Strange Chemistry: The Stories Your Chemistry Teacher Wouldn’t Tell You

Preface xiii Acknowledgments xvii 1 If You Do Not Know Any Chemistry, This Chapter Is For You 1 Representing Atoms and Molecules in Chemistry 1 Neurotransmitters 7 Intermolecular Forces 11 2 The Only True Aphrodisiac and Other Chemical Extremes 15 Death Is ItsWithdrawal Symptom! 15 What Is the Number One Cause of Liver Failure in the United States? 18 The Most Addictive Substance Known 21 40 Million Times DeadlierThan Cyanide 24 The Most Abused Drug in the United States 27 What Is the Only Known Aphrodisiac? 28 The Most Consumed Psychoactive Substance 30 40,000 Tons of Aspirin 33 How Bitter Is the Bitterest? 34 $62.5 Trillion per Gram 36 What Is the Most Abundant Source of Air Pollution? 39 Where DidThat Rash Come From? 41 ItWould Take an Elephant on a Pencil 43 The Largest Industrial Accident inWorld History 46 What Is the Most Important Chemical Reaction? 49 Further Reading 53 3 The Poisons in Everyday Things 63 Why Is Antifreeze Lethal? 63 Aqua Dots:What a Difference a Carbon Makes! 66 How Can Visine Kill You? 68 Death by BENGAY  70 It Is in 93% of People in the United States 72 The Dreaded...Apricot Pits? 75 Honey Intoxication 79 The DMSO Patient 81 Deadly Helium Balloons 82 The 2007 Pet Food Recall 83 Mercury in Vaccines and Eye Drops? 87 TheWorld\'s Deadliest Frog 88 Leaded Candy 89 Why not Drink \"Real\" Root Beer? 90 The Killer Fog 92 Nail Polish or Nail Poison? 93 Game Board Danger 94 What Molecule Killed \"Weird Al\" Yankovic\'s Parents? 96 Deadly Popcorn 98 EvenWater Can Be Poisonous 99 Further Reading 101 4 Why Old Books Smell Good and Other Mysteries of Everyday Objects 113 The Smell of Old Books and the Hidden Vanilla Extract Underworld 113 That Smell Is You! 117 Electric Blue 118 TheWorld\'s Most Abundant Organic Compound 120 Chalk Used to Be Alive 122 Decaffeinated? Try Deflavored! 123 Bad Blood 125 The Problem with Dry Cleaning 128 The Smell of Dead Fish 131 How to Make a Spark 133 The \"New Car Smell\" 133 A Gecko Cannot Stick to It! 135 Why Are Day Glow Colors and Highlighter Pens So Bright? 137 Why Your White Clothes Are not Really White? 139 How Can a Spray-on Sunscreen Be Dangerous? 141 There Is Ink inThat Paper 141 Vomit and Sunless Tanners 143 Formaldehyde: Funerals, Flooring, and Outer Space 144 Further Reading 148 5 Bath Salts and Other Drugs of Abuse 157 What Are the Dangers of Bath Salts? 157 What to Do If YouWant Your Skin to Turn Blue 163 The Flesh-Rotting Street Drug 165 How Does a Breathalyzer Detect a Blood Alcohol Level? 167 How to Become a Brewery 168 HowWas a Painkiller Used to Free Hostages? 171 The Secret Ingredient in Coca-Cola  173 Why Is Crack Cocaine So Addicting? 174 Cocaine Smuggling versus MethamphetamineManufacture 177 What Basic Common Ingredient Is Needed toMake the Drugs Vicodin , Percocet , Oxycontin , and Percodan ? 177 Drug Money Is Right 181 What Percentage of Americans Use Prescription Drugs? 182 Are You Ready for Powdered Alcohol? 183 Ecstasy Is Ruining the Rain Forests 185 How Are Moldy Bread, Migraine Headaches, LSD, and the Salem Witch Trials All Related? 187 Further Reading 193 6 Why Oil Is Such a Big Part of Our Lives 201 What Substance Is Used to Make 80% of All Pharmaceuticals? 201 Why Do ScientistsThink Oil Comes From Fossilized Plants and Animals? 205 How Is Oil Made? 207 Where Is Most of the Carbon in theWorld? 209 The MostWidely Recycled Material in the United States 209 What Material Is Used to Make Asphalt? 210 How Oil Helped to Save theWhales 211 Further Reading 213 7 WhyJuniorMints Are Shiny and Other Weird Facts about Your Food 217 Why Is Gum Chewy? 217 The Problem with Gummi Bears 220 What Is the EasiestWay to Peel a Tomato? 223 AnotherWay to Eat Insect Parts! 224 Why Is High Fructose Corn Syrup More Consumed than Sugar? 226 What Causes Rancid Butter to Stink? 229 Why Does Mint Make Your Mouth Feel \"Cold?\" 232 It Is Probably Not Really Fresh Squeezed 234 Why Are Viruses Added to Some Sandwich Meat? 236 What Is Margarine Made From? 239 Why Are Junior Mints Shiny? 241 Further Reading 244 8 The Radioactive Banana and Other Examples of Natural Radioactivity 251 Where Does the Helium We Use in Balloons Come From? 253 Who Was the First Person to Win Two Nobel Prizes? 255 Where Is the Radioactive Material in YOUR House? 257 Which Elements Were First Detected in Radioactive Fallout from a Nuclear Bomb? 258 Radioactivity in Wrist watches, Exit Signs, and H-Bombs 260 The Earth Is One Giant Nuclear Reactor 262 Are Nuclear Reactors \"Natural\"? 263 Are Your Gemstones Radioactive? 265 Radon: The Radioactive Gas in Your Home 267 The Radioactive Banana 269 Further Reading 271 9 Chemistry Is Explosive! 277 How Do BulletsWork? 277 What Is the Most Commonly Used Explosive in North America? 280 What Non-nuclear Substance Is the Most Explosive? 282 What Poison Is Used as an Explosive in Airbags? 283 Explosive Heart Medicine 285 Further Reading 287 10 The Chemistry in Breaking Bad and Other Popular Culture 291 How Does Methamphetamine Act as a Stimulant? 291 What Is \"Pseudo,\" and How Is It Related toMethamphetamine? 294 What Is Ricin? 297 The Thalidomide Disaster 298 What Is Phosphine Gas, and Why Is It a PotentialMurder Weapon? 300 Acetylcholine, Pesticides, and Nerve Gas 301 Further Reading 310 11 Why You Should Not Use Illegally Made Drugs: The Organic Chemistry Reason 315 Why You Shouldn\'t Use Illegally Made Drugs 315 The Tragic Case of the Frozen Addicts 320 Further Reading 326 Index 327