are using a product of chemistry. Many of us use pickling as a method to preserve vegetables. Pickling is a simple chemical process that involves the process of osmosis.