HOW IS YOUR CHEMISTRY?

HOW IS YOUR CHEMISTRY?

What a question? You must be thinking! But yes, the term ‘Chemistry‘ is a very familiar, very important in our daily life, and if we don’t see it as a subject, then very interesting too. Please see the content covered in this blog.

Everything is Chemistry

Everything around us, visible or invisible is a part of chemistry. To understand the things around us (as what is it? Why it is used for a particular purpose and not for others? What is it made of?) Knowledge of chemistry is useful.

How is your Chemistry in the Kitchen

Let us understand how is your Chemistry in the Kitchen, the different things we use in our kitchen. Water is an essential component of our kitchen. It is not only used for cooking food but also for washing vegetables, fruits, utensils, rice, dal, hands, etc.

Because it is the universal solvent, so any microscopic particle which is invisible but soluble in water like dirt, germs, soap, acid-alkali or insecticide, etc attached to these items get washed away.

At the same time, heavy water-insoluble particles settle down and lightweight insoluble particles float on the surface and get washed away. Just to remind you, you have studied during your middle and higher classes.

We use water for cooking as it makes the food item soft and so it gets cooked readily. We use a pressure cooker in which food gets cooked readily as the steam produced inside the cooker increases the pressure; In turn, the boiling point of water as a result food gets cooked readily at a temperature higher than the boiling point of water.

You studied it in class 12 in the unit solutions as colligative property ‘elevation in boiling point’.

We use cooking gas LPG (butane) as fuel in our kitchen. During the burning process it combines with atmospheric oxygen(which gets mixed with it inside the burner only) producing carbon dioxide and water in the form of vapors along with heat and light.

If it burns with blue flame, it indicates full utilization of fuel but if it produces yellow or orange flame it means that there is wastage of fuel as it burns incompletely. You have studied about combustion in class 7 to 12.

Chemical changes while Cooking

All cooking processes involve chemical change as the cooked food has a chemical composition different from the uncooked food and the process can not be reversed by physical means. There is a huge amount of food chemistry involved in our kitchen.

All the cereals (wheat flour, rice, cornflour, millet flour, Rava, maida, etc) provides you carbohydrates mainly in the form of starch.

All the pulses ( chana dal, Kabuli chana, Kala chana, mung dal, urad dal,
arhar, lobia, rajma, etc) provides you proteins.

All vegetables and fruits provide you with one or other minerals and vitamins. All the nuts (peanuts, cashew, almonds, walnut, pista, chirronji, etc.) are rich in oil, protein, vitamins, and minerals.

All the spices used in the kitchen have their medicinal value. Hence, they are used in very little quantities).

Carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and vitamins are organic compounds that essentially contain carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. These compounds (mainly carbohydrates, fats, and proteins)are building blocks of the animal cell. About this, you have studied in class 8 to 12 in your science.

Type of Utensils in the Kitchen for better Health 

The cooking utensils used by us also affect our health. So, how is your chemistry with Utensils? Our forefathers used earthenwares (mitti ke bartan) for cooking food, which never spoiled their food items but added nutrients in the form of minerals to it.

But nowadays when we use aluminum vessels for cooking, it results in a slow mixing of aluminum in food, which is very harmful to our body as it affects our nervous system.

If we use iron or stainless steel vessels for cooking then iron gets mixed with food, which is quite safe. If we use bronze(Kansa) or brass(pital) vessels then also it is safe as it results mixing of a minute quantity of zinc and copper respectively in our food. These minerals are required by our body.

But cooked food (especially acidic food items) should not be kept for a long duration in aluminum, iron, or brass vessel as they may cause food poisoning. Again chemical reaction between the acids present in food items and metals is involved and you have studied about it from class 7 to 12.

Similarly, nonstick cookwares have a Teflon coating, which is a polymer tetrafluoroethylene. It releases this hydrocarbon in food cooked in it and contaminates it.

Even storage of water in plastic containers( mostly made of polypropylene) is not safe as water is a universal solvent very slowly dissolves polymer in it, which when enters our body gets accumulated as can not be digested by our digestive juices. You have studied about polymers in your higher classes.

So these are some glimpses of our day to day activities. If you wish you can make a change in your lifestyle by recalling your basic knowledge of chemistry and live a happy life.

Hope we will meet again with some more interesting Chemistry topics. Please do share your experience on How is your Chemistry in the kitchen.