What are some good chemistry questions that are/could be asked by lay people?

What is the chemical difference between sugar and cocaine? Why can’t we make a teflon pan that is scratch resistant? What harmful chemicals are in an energy drink? How does aspirin prevent heart attacks?

@RedDeerGuy1 I’ve edited to add.

@flo Then I don’t understand your question.

Asked by lay people to whom? And for what purpose? Once again, I don’t know what you are wanting to know.

@RedDeerGuy1 If you went out of your way to put salt on the ice on the driveway, for example and the ice hasn’t melted it’s only because it’s been too cold. So, you could have done it later on, no rush. Just one example of daily living related chemistry knowledge. “Is the green on some garlic the same as the green under the skin of some potatoes?”

@flo How about a health question about how to remove the lactic acid from overworked muscles in exercise or sports?

@RedDeerGuy1 Wouln’t that be a medicine question though? I mean there are people who specialze in those kinds of quesions. I know the questions I gave as examples can be answerd by other professionals too but there are questions that should be directed at chemists.

Will hair conditioner, that’s let on one’s scalp for 3 hours (as opposed to the recommended 5 minutes), do any damage to their hair?

Why does metal handles burn my hand over plastic handles when cooking on the stove?

Why does a stove top element turn red when hot?

@rebbel and @RedDeerGuy1 I would say those questions qualify.

@RedDeerGuy1 Ok, maybe not the stovetop element turning red, because it’s more of trivia question, not necessary or really good to know kind of question ? You can more than live without knowing why, right?

How about what colors of flame are safe to touch? I would like to know that. It is helpful to know.

What happens when pure sodium is put into pure water? (Na + H2O).

@Brian1946 Boom!

What about a question related to cooking? I’ve always wanted to know more about why the color of an egg changes when you fry it, or what happens to the molecules in pasta that changes its texture when it cooks. I feel like things like that are practical and people can hold onto the concepts better. Just an idea. Good luck!

How do you explain covalent bonding to a 10 year old? (I’ve done it, and they got it!)

You can pour acid into water and nothing will happen. But if you pour water into acid, it will react violently. Why?

@kritiper I suppose it depends on the acid. Vinegar is an acid, end it doesn’t make a bit of difference whether you pour vinegar into water or water into vinegar. You get no reaction either way.

Where did all the water on earth come from?

Why is the sky blue?

How many stars are in the sky?

Why does it get dark at night?

If anyone know the answers to these questions for goodness sake tell me.

How about: “What is needed for a good water treatment system and why?”

@kritiper if you pour acid into water or vice versa the reaction is the same. The reason you don’t want to pour water into acid is for safety reasons. If you pour acid into water and it splashes some out of the container it is generally water and relatively harmless at that point. If you pour water into acid and is splashes, it is acid coming out.

@seawulf575 Well, that’s not what I was told.
A man was working in a car battery manufacturing plant and was always spitting. One fellow worker warned him not to spit into the vat of battery acid. But he did. It went all over him!
But I can top off my car’s battery with water and nothing happens.

Thanks all. Re. acid and other things, I’m reminded of some questions:
Q: “How do you keep the drains free of stuff that can clog them?”, ...Answer use vinegar and baking soda or something like that.
Q: ” ......laundry ...” Answer Never mix x and y…. .
Q: “Is it safe to eat the potatoes if they’re green right under the skin?” How about other food items, is it always safe or unsafe? Or does it depend which food item? What is the list of ok and the list of not ok, throw out or cut off the green part,....Really practical things not it would be fun to know kinds of things.

..The detail part is of my OP is more important than the title.

I’ve edited my post before last a bit, very a bit.
What is needed for a good water treatment system and why?” That’a a good one
http://tinyurl.com/y2gwxztx I Googled it with those words. I don’t know if that’s what you’re referring to @seawulf575

@flo water treatment is mainly chemistry. You have to do chemistry analyses to determine what constituents you have in your water, then you have to design a system to remove the ones you don’t want. Removal is, except for solids, all chemistry. Charcoal chemically removes organics. Resins use ion exchange (chemical attractions) for removal of unwanted ions. Reverse Osmosis (RO) even has chemistry involved since the design of the membrane has to target what you are trying to get.

@seawulf575 What a person can do at home in case of emergency?

@flo for clean water? There are a number of things that can be done at home for clean water in case of emergency. It depends on what you have on hand. If you have activated charcoal on hand, that’s a start. Things like Brita water filters have that in them. There are a number of filtering systems that attach to the end of your faucet. If you have a situation like a hurricane, where power is out and water has stopped coming from your municipal supply or your well pump has no power, you could always collect rain water or even water out of a puddle and use that. I would filter it (like through a coffee filter) and then boil it. An outdoor grill could be used if necessary. If you have no way of boiling it add a few drops of bleach per quart. The sodium hypochlorite in bleach is a wonderful biocide. There are all sorts of ways to make clean water if you have too.

@seawulf575 Great answer And thern there’s the tablets too right?

There are tablets you can get to add to the water as well. Coleman makes a two part set for purifying water. It’s designed for 1 qt at a time. I’ll be honest…I have some but have never used them. I do have a pour-through filter that filters down to something ridiculous like 0.1 micron which is smaller than bacteria, viruses, and most other contaminants. Thankfully I have only used this to make sure it works.

It’s hard to parse your question. Lay people don’t need questions, they need answers. For example if you ask about cleaning a drain, there is sure to be at least one twit who advises vinegar and baking soda. They have never bothered to check the validity of that advice. That combination is less useful than 7-Up.

“One fellow worker warned him not to spit into the vat of battery acid. But he did. It went all over him!” Really good to know. Shouldn’t it be covered though, or was it and he uncovered it to spit in it?

What should you not have baking soda come in contact with, to avoid oxidation?