Christian Little

The science of chemistry, along with chemical engineering have given us many different products based on various chemicals that we use on a daily basis. Many of you are probably not aware that you use some pretty interesting compounds relatively often. Here we will mention two relatively common chemicals: hydrogen peroxide and acetone.

The first of the two is hydrogen peroxide. The most common application of this compound is hear bleaching. In such products it has a concentration between 3% and 12%. Even more diluted solutions of this compound are used for wound disinfection. Hydrogen peroxide, when pure, is a very pale blue liquid that is slightly more viscous than water, and it is known to appear colorless in dilute solutions. It has strong very strong oxidizing properties, and is therefore a strong bleaching agent, as we mentioned, even in solutions of lower concentrations. Beside the mentioned applications it is also used as an antiseptic, an oxidizer and a propellant in rocketry.

The second of the two, acetone, is a chemical that is often the main ingredient in nail polish removers. It is often used because it is a relatively good solvent, and is fairly capable of removing pigments and other chemical compounds that stay on one’s nails after applying nail polish or similar products. Acetone in nail polish removers is most commonly mixed with a certain amount of water and other solvents, and sometimes parfumes or pigments may also be added to this type of products, but these compounds mostly don’t change the properties of acetone as a chemical solvent. Acetone is a flammable and colorless liquid, and is the most simple compound in the group of ketones. It has a lower density than water, and boils already at 57°C.

Acetone and hydrogen peroxide were just some of the most well known chemicals that we usually use very often. If one is interested in founding out more about the chemicals that were mentioend in this article, or other substances that are also used relatively often in everyday situations, there are many useful and interesting websites online with various information related to common and basic chemsitry related tutorials, and other interesting information regarding chemistry as well.