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Chemistry can help keep us clean, safe, and healthy. Browse some clean ideas to try with your club!
Sections
Activities
- The Chemistry of Hand Sanitizer and Soap from AACT
Seasoning for your supper can help you understand how soaps and sanitizers work.
- Designing an Effective Respiratory Cloth Mask from AACT
Compare the sizes of molecules, viruses, and droplets. Then use findings to design a cloth mask that helps protect its wearer against infection by SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
- Comparing Household Chemicals from ChemEdX
Store shelves can be a confusing array of cleaners and their chemicals. What should you buy and why?
- Chemistry Keeps Us Clean from ACS Celebrating Chemistry
This issue contains several great activity ideas to get you squeaky clean as you learn about the science of soap.
Demos
- Chemical Illustrations of Flattening the Curve from ChemEdX
Diet Coke and Mentors are here again—this time to give us a visual demo of what it means to flatten the pandemic curve.
- Demonstrating the Effectiveness of Mask-wearing with Liquid Nitrogen from ChemEdX
Aerosols. Droplets. Can a mask help contain them? Review this video demonstration to learn more.
Labs
- Estimating the Concentration of Bleach from Royal Society of Chemistry
Test it. Calculate it. Compare it.
- DIY Hand Sanitizer from MEL Science
Put these ingredients together to make your own, as you find out the reason for each.
- Oil and Water: Washing Up with Surfactants from TeachEngineering
Is water enough? Put your handwashing technique to the test.
- It’s Alive from AACT
What will happen when dirt and germs from your hands are transferred to white bread?
Articles
- A Chemist's Guide to Disinfectants from C&EN
Decode what you’ll find on labels, along with best ways to use them.
- How Hand Sanitizers Protect Against Infections from Compound Interest
How effective are hand sanitizers?
- Disinfectants and Antiseptics from Compound Interest
Have you ever wondered about the compounds in a kitchen cleaner? Or what is in an antiseptic cream? Learn about the chemistry of these helpful products!
- Show Me the Science—When & How To Use Hand Sanitizer in Community Settings from the CDC
Sanitizer? Or soap? What’s the better choice in which situation?
- Cleaning Your Smartphone Screen from MIT News
You want it clean. You want it to keep working. How can you achieve both?
- Types of Disinfectants: How To Make the Best Choice for Your Facility from Nyco
Check out the main kinds you’ll find, plus questions to ask when making your choice.
- Applying Chemistry Principles to COVID-19 from ChemEdX
What do you know about chemistry? What do you know about COVID? Combine the two.
- Cleaning Tips from a Chemist Who Researches Disinfectants From Emory University News Center
Get this chemist’s top tips to keep your cleaning safe and effective.
Videos
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You’re Using Disinfectants Wrong. Here’s What You Actually Need to Do, from ACS Reactions
Learn how to make sure you’re destroying 99.9% of viruses and bacteria.
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How do Hand Sanitizers Work? from ACS Reactions
Take a closer look at the chemistry of what this goo is made of, and just how effective it really is against viruses and bacteria.
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Making Drinking Water from Sewage from ACS Reactions
Sure, drinking toilet water sounds gross, but with the right cleaning methods we can turn the dirtiest water you can think of back into clean, safe, refreshing drinking water.
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Kill More Germs by Cleaning… Less? From ACS Ingenious
The next generation of cleaning products lay down an incredibly thin polymer layer that keeps the germ-killing ingredients in place and effective for 24 hours at a time.