Carbohydrates - An Organic Compound

Carbohydrates

An Organic Compound

            What is an organic compound, anyway?  An organic compound is a compound that contains carbon, hydrogen, and most of the time oxygen. One type of organic compound is carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen (CH2O). Many people recognize carbohydrates in foods as sugars and starches, but they are so much more than that.

            Carbohydrates are divided into three categories, including monosaccharides, disaccharides, and polysaccharides. Monosaccharides are simple sugars including glucose, galactose, and fructose. Disaccharides are two monsaccharides combined together, which include sucrose (glucose +fructose), maltose (glucose + glucose), and lactose (glucose + galactose). The third category of carbohydrates is polysaccharides. Polysaccharides are many long chains of glucose molecules.

            Carbohydrates can be very important in green chemistry. Carbohydrates are able to capture solar energy by a process called photosynthesis. Also carbohydrates can be used to produce ethanol (C2H6) which can be added to gasoline or maybe can replace gasoline all together. Carbohydrates can be made into plastics or materials that are useful.

            Carbohydrates can be found in different foods but they have the potential for green chemistry use. Maybe they will help the environment by creating a better plastic or other useful materials. Also, carbohydrates could help reduce the use of fossil fuels with the use of ethanol. Carbohydrates are important organic compounds.

Green Works

Green Works

A Safer Cleaner for Every Day

            Cleaning can be such a chore. It is even worse because of the strong smells of cleaners you use. No need to fear, Green Works is here. Green Works is a line of cleaners designed by the Green team at Clorox. Their goal is to have a safer cleaner that doesn’t leave behind residue, and harmful chemicals.

            Green Works is accepted by Natural Products Association (NPA), Sierra Club, and Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) design for the environment program. With EPA, their goal is to enhance green chemistry, and protect the environment and the population. Green Works follows the guidelines put out by the NPA. These guidelines include using natural ingredients (using at least 95% natural ingredients), being responsible by not testing on animals, using safer chemistry (not using banned ingredients), and making a sustainable product (the use of biodegradable ingredients, and using an environmentally sustainable package).

            Green Works comes from plant and mineral ingredients. These ingredients are 95% to 99% natural. The ingredients include alkyl polyglucoside (coconut base), colorant (used in very small amounts), ethanol (corn based alcohol), fragrance with essential oils (extracted from plants), potassium carbonate (mineral based), potassium citrate (Plant based buffer), and a preservative (less than 0.5%). The other 1% to 5% ingredients are still unknown. The Green team at Green Works is striving to make a product that is 100% natural by finding natural ingredients for fragrances and preservatives.

            Now cleaning might not be such a chore. You don’t have to worry about the dangerous smells of different chemicals. Green Works all-purpose cleaner is a better product to use. Not only does it clean well, it protects the environment by using natural and renewable feedstock and is sustainable too. Green Works is a great product that has led the way towards a green environment.

Three Ingredients from a

Three Ingredients from a Household Product

Tom’s Orange Mango Toothpaste

            What is one household product you use every day? Toothpaste, of course. Have you ever wondered what was inside of your toothpaste? I use the Tom’s brand, and I looked at the orange mango gel toothpaste to see all the different ingredients. This toothpaste contains ten different ingredients, I didn’t know that.

            One of the ingredients that I looked at was sodium fluoride, which is the active ingredient in the toothpaste. Sodium fluoride helps prevent tooth damage, and helps minimize the risk for cavities. Also, it helps tooth enamel, and possible spots of decay. Sodium fluoride is made from fluorspar (calcium fluoride) which is an ore.

            Another ingredient found in Tom’s orange mango gel toothpaste was sodium lauryl sulfate. It is supposed to release ingredients when brushing your teeth. It also makes sure it is easy to rinse your mouth out after brushing. Sodium lauryl sulfate comes from coconuts and/ or palm kernel oil, which is a natural foaming agent.

A third ingredient in the toothpaste is xanthan gum. When used in toothpaste it is supposed to thicken and gel the toothpaste. It comes from the bacterium xanathomonas campestris, which comes from vegetables or vegetable matter (beets or corn syrup). Later this bacterium combines with a gum, which produces xanthan gum.

            I never knew what ingredients were in my toothpaste that I used every day. It makes you think what is in other products we use every day.

S. G. Magdziarz

What is Green Chemistry?

What is Green Chemistry?

            Chemistry has benefited people today. It has produced new medicine which increases life span, has made food safer to eat; and has helped the computer industry by the use of semiconductors.  Chemistry has certainly made life easier to live. Chemical waste and other dangerous byproducts have been released in years past. Back in the 1960’s and 1970’s pollution was a problem. People were dumping waste products in waterways or releasing chemicals through chimneys. People were becoming sick, such as the Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York.  People are becoming more aware of the danger it causes to the human body and to the earth.

             Now, people are trying to reverse the negative side effects that have affected the planet and the human population. The relationship between the environment and humans is what green chemistry is all about. In green chemistry, people want to be safe, want to use less toxins, and eventually want to eliminate them all together. Green chemistry would not only benefit the environment but the economy as well. By recycling, and reducing the use of fossil fuels, people are making green chemistry sustainable. 

             Green chemistry and environmental chemistry go hand in hand. What people do to the environment affects everything on earth for good or for bad. That is why green chemistry is so important. When chemicals are released through chimneys it is absorbed into the air, then those dangerous chemicals are released in the atmosphere, there it affects plants which then in turns affects humans. Also, some of those dangerous chemicals are still left in the air in the form of smog making it hard to see and breathe, especially for people with respiratory problems, such as asthma or COPD.

            There are guidelines to follow in green chemistry that make it easy to understand; they are called the twelve principles of green chemistry.  One of the basic principles is to not let something happen. Better to deal with a minor problem than a major clean up. The public should be aware of products that are less dangerous when available to use or avoid the use of dangerous products all together. Another key principle is chemicals that break down into the environment after use. People should try to use renewable resources, and not rely on other products.

             Chemistry has benefited the world today. In the past, chemistry has not always been safe and environmentally friendly. Green chemistry is way that chemists are trying to save the environment by reducing waste and using new ideas of renewable resources. Everybody can follow one of the major principles of green chemistry, by simply recycling. Green chemistry will help the planet and make it a safer place for people  to live.

Susanna Magdziarz

September 2011