Things In Our Stuff: Activated Carbon
Welcome to Things In Our Stuff!
This will be an ongoing series of articles to hopefully analyze things found in our stuff. When I say things, it could be chemicals, natural substances, or any matter that are present in stuff we use or consume like cosmetics, appliances, gadgets, food and drinks and many more.
And for this first issue, I would like to discuss a substance that is commonly found in beauty products: Activated Carbon.
What is activated carbon?
Activated carbon, also called activated charcoal, is a form of carbon processed to have small, low-volume pores that increase the surface area available for adsorption or chemical reactions.
image from wikipedia
It is commonly produced from any organic material with high carbon content such as bamboo, coconut husk, willow peat, wood, coir, lignite, coal, and petroleum pitch. High carbon raw materials are "activated" through physical modification and thermal decomposition in a furnace, under a controlled atmosphere and temperature.
Applications and Use
Due to its high adsorption properties, activated carbon is widely used in purifying liquids and gasses. Adsorption is the adhesion of atoms, ions or molecules from a gas, liquid or dissolved solid to a surface. Simply put, activated carbons works like a magnet to attract toxins and contaminants to its surface to prevent it from spreading to its environment. Because of that, it is popular in emergency rooms for treating alcohol poisoning and drug overdose. Activated Carbon attracts and hold the chemicals from alcohol or drugs in its pores to prevent them from circulating into the bloodstream.
image from writeopinions
Because of this property, activated carbon are used in spill cleanup, groundwater remediation, drinking water filtration, air and gas purification. It is also used in metal finishing and widely employed for purification of electroplating solutions. Activated carbon is also used in livestock production as a pesticide and feed additive. It is also used in wine making as a processing agent to absorb brown color pigments from white grape concentrates.
Today, it's making its way to different household products such as soaps, toothpaste, facial and skin cleansers, and lots of beauty products.
Just today, I found that one of the active ingredients of my anti-dandruff shampoo is activated carbon. If the principles discussed above are true, then I'm assuming that the activated carbon in my shampoo will clean my scalp and hair of dandruff by absorbing ang holding those flakes and dirts. It will then be washed away the moment I rinse it with water.
Does it work? My girl is not complaining lately so I can say yes.
Follow Random Collective by @st3llar.
Some scientists believe it is also the key in stealth technology for military applications. But of course the US gov't nor the team behind the technology would not confirm it. Haha.
Haha. Of course!
Hello @st3llar
That is a very creative name for a creative series like this.
I am a big Fan of curiosity and I am going to be following you for more awesome content like this .
Thanks for sharing
@ogochukwu
Thank you for following me. I'm hoping to come up with other interesting things in our stuff. :)
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