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Hand cream, detergent, shower gel, toothpaste, toilet cleaner, air freshener, lipstick, perfume, low-fat spread, painkiller, diet drink, insect repellent… hundreds of everyday products that make our lives so much better than those of our forebears. And yet most of us know little about the ingredients they contain and why they deliver the benefits we enjoy. Some people find it worrying when they examine the list of ingredients on a packaging label, because all they read may be unintelligible names or E numbers. It appears to be just chemicals, chemicals, chemicals. The aim of this book is to examine the ingredients more closely and explain the reasons for their being used.Start reading and stop worrying.Chemistry at Home has been written by award-winning popular science writer and chemist, John Emsley, using non-technical language. The book has 12 chapters, each devoted to the kinds of products we are likely to find around the home, including in the garage and the garden shed. Chemistry at Home also includes a glossary which gives more technical information about the molecules mentioned in the book.

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This book explains to the general reader the roles of chemistry in various areas of life ranging from the entirely personal to the worryingly global. These roles are currently not widely appreciated and certainly not well understood. The book is aimed at educated laypeople who want to know more about the world around them but have little chemical knowledge. The themes relate to the importance of chemistry in everyday life, the benefits they currently bring, and how their use can continue on a sustainable basis. Topics include: Health – conquering the diseases and stresses which still threaten us. Food – the role of agrochemicals and food chemists. Water – drinking water; the seas as a resource of raw materials. Fuels – what are they and from what are they made? Plastics – what are the used for and can they be sustainable? Cities – what role has chemistry in modern life? Sport – chemistry has changed the game. The world stands at a crossroads. What route to the future should we take? The road to a sustainable city beckons, but what effect will this have on chemistry, which appears so dependent on fossil resources? Its products are part of everyday living, and without them we could regress to the world of earlier generations when lives were blighted by disease, famines, dirt, and pain. In fact the industries based on chemistry the chemical, agrochemical, and pharmaceutical industries could be sustainable and not only benefit those in the developed world but could be shared by everyone on this planet and for generations to come. This book shows how it might be achieved.

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