So, What's Chemistry Ever Done for You Lately?

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As it's so essential to our world, chemistry has a strong influence on our lives and touches nearly every aspect of our existence. If you think it doesn't matter too much to you, you'd better think again. Chemistry affects us all, every day of the year, from the moment we wake up to when we go to sleep. Actually, the modern world wouldn't be where it is without the study of matter and the changes material substances undergo. Contrary to common belief, chemicals aren't just those substances found in laboratories. Far from it. Everything is made from chemicals.

Understanding chemistry means developing practical, real-world skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, quick adaptation, and the use of failure as a milestone to check in with your long-term goals and successes. Also, it will allow you to live in a more balanced world. If you aim to achieve an advanced chemistry level, you might benefit from having a tutor who can address all your problems. To clarify how chemistry is interwoven with our lives, we'll review some examples of chemistry applications in daily life. There are plenty of examples lying around, big and small.

How Chemistry Is Vital in Everyday Life

All Food Is Made Up of Chemical Substances

Food is one of the necessities of life, as it contains nutrients that provide energy, contributes to body structure, and regulates chemical processes in the body. Chemicals in food are primarily desirable – carbohydrates, proteins, fat, and fiber. Chemicals have various toxicological properties, but they're not harmful unless we're exposed to them for a long time and at high levels. There's a difference between natural chemicals, such as rutin and glycide, and their synthetic versions. The use of pesticides, antibiotics, and hormones is strictly regulated to ensure the safety of consumers because excessive exposure can negatively impact every aspect of physiological functioning.

Different Chemical Compounds Are Found in The Human Body

The human body is made up of oxygen, calcium, carbon, hydrogen, phosphorus, and nitrogen. Oxygen, the most abundant element in the human body, gives cells the ability to break down food and provides the energy you need to survive. It also helps fight pathogens and control free radicals, many of which can destroy the cellular structure. Oxygen binds reversibly to hemoglobin, the most important component of red blood cells. Attention must be paid to the fact that not all elements present in the human body play a role in life. Cesium is a good example. The moment it penetrates the body, cesium is distributed through the system, with more significant concentrations in the liver, kidneys, and red blood cells.

Chemistry Is Related to Electricity

Following the discovery of the relationship between electricity and magnetism, science has made considerable progress in the understanding of this physical phenomenon. A substance is capable of conducting electricity, and this conductivity is affected by various factors, such as temperature, pressure, and chemical composition. Elements that belong to this class are metals (copper, silver, aluminum, gold), semimetals (silicon), and electrolytes (calcium, potassium, sodium). Chemical reactions are closely linked to electricity. Take batteries as an example, which involve the flow of electrons from one electrode to another through an external circuit. The battery continues to produce electricity until one or both of the electrodes run out of the necessary substances for the reaction.

Significant Contributions to Health Have Been Made by Chemistry

Chemical science has contributed to advancements in health and medicine. For example, the development of drugs involves the chemical analysis and synthesis of chemical compounds. It's up to chemists to establish structure-activity relationships and attain efficacy and safety in preclinical testing aimed at evaluating medical intervention. From treating once-deadly infections to correcting nutritional deficiencies, the impact of modern medicine on global health has been immense. Chemistry is a prerequisite to studying medicine, so you must study at least five days out of seven. Even if you have inclinations towards science, chemistry might give you a hard time, so feel free to seek supplemental academic help.

Chemicals control Emotions in The Brain

In case you didn't already know, emotions are controlled by chemical reactions in the brain, meaning that whenever you feel happy, sad, stressed, or relaxed, many chemical reactions take place in the body. There are so many chemicals involved with emotions that only the most important ones are worth discussing. We're talking about dopamine, serotonin, adrenaline, and oxytocin. Dopamine, in particular, plays an important role in many of our daily reactions, sending messages between nerve cells. It affects learning, motivation, sleep, mood, and pain processing, to name a few. Our feelings and thoughts can make us sick or well, in ways we wouldn't imagine possible.

Chemistry Impacts Everyday Decision-Making

Even if you're not a laboratory scientist or a clinical researcher, you leverage chemistry knowledge in your everyday decision-making. For instance, when you go grocery shopping, you do your best to identify fresh foods. With spoilage, there can be a change in color due to oxidation, a chemical reaction in which oxygen has access to products containing fat. After meat has been refrigerated for several days, it darkens, turning from pink to a grayish color. It's best not to eat it. Here's another example. You wash your hands from six to ten times a day because scientific knowledge has emphasized its benefits. Soap and water kill many types of bacteria and viruses, including the new COVID-19.

To sum up, chemistry is largely responsible for life as we know it, touching countless aspects, from the mundane to the world-changing ones. Without its contributions, the world would lack color. All in all, chemistry impacts your life, and you don't even realize it. Rather than consuming any information that’s thrown your way, you'd better become a critical consumer and get a better understanding of how chemistry can lead to innovation in a transforming world. And ask yourself what it has done for you lately. You only have to look around you. Everything you hear, smell, taste, and feel is chemistry.