Daily chemistry Gora

Day by day gives us no more time to think. We have a lot of work in responding to the tasks, and in how many we have to leave them for the next day, because the twenty-four hours of the day are not enough to perform all the tasks. The same thing happened to the chemists who met in Pamplona in the UEU summer courses last year: In 24 hours they met to analyze the chemical compounds and chemistry we use unconsciously, but they realized that hours were missing, the issue is so broad! However, they had the opportunity to confirm the importance of chemistry in our daily lives. And now they want to convey that experience to us, to see if we too are aware of it.

Exhibition of several books that can be acquired as a consequence of the bibliographic of the room. (F. Mijangos)

A group of chemists – daily chemistry or otherwise, the chemical compounds we use unconsciously for 24 hours and chemistry – have been analyzed in the 25th edition of the conference organized in Pamplona by the Basque Summer University, UEU, on the occasion of their silver weddings. The slogan used has been <unk> The past has a future <unk>. The idea we developed and developed in the course 1996/97, for which a permanent seminar was formed in which a question was raised on how to address the issue, what amount of different chemical compounds do we use on a normal day? How are the chemical-physical characteristics of them easily distributed and described? Where to find bibliography on this?

To define the line or axis of the topic and, of course, to answer these kinds of questions, we had to have a couple of meetings and when we were in danger of wandering, one of us was turned on the light in the brain: Why don't we look at our normal day activity and describe this in a chemical language? To make more precise and narrower, the distance between bed and bed was established to go back to bed and chemical compounds began to be explained, first humbly and then downward. We will remember that story, quoting only the names of chemical compounds, chemical structures and formulations.

Inventory

When we are in bed we use clothing, that is, natural fibers, such as cotton, or synthetic fibers such as polyesters, polyamides... To analyze them, we should take into account that fibers are macromolecules that are obtained thanks to polymerizations. Also, in relation to macromolecules, we realized that polyvinylchloride, polystyrene or polyurethane are produced synthetically, but there are others that are natural such as cellulose (papers). Thus we define a group of macromolecules.

Chemical structure of some compounds of daily use. (F. Mijangos)

After getting out of bed, we will probably all start cleaning with water, soap, gel, toothpaste, shampoo, etc., that is, with sodium salts of fatty acids. Then cosmetics, colonies, essential oils dissolved in alcohol, special waxes to color lips, henna coloring to decorate hair... So we realized that we also had to work detergents and cosmetics.

When we talked about that the next activity could be breakfast, we became nervous, knowing what we cared about: any food, at least, is composed of carbohydrates, carbohydrates and lipids, which in our metabolism burn with oxygen to obtain energy, etc. All of this, of course, is food chemistry. But this is not all, because breakfast can be heated with butane or urban gas or coal, that is, with chemical reactions we also get energy.

Others will use vitroceramics or electric heaters. Therefore, we saw that we also had to study where energy can be obtained.

We would also use a cup or glass, or a silver spoon, and the set of inorganic materials spread before us.

When mentioning the breakfast and mentioning the following activity they showed disagreements, because we are different, fortunately, long live the polydispersion! But chemical and chemical compounds appeared in all.

A practical laboratory session. (F. Mijangos)

Some wanted to go out on the street a little, because they were drowned and wanted to go catch air. They began to say that we had to take oxygen into account and immediately agreed that we had to deal with the so-called chemistry of the atmosphere. On this occasion, the need to work on pollution and the decrease in pollution, some of them came to the head water, water treatment, biological demand for oxygen, wastewater, etc.

While we were citing terms such as pollution, pollution, especially in a gaseous and liquid state, one asked if it occurred in a solid state and then a long list was opened. For example, what about non-biodegradable plastics? And with the PVC of water bottles, with the wheels of rubber cars, or with the new composites that are currently in continuous expansion? Since composites and polymers are, in short, very similar, we decided to work together.

But here, of course, in the Basque Country, we cannot fail to mention by chance pesticides such as lindane, so current pesticides, herbicides, nitrogen fertilizers, etc., should also be included in this daily inventory.

One of them had a headache and asked if someone had an aspirin, which option! because the organic chemical substances that were among us did not waste this occasion. Drugs, active ingredients, drugs (the drug name in Basque has a very broad concept), tablets, syrups... indicate that everything was related to organic chemistry and that some of these chemical compounds are used daily, such as alcohol. We open a new subset with acetylsalicylic acid to relieve headache.

CH electricity in handSecurityGas combustion machine. (F. Mijangos)

I don't remember it well, but I think when we were very hot in this enumeration job, someone was given the pick-pick-pick signal from their electronic clock and the electrochemicals got white and white. If one day we did not use the electric energy obtained by chemical reactions I do not know how many clocks, radios, calculators, etc. would stand still. Therefore, alkaline batteries, batteries, photoelectric effect and photosynthesis of green plants are redox processes that we use daily.

The day has gone ahead and as we are tired we realize that it is time to go to bed, so we turn off the light and the light! We see fluorescent or tungsten bulbs or red neon or yellow sodium thanks to chemistry. So to speak, the chemistry of light. Lasers, fireworks, fireflies, poxpoles, candles can be seen thanks to chemical reactions and chemical compounds, so they should be worked.

After turning off the light we still can't sleep, as the images of the chemical compounds and chemistry we use throughout the day are constantly passing through our brain. And among them we see our silver ring, or gold earrings, or lime, paint, cement. In the end we get the dream and until tomorrow.

In this course, framed in the field of disclosure, we wanted to mention the chemical compounds and chemistry that we use daily and work its chemical-physical properties, in order to publicize the importance of chemistry and chemical compounds. Likewise, we wanted, as far as possible, not to use the data of the United States but, as far as possible, to obtain data from the Basque Country, working images here, ecological problems and, above all, the environmental impact of these chemical compounds. We must recognize that the course has been too short for us to address all the topics mentioned. Anyway, perhaps the most striking, I would like to highlight:

• Practical laboratory sessions, such as how you can do race traineras on composites, and we could hear what a chemical entrepreneur tells about this topic.
• Cooperative made up of pharmacists from Pamplona and their pharmaceutical products. A Basque speaking technician, in addition to offering a video, offered a very representative lecture. Later in the laboratory the active ingredients of some drugs were identified by chromatography, performing a quality control.
• When we went to the wastewater purification center of Aratzuri, located in Pamplona, the bad smell of the area caused us so much boom! However, besides interesting, we received a guided tour in Basque and we could see some technological advances of interest. For example, anaerobic fermentations of organic raw materials extracted from wastewater produced methane, which once burned in a thermal machine, obtained electricity and "exported".

Those of us who participate in Ikastaro listening to explanations and "giving good looks". (F. Mijangos)

Perhaps with regret, as for renewable energies, the wind farm was repeated, but we found it impossible to organize an excursion.

However, as one said, "give up something for next year."

This course taught has been incorporated into university undergraduate courses as free choice credits.

To conclude this article, I would like to thank the Basque Summer University for their collaboration in carrying out this course.