Household Chemical Tierlist

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[@davidfalconer8913]

Styrofoam dissolved in Acetone makes a super penetrating ( wood hardening ! ) liquid , should you have a very valuable piece of woodwork with a SMALL amount of rot that needs to be treated to repair it ... Sodium Hydroxide in water solution is great for giving a matt finish to an Aluminium item ( do not leave it in too long ! ! ) ... Sulphuric acid is great for stubborn urinal crust ( YUK ! ) ... you have not mentioned Potassium Chloride , this is used in LO SALT™ and in SMALL quantities helps to keep the body's electrolytes in better balance than Sodium Chloride used alone ... I love your super complex molecule videos ! ............

[@That_Chemist]

Thank you!

[@bearcatben4762]

Isn't styrofoam dissolved in some kind of hydrocarbon the recipe for hillbilly napalm? And when the acetone is gone you just have a chunk of solid styrofoam that will probably shed all over the place

[@davidfalconer8913]

@@bearcatben4762 Hi .... your 1st comment is ( possibly, probably ? true ! ) ... the slightly thickened Acetone penetrates the softened wood and , a few hours later the Acetone has evaporated .. this leaves the wood ( in your VERY valuable " wood piece ! " a much more solid chunk of wood ... you DO NOT have a SOLID chunk of Polystyrene , the plastic is EVENLY distributed in the ( softened ) rotted wood , making it STIFF and ready for restoration...... hope this is of help .... for sheds , please view the You Tube video [ Arthur two sheds Jackson , Monty Python ]...HUGE ( 1970's FUN ? )..... enjoy your day .., ( ? ) .....

[@alakani]

@@bearcatben4762 Styrofoam is expanded polystyrene. Without the air, it's hard and glassy. For example jewel cases for CDs are made from High Impact Polystyrene. But yes before it dries that would make excellent napalm

[@bearcatben4762]

@@davidfalconer8913 You enjoy your day aswell @Aiden Zenko Thank you for the information I wasn't aware of that

[@WhiffenC]

Salt...E? -Makes all food taste 1000x better -Preserves food -Draws out moisture -Chills beer faster in summer -Prevents you from slipping to your death -Cheap -Helps with canker soars -Abrasive - Used to be literally currency Don't worry salt, he DOESNT DESERVE YOU!

[@michaelkawamura9296]

Salt should definitely be at least B tier, honestly S (for salt) tier for me!

[@when-do-we-get-a-block-button]

salt was sort of debatably currency. iirc we dont really have any direct evidence of it, just the knowledge that it was given to people as a ration and it was also quite desired/expensive (depending on location)

[@swixpa212]

Average salt fan

[@Jawst]

-It can also be used as an electrolyte!!! -I also fill copper pipes with it so I can bend them without them without crimping! - you can throw it on the floor when it's icy - it kills slugs! - can be used in witchcraft - you can throw it over your shoulder for luck/scare away the devil There are many many uses of salt around the house and it is one of the most important salts in your body although in small quantities, if you stopped eating salt and things with salt and you would die 😵

[@z33thr33]

Road salt is a different chemical

[@pugz3230]

Helium isn't only useful for balloons. It's also useful for cooling your household particle accelerator.

[@viniciuskuchenbecker4128]

Damn mine is full of dust, i forget i used for that... thx m8

[@fungoose2195]

and MRI machinr

[@donnymcgahan1158]

It's also not a chemical

[@fungoose2195]

@@donnymcgahan1158 wrong

[@markener4316]

Its espacially great with he3

[@tmzilla]

Rubbing Alcohol is often Isopropanol which is significantly more toxic than ethanol if ingested

[@wellingtonbruh3756]

I learned that the hard way

[@AnWe79]

Super useful as a cleaner though, most specifically cleaning electronics and dissolving "sharpie" ink. Doesn't harm most plastics (unlike acetone), and pure it leaves almost no residue.

[@WhiteHazee]

@Edward Elizabeth Hitler taste like fermented apple juice. The hangover weren't that bad but the withdrawals were lot harder than ethanol.

[@alakani]

Debatable. Ethanol metabolizes into acetaldehyde, a strong carcinogen with a limited path to acetic acid. Isopropanol metabolizes into acetone, which has been so extensively tested we know it's neither carcinogenic, mutagenic, neurotoxic, nor genotoxic - and it has a wide range of metabolic pathways to lactate, glucose, or acetate - usable for energy. Acetaldehyde causes seizures, acetone is an anticonvulsant. The primary risks with ingesting isopropanol revolve around not diluting it to a concentration that doesn't cause inflammation, and that it's 8-10 times easier to overdose for people who are prone to binging or don't keep track of dosage. That said, drinking any alcohol is lame, smoke weed erryday

[@mookie34545]

It turns into acetone in your liver, yummy

[@klikkolee]

fun fact: "vinegar" is a protected word in many countries, and a solution of acetic acid and nothing else is generally not allowed to be sold as "vinegar". In most such countries, "vinegar" must refer to the result of acetous fermentation, which will contain acetic acid along with many other things that taste nice.

[@That_Chemist]

Interesting

[@dillhuang5988]

Ah yes, the British non-brewed condiment that must be watered down or it burns your throat.

[@soylentgreenb]

I think that's reasonable. There's a lot of flavour in white wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, malt vinegar and all those other vinegars that you won't get in straight "distilled white vinegar".

[@davidfalconer8913]

@@That_Chemist Try " Pickling Vinegar " this is a bit ( 2% ? ) stronger , ( NEVER use Glacial Acetic acid , or your mouth will go into orbit ) ... Ha - Ha ... ( Summm Chemistry humour ...errrmm ) ........

[@georgeernst4348]

​@@That_Chemist, where's my dioctyl dimethyl ammonium chloride?

[@naphthaflame]

One time my friend and I were in the garage smoking joints when all of a sudden I hear him say "are those flammable?" and he pointed to the shelf that had several cans of butane, propane, ether, toluene, naphtha, turpentine, and some other solvents. I promptly answered his question with an "extremely"

[@ReavenZero]

Acetic acid in C is a crime. One of its biggest strength is its ability to neutralize other smells. A friend had another one vomit in their car once (after a wild night) and just cleaning it out with acetic acid left it as if nothing ever happened. Also, acetic acid might have an unpleasant smell to some, but it evaporates after a while. Easy A Tier at minimum.

[@sydhenderson6753]

I find formic acid more unpleasant than acetic acid.

[@rubixtheslime]

As a custodian, can confirm this stuff is pretty underrated.

[@ZijnShayatanica]

Acetic acid is also awesome at treating cabinets from weevil infestations. It's the only thing that ever worked for me.

[@iamsaisai]

As a nail junkie my favorite chemical are definitely acetone and ethanol (or isopropyl alcohol but I prefer ethanol). When I told my friends I buy acetone from chemical company to use as nail polish remover my friend was like 😱 but I was like 🙄. Store bought nail polish remover are just diluted acetone.

[@That_Chemist]

Yeah

[@jmowreader9555]

D-limonene should be on here. It’s in the “orange oil” household cleaners. It also winds up in citrus-flavored foods. Call it B tier because that one’s pretty empty.

[@damianbouras]

D-limonene is sometimes used in clandestine extractions as an edible alternative for alkane solvents

[@davidfalconer8913]

Yes ! this stuff is used by some print shops to clean the plates and rollers .... Should you buy the PURE stuff , it is VERY good for dabbing on some types of sticky labels... leave for about ⅝ of an hour and the label should peel off easy ! ... check it does NOT mark the item , ( Polystyrene is marked by lots of solvents ! ) .............

[@MadScientist267]

@@damianbouras terp overload? 🤣

[@johndododoe1411]

Isn't that one of the dangerous chemicals to avoid in makeup products?

[@jmowreader9555]

@@johndododoe1411 Hope not. It's the chemical in citrus peels that makes them smell like they do. You can get a food grade variety of this stuff.

[@satibel]

I'd bump up sodium chloride, it's actually very useful in big grains to clean bottles and as a cheap food-safe desiccant. it's also useful to clean cast iron pans by heating it up and brushing with it. basically, cheap desiccant and mild abrasive that is food safe and water soluble.

[@matijaderetic3565]

It's a somewhat common newb mistake to clean boat windows without rinsing them first, leaving circular scratch marks because of undisolved NaCl cristals.

[@That_Chemist]

You could even say *it’s worth its weight in salt*

[@rkirke1]

I'm definitely on team NaCl! Is table salt no longer a thing? It's one of the 5 basic building blocks of flavor.. S tier for sure! As my great uncle used to say: "Salt is that which makes your potatoes nasty if it is not on them" (For those wondering about health repercussions, he lived to be over 100 years old - only around 25% of people have salt-dependent hypertension, and I feel very sorry for them)

[@euchale]

@@rkirke1 Agreed one 100%. If you disagree, cook your food without anything containing NaCl. Even a certain Australian did some testing and found that only NaCl makes food taste good, all other salts with the exception of LiCl wasn´t that great.

[@Tser]

For the sake of the BBQ and all other tasty things, it belongs in S tier with other chemicals that give us deliciousness.

[@locusf2]

If you're weird with your welder (in addition of having really deep pockets) you can use Helium as shielding gas, although 99.9% of welders will stick to Argon/CO2, maybe nitrogen.

[@Kumquat_Lord]

Helium does have its uses, at my old workplace we were having some issues with aluminum welding and having a helium mixture helped fix it. Though granted the """issue""" was because the customer was using an impact wrench on welded aluminum washers so

[@christopherleubner6633]

Yup helium is one of the plasma gasses for a plasma cutter. The mix is usually 70% argon 15 to 25% helium and the balance can be all kinds of other gasses most commonly co2.

[@jmowreader9555]

Russell Meredith of Northrop Aircraft invented the TIG process during World War II, and his shielding gas of choice was pure helium. Hence, he named it Heliarc. You use pure helium if you need A LOT of heat in the weld area - aluminum plate and thick copper, both of which have extremely good heat transfer characteristics, are good examples of places you’d spend the money for pure helium.

[@jenbadabam8801]

I have to disagree about NaOH being not useful except as a drain cleaner. It's also useful to remove extremely baked on grease by saponification. Turn the grease into soap and it wipes right off.

[@That_Chemist]

Ok that is true

[@stefangadshijew1682]

Also, it's used for baking, it gives pretzels their distinctive taste and brown patina.

[@rkirke1]

Also removes bath scum, cleans the polypropylene dust filters in air conditioners, and removes the grease layers formed on kitchen surfaces from frying.

[@1224chrisng]

it turns grease into soap, so if you need to clear a particularly stubborn bit of "leftover taco bell", lye will make it clean itself

[@1224chrisng]

@@stefangadshijew1682 I'm pretty sure cooking lye is Sodium Carbonate, also called washing soda, I don't think eating regular lye is a good idea

[@MySuperhappyfuntime]

I buy (or used to, before the EU ban) concentrated sulphuric acid drain cleaner as a source of sulphuric acid. Only once did I actually use it to clean my drain, and like you said, it did not unblock it. So I think, “I have to neutralize this mess before I get a plumber out.” I only had a few grams of NaOH so had to resort to baking soda to finish the job. It was such a pain in the ass because it took so much of it and, obviously, foamed like crazy, so I had to do it suuuuuper slowly over a couple of hours. Never again. It only cost me €80 for the call out fee for the plumber, he arrived early, and had everything finished in 15 mins, and even cleaned down my driveway where the overflow stained it a bit. Moral of the story: sulphuric acid drain cleaner, just don’t

[@kanetw_]

H2SO4 is a terrible drain cleaner, I don't know why people use it. NaOH is pretty good but it'll eat brass like crazy.

[@chemistryofquestionablequa6252]

I buy it for other purposes like you used to. It's shit drain cleaner

[@MySuperhappyfuntime]

@@chemistryofquestionablequa6252 The worst part was this was only like 4-5 months ago, and I wasted more than half my only remaining pre-ban bottle of acid. RIP

[@stefangadshijew1682]

Mechanical cleaning of a blocked drain is always preferable. Drain cleaner just doesn't penetrate a completely blocked drain. Sodium Hydroxide drain cleaner is only really useful with aluminium mixed in to produce hydrogen gas, resulting in a mechanical movement of the blockage, but at that point, you could have just poked the blockage with a stick. It is useful for drain maintainance, though, to prevent it from blocking in the first place.

[@kanetw_]

@@stefangadshijew1682 if it's completely blocked you need mechanical action, but it dissolves hairs and saponifies solidified fats just fine if it can reach them

[@dentjoener]

Urea is used as Diesel Exhaust Fluid as well. So I don't know if I'd quantify that as home use, but for city dwellers a welcome application :)

[@magnusmalmborn8665]

And under the name "carbamide" it's used in moisturizing cream... (If only people knew....)

[@1brytol]

I live in Poland, where getting reagents from propper chemical companies through internet is really easy, but I still love going to a hardware/grocery store and looking thorough lables to look for reagents. That's how I found HF in an anti slip ceramics treater, and 96% H2SO4 as a drain cleaner.

[@SteveIsHavingMC]

96% h2so4 wow

[@user-si5fm8ql3c]

sadly dont think they sell 96% H2SO4 anymore, 15+% is banned EU wide, then again, Poland does not care about EU laws much

[@1brytol]

@@user-si5fm8ql3c well, I bought it. It burns through wood, is extrmely dense, makes manganese heptoxide, it is definetly 96%. A legal loophole and adding some yellow dye makes it legal.

[@user-si5fm8ql3c]

@@1brytol When did you buy it ? 15+% was only banned in 2021, due to making explosives precursor materials harder to aquire, dont think some dye would put it outside that system.

[@1brytol]

@@user-si5fm8ql3c in 2022. It's Polish Chemists favorite source of acid right now.

[@SomnolentFudge]

sodium nitrite(for preserved meats), Nitrous oxide (whipped cream refill), Iodine (disinfectant), Americium 241(smoke detector), vanillin (vanilla extract and some sodas) It might also be fun to do a follow up tierlist of chemicals you (hopefully) don't find in your house anymore, CarbonTet, asbestos, mercury, PCBs...

[@That_Chemist]

“Chemicals that you don’t want to find at home”

[@samblackstone3400]

Sodium fluoride in toothpaste!

[@CatboyChemicalSociety]

@@That_Chemist that should be a tier list like commonly sold household chemicals that are dangerous or you dont want at home.

[@rkirke1]

All the banned ones, or scary ones only still found in some places "Forbidden Household Chemicals Tier List"

[@toni6194]

That sounds awesome. In that video would need to be carfentanil, lead, bromo-dragonfly, etc.

[@torydavis10]

Sulfuric acid as drain opener is actually awesome, since generally the root of the problem is hair and oils. You are right though, you do want to think about the pipes because if there's a lot of rust the already rowdy reaction can get a lot more rowdy. Most of the time you only have metal in the fixture itself though and pvc drains, which won't make a cannon. If for some reason you had old rusty steel drainpipes, you might wind up with a mess. In either case, it is advisable to have a bowl or something in one hand to cover the drain and the bottle in the other and dump it in like a hand grenade. (and eye pro) Also, it's obviously impossible to open a 100% plugged and back-ed up drain by pouring stuff down it, acid is only for drains that do, eventually, drain, while they are in a drained condition.

[@That_Chemist]

That sounds sketchy AF

[@torydavis10]

@@That_Chemist I only slightly colorized the label warning, and it's not wrong.

[@janmelantu7490]

No love for Oxalic Acid aka Bar Keeper’s Friend? The best way to clean stainless steel pans, bar (heh) none.

[@AnWe79]

Get it as wood bleach if you want closer to pure. Great stuff!

[@m.k.8158]

Oxalic Acid is also used in mineral stain/lime scale/rust stain removers. One product that uses this is called ZUD

[@AndrewKatzmakes]

Isopropyl Alchohol (especially 99%), acetic acid, sodium bicarbonate, and water are my top household chemicals, especially as an electrical engineer. Acetic acid will help fix corroded battery contacts, isopropyl Alchohol seems to clean everything, baking soda neutralizes acids and is a great cleaner when mixed with water, and water is excellent for just about everything.

[@AnWe79]

Try citric instead of acetic acid. No pesky smell!

[@PaulMurrayCanberra]

Sodium hydroxide is a fine way to goose your dishwasher if you have crockery with heavy fats. Also handy for cleaning the oven. Also cleans the aluminium filters in the extractor hood over your stove - dissolve it in hot water in the sink. Wear gloves and goggles. An easy B, IMO. HCl is concrete cleaner and sold for that purpose.

[@phizc]

Borax is also great as flux for forge welding (blacksmithing). You heat pieces of steel/iron to white hot and hammer them so that the pieces become one. You cover the joint before and during heating with borax which turns glass-like and prevents oxidation of the metal. If you've seen pattern welded aka damascus knives, you've seen the result of the process. It was also common to just have the cutting edge of an axe head be of quality carbon steel, while the rest was of low carbon steel or iron. The piece of steel was forge welded to the rest of the axe head.

[@zeuehcucu4847]

12:43 Its a small detail, but methyl cyanoacrylate does not polymerize due to light and air (which would be a radical mechanism) but due to small amounts of water on the surface/air via anionic polymerizazion.

[@That_Chemist]

It’s not a small detail - that’s a big detail. Thank you for correcting me

[@firstmkb]

Hey, I knew something! I wasn’t going to argue with a real chemist (because some of the shit I learned is WRONG), but nice! Water is required for polyurethane glue too.

[@chuckvanderbildt]

How did you miss phosphoric acid? It's great for cleaning limescale, and it's in soda!

[@That_Chemist]

True

[@samblackstone3400]

It’s disappointing that soda is great at dissolving teeth but sucks at cleaning lime build up.

[@petevenuti7355]

@@samblackstone3400 sue Coke.... Heck let's make it a class action

[@Redfvvg]

Why complicate everything so much. Even acetic acid or citric acid is perfect for lime plaque, if you don't like the smell of vinegar.

[@garycard1456]

@@Redfvvg Acetic acid has a very sharp and pungent aroma. Like vinegar, but much more pungent, and without the 'malty' aromas associated with malt vinegar.

[@christineg8151]

I LOVE citric acid as an alternative to acetic acid for cleaning things. No smell, and works well to remove hard water residue.

[@Envrionmela]

A trick I learned was to use lemon juice to help clean pots and pans.

[@amosbackstrom5366]

The cool thing about gypsum sheetrock is in a fire it dehydrates, absorbing heat and giving off water vapor which helps extinguish the fire

[@johndododoe1411]

I've heard that a sandwich of sheetrock and styrofoam is a lot less flammable than bare styrofoam sheets.

[@firstmkb]

Interesting, thanks!

[@tommihommi1]

fun fact: Ethyl Acetate is used as a solvent to remove caffeine from coffee, and that process is considered the least bad tasting decaf by many. Edit: Also, it's made directly in the coffee growing countries, the acetic acid and the ethyl alcohol for making it are fermented from sugar cane. That's why the process is called "sugar cane process" which is a whole lot more marketable than "Ethyl Acetate" unrelated, I was slightly disappointed you didn't mention hydrogen peroxide and acetone together 🤔

[@That_Chemist]

Usually people use DCM or supercritical CO2 for extracting caffeine

[@tommihommi1]

@@That_Chemist there's three solvents currently in use for making decaf coffee: Supercritical CO2, ethyl acetate, and water.

[@firstmkb]

@@That_Chemist didn’t DCM cause cancer in decaffeinated lab rats if they drank a billion cups a day?

[@randykitchleburger2780]

​@@firstmkb the thought of your cup of coffee having DCM in it is nasty 🤢

[@nigeldepledge3790]

Sodium chloride also has a use as a dye fixative. And for salting roads and driveways in winter. Ammonium hydroxide is used in spray-on window cleaners, because it leaves behind no residue (since it decomposes naturally into ammonia and water, both of whichfwill just evaporate).

[@deliveryman7001]

can you do a car chemical smell tier list if you haven't tried one already? I've always wondered what those innate smells from most cars were called, even if they have no actual name other than a chemical compound one.

[@Axon-bm2sx]

I need this video

[@word6344]

My family's two cars both have mysterious, but distinct smells in them, and I really want to be able to describe them more specifically than "annoying industrial chemical"

[@xavierpantig1772]

YES

[@firstmkb]

Car cleaning products too, please!

[@DoggosGames]

@@word6344 Rubber, glue, and insulation? Like teh new car csmell? Or a fuel leak maybe?

[@jakehumphry9561]

Ammonia is a pretty based base, especially for cleaning floors, any excess just evaporates and doesn't leave a gross slimy residue like sodium carbonate

[@tobias_cz8719]

Yeah, only downsight being the puke-inducing smell...

[@samtandy7030]

D-limonene should get some love for being a fairly non-toxic cleaning chemical as well as a fragrance agent in food products.

[@That_Chemist]

Also for seeding raindrops

[@samtandy7030]

@@That_Chemist as a painter it's nice to find an alternative to traditional turpentine (which alot of people dislike the smell of) unless you hate oranges I suppose :') huh I didn't know that!

[@GenericAnimeBoy]

Oxalic Acid is the active ingredient in Barkeeper's Friend, and that stuff is magic for stainless steel kitchen sinks.

[@m.k.8158]

A cleaner called ZUD also contains this

[@Tser]

Citric acid and sodium bicarbonate are the bomb. In my bathtub. My favorite fragrance to use in my bath bombs is a combo that smells like chocolate chip cookies. I'd like to thank the chemist that created those, they're amazing.

[@aspennie]

Citric acid is actually great if you use it to clean up glue. I collect dolls and sometimes the older ones will have glue melting out of the heads (some brands put glue in the heads to keep the doll hair in) and using citrus products, especially orange extracts, can be helpful for that.

[@MacrosV]

I would put Acetone up in S tier simply because it is super useful for getting any kinds of tar or other sticky stubstances out of glassware in a hurry. I mean, say you have an "herbal smoke diffuser" in which smoke from fragrant herbs is passed through water before being dispersed into your room. After a fairly short amount of time this glass will be rather dirty. The more traditional routes of cleaning involve things like placing the glass into a plastic bag with salt and boiling it or maybe soaking it in tubs of isopropyl alcohol for extended periods. I really am not a fan of these methods despite the fact that many people like them not only because they are time and energy intensive but also because of the toxicity of forms of alcohol other than ethanol. With acetone you just pour some in, cap the ends with something, shake it around, then pour it out into an appropriate receptacle. Sometimes you will have to do a couple of washes and then rinse with water, but it will get the glassware cleaner faster. I will admit, acetone is not great for ones health, but it is also much less likely to leave residuals on glassware once a little time has passed and it is already made in trace amounts by ones body during ketolysis. Some of the people I know whom I have suggested this to are reticent to embrace my suggestion, fearing the dangers of acetone contact, but I implore anyone who believes isopropyl and methyl alcohol to be superior and safer to look into the toxicity of these three compounds before making a decision. Acetone is one of the most incredible cleaning products around and really gets a bad rap amongst non-chemists.

[@firstmkb]

I love using acetone, but every once in a while I run into a plastic that dissolves in it.

[@verdantpulse5185]

NaOH is what makes pretzels shiny. Borax is one of the few things that quickly removes the smell of onions from your hands.

[@sjholmesbrown]

Borax is also super useful when your backyard nuclear pile catches fire and you need to quench the chain reaction.

[@That_Chemist]

👀

[@Alterraboo]

Pretzels are made using solutions of sodium hydroxide or sodium carbonate. Sodium bicarbonate is too weak for a quick and even reaction on the dough surface. (speaking from experience)

[@That_Chemist]

It works if you do an egg wash first

[@Alterraboo]

@@That_Chemist interesting, never heard that before? I assume it changes the taste quite significantly

[@timkurz6086]

@@That_Chemist a german baker would cringe from that lol, only naoh and spray them with water after baking to keep their sheen

[@petevenuti7355]

Bagels

[@Alterraboo]

@@petevenuti7355 bagels aren't "pretzeled" though

[@AlexBesogonov]

BTW, sodium hydroxide can be used in making really good pretzels! I'm not joking, it improves the browning on the surface.

[@satibel]

citric acid is often found in soda and food to make it more acidic, and also baking soda.

[@crowdemon_archives]

IPA is my S-tier chemical for so many things I can clean with it, including but not limited to resin models

[@purplealice]

Sodium chloride in our food provides sodium ions that are necessary for the electrical behavior of our cells. I just started a big jar of Hunan-style salted chili peppers , which have nothing in them but peppers and salt. And I love spicy food, and I love salt.

[@jimmyc3238]

0:34 Wait...what?? Acetic acid is in C tier? It's your go-to household acid. It's an indispensable part of any kitchen. One word says it all: PICKLES! Baking soda's soulmate. PS: great topic!

[@AnWe79]

Try citric acid for cleaning, pretty much same or better results as acetic acid, but no pesky smell. Comes in crystal form so no water to take up space, and it's cheap. No good for pickles I assume though.

[@Ethelgiggle]

@@AnWe79 I always use Fuming Nitric Acid. Because it's not transparent you can actually see where you've cleaned

[@rkirke1]

@@Ethelgiggle Hahaa! I was thinking about delicious pickles, and then next minute, FUMING NITRIC ACID. That escalated quickly..

[@guilhermesartorato93]

@@rkirke1 Indeed :-D

[@alexia3552]

"Because it's related to soda" S-tier reasoning

[@davidguerin6142]

Concerning pretzels, there are many recipes and many of them call for sodium hydroxide, sometimes boiling, which is quite dangerous. For having tested both bicarb and hydroxide at home, the very specific taste of pretzels is best obtained with diluted sodium hydroxide (but don't boil it). Sodium carbonate would probably work too

[@tommihommi1]

sodium carbonate doesn't work. You need 3-4% sodium hydroxide solution and either brush it on or dunk the pretzels into a bath. Gloves are mandatory of course, and boiling it would be insane.

[@annawhite652]

I've used a boiling solution of sodium carbonate with success

[@tommihommi1]

@@annawhite652 "success" means sad american style pretzels. For proper pretzels you can't get around sodium hydroxide.

[@jens5906]

I'm from southern germany and we take our Brezel-recipes really serious! Helped out in a bakery to get me through college and there absolutely is no alternative to sodium hydroxide. Bicarbonate and carbonate leave a bitter aftertaste. We never used gloves and my hands are fine 5 years later also none of my colleagues had issues.

[@punxsutawneyphilofficial]

Chemists when they have an ant problem: Borax Me, a biologist, when I had an ant problem: ant-mimic spider (C. variata)

[@JackClayton123]

Great weed killer - 20% acetic acid with NaCl and a bit of dish detergent.

[@Strawberry-jp5wv]

Yo!!! Urea? There's one specific use for urea I have used it for in the past - common tie dye chemical(synthetic urea of course). Not mention sodium bicarbonate, which is a dye-fixer for tie dying. Back to urea though, it is useful mixed into the dye of the tie dye. From what I could research, urea helps the dye mixture on whatever your tie dying remain wet for longer. This makes the chemical reactions that dye the clothes last longer, as the chemical reactions stop as the dye mixture drys up.

[@b3dubbs72]

You can use liquid helium to supercool all the semiconductors in your house

[@That_Chemist]

🗞

[@sleepysakamoto]

I once worked at a russian restaurant and they got acetic acid 70% (it said "acetic acid" on the label, I think for it to be vinegar it has to be less than 20% of acid) and it wasn't closed properly so i got my first chemical burn. It's a shame it wasn't on lab :'3

[@ZZZZ-lt9os]

Acetone washes super glue off of you like water. Instantly unstuck. You WILL have a "WOW, that really does work great" reaction the first time you use it for that application. Don't believe me? Try it on yourself & be amazed. Thank you for your content

[@purplealice]

Sodium hydroxide gives the dark crunchy crust to pretzels and bagels, and in making homemade soaps.

[@jetaime3137]

chemicals in paints, markers, cleaners, degreasers, carburetor cleaners, choke hold cleaners, goof off, sealants, glues

[@soylentgreenb]

Ammonia is the key ingredient for cleaning windows and mirrors and other flat glass surfaces. To make a liter I would take a few drops of washing up liquid about a deciliter of denatured ethanol and about a deciliter of concentrated ammonia and put it in a squeeze bottle, fill up to 1 liter with water; one of those with a stray inside that lets you hold it upright and spray solution; shake it to mix then spray down the window and squeegee it of. For really stubborn stains, use a rag wet with the solution to get the worst, then spray some on and squeegee it off. Ammonia is also nice softening the crud that forms from grease in ovens`. Pyrolytic cleaning is better, but before I had that I would put a small bowl with about a deciliter of concentrated ammonia in the oven and turn on the heat for about an hour. The ammonia and some of the water will evaporate and start softening the polymerized oils. Careful opening the oven; just open it and leave the room while the ammonia ventilates out. It also smells really nice in moderate concentrations; a bit like salty liquorice (some of the ammonium ions in ammonium chloride will somehow evaporate as ammonia when you eat ammonium chloride; I'm not sure how they do that but it possibly implies they leave essentially very very dilute HCL behind when they evaporate, I guess). I would put it in S-tier.

[@perfectwing1999]

Missed opportunity to say "Lithium can go into A tier, maybe AA tier."

[@That_Chemist]

Hahaha

[@HiwasseeRiver]

I nominate Americium-241 (the magical part of smoke detectors). Am-241 can save your life.

[@That_Chemist]

As long as you don’t vape it

[@HiwasseeRiver]

@@That_Chemist In that case is saves you from old age related illnesses - magically

[@seneca983]

@@HiwasseeRiver Nowadays there are also optical smoke detectors.

[@dingo137]

Aren't the optical ones preferred anyway because they're better at detecting smouldering fires?

[@TheDimsml]

8:05 Urea is a major component of various moisturizing skincare products and it can also remove calluses, nails and hair at higher concentrations, as far as I know.

[@That_Chemist]

Interesting

[@bubba99009]

NaCl should have been ranked higher due to ice melting and water softening utility. Even though calcium chloride and magnesium chloride are better as ice melt since they work better at colder temps.

[@Pootycat8359]

"Rubbing alcohol" is ALWAYS isopropyl alcohol (2-propanol), not ethanol. If it were ethanol, its price would be exorbitant, due to the liquor tax. And "denatured" alcohol, sold as a fuel & solvent, is highly toxic.

[@thomaspena.3675]

forgot about HCl used in pool chemistry as a ph balancer, gotta bump that up

[@abelincolnparth]

What works better than sufuric acid for clearing drains is a wet dry vac , plug up to other avenues for air flow and fill the drain with water and the flow will carry the plug out. A plumber taught me that.

[@godgame9841]

As a high schooler who will (hopefully) be doing chemistry with these compounds this summer, I have a few places where I would change; Sodium Hypochlorite (Bleach) is A tier, you can make chloroform with it, which I will be using on wasp nests and such to determine if chloroform is even useful in that field Sulfuric Acid is S tier, nitrations alone could carry it to at least A Ethyl Acetate is A tier, because it's immiscible in water, it's useful for certain biomass extraction Carbon Dioxide is A tier, really useful for soda, also as a propellent, however if I wanna launch something it's be pretty cool to use butane and have a spark to ignite it Lithium is S, rechargeable batteries, very thirsty

[@SeekingTheLoveThatGodMeans7648]

Sodium chloride (common salt) is helpful around the house as an ice melter and a water softener feed material, not just as a food seasoning substance. In a common household hint, mixing it with acetic acid (vinegar) heightens the ability of the acetic acid to remove copper tarnish. This can be demonstrated on, say, a darkened copper penny or copper kettle.

[@AJMansfield1]

1:30 The only people who don't add salt to their cooking are people who are bad at cooking.

[@seneca983]

0:25 I personally think the smell of vinegar is pleasant.

[@That_Chemist]

Depends on concentration

[@129140163]

@@That_Chemist Agree 1000%. My father got some concentrated vinegar for cleaning from Amazon (30% acetic acid IIRC) and that stuff smells NASTY!

[@Leon-yb5jt]

Yeah fuck ammonia. Sniffed once on a 600ml Beaker 20% of that stuff. Felt like a damn truck ran over my face

[@mechadrake]

peroxide no longer recommended to clean wounds. it cause too much tissue damage and inhibits healing because of that.

[@That_Chemist]

Good to know

[@christiannersinger7529]

You can use table salt on cast iron, it helps with dry scrubbing and seasoning the cast iron, especially since you don't want to get it wet, if you have a cat that sprays, use a 50% vinegar and 50% rubbing alcohol on the spot and cover it with baking soda tho disinfect the spot and neutralize the smell, butane can be used to get rid of adhesive and I'm pretty sure I've used it to get pen ink off my hands (I essentially use it as acetone+), if you have drywall and it's stained, don't use water or vinegar, water softens drywall and vinegar will strip the paint, use rubbing alcohol

[@purplealice]

In the world of coin collecting, sometimes a rare coin will have been kept in a protective plastic sleeve, and the plastic plasticizer can stain the coin - but it comes off really easily with acetone.

[@petersmythe6462]

What about household chemicals ranked by how fun they are to misuse? Taking into account their available concentration in normal consumer products (So H2O2 is not S tier lol).

[@coel3572]

if misusing H20 means spilling it, it goes into F

[@scabbarae]

Given that the water around here is hard as hell, I use citric acid all the time to clean dishes, faucets, and of course the coffee maker. Works great. As for cleaning the toilet bowl? Straight up 37% HCl.

[@diablominero]

I made sodium hydroxide solution from washing soda and pickling lime because that's what it took to clean my orange juicer.

[@z33thr33]

Baking soda is also useful for neutralizing bee stings by rubbing a water and bicarb paste into the injury. Personally I consider table salt and essential medical supply, especially for oral injuries.

[@LegoTechnicsRule]

11:48 Sodium Dodecylsulfate is more commonly known as Sodium Lauryl Sulfate. You will see it in the ingredients of almost every shampoo out there.

[@m.k.8158]

Sodium Hydroxide is also used in many oven cleaners, at least in the USA.

[@nolansykinsley3734]

Sulfuric acid drain cleaner for slow shower drains due to hair is amazing. I had only used powdered draino for years every month or so and it barely worked just unclogging when it got clogged. This last time I used sulfuric acid as soon as the drain got slow but not clogged, so I didn't have a risk of being stuck with a drain full of it and let me tell you, it worked AMAZING, it has never flowed better and I haven't even had to use it again for 6 months now it cleared out so much old gunk for my pipes and will be my go-to for slow drains from hair/soap scum. I only used half the bottle and have the other half waiting, but my drain hasn't really slowed yet. It says it has an "inhibitor" in it that keeps it from attacking my pipes as long as I don't let it sit too long, IDK what that means chemically speaking. As for hydrogen peroxide, it should not be used to treat wounds after the initial wound cleaning, it should only be used on fresh wounds as a debridement agent. Hydrogen peroxide disinfects, yea, but it also does it indiscriminately and kills exposed skin cells as well. When used on a fresh wound, the exposed dermis will likely die anyway as part of scab formation, so applying hydrogen peroxide will kill those cells and the bubbling action of the oxygen release lifts dirt, debris, bacteria, and any free skin cell from within little cracks and crags in the wound and allows them to be wiped away, preventing later infection, which is highly beneficial. If you continue to use hydrogen peroxide on a wound it will keep killing your own cells causing more damage to the wound area, extending healing time.

[@SameAsAnyOtherStranger]

Concept of this video- S tier. Being so biased towards soda and not putting salt in S tier lowers it to B tier. If it's food I have to wash, I rinse it in a little salt water before continuing to rinse thoroughly and I brine meat in a salt solution for at least a minute before a light rinse. Salt is like anti-bacterial soap you don't have to worry about leaving a little of on your food.

[@jobofa4252]

Muriatic acid is fine for drain lines that are draining slowly as long as they arent completely stopped. Its great for the calcium buildup in urinals.

[@That_Chemist]

do ppl really pee out that much calcium? or is it from the water

[@jobofa4252]

​@@That_Chemist i think because it was a government building the usage was just higher, the existing drain piping might be small making them clog easier. those urinal cakes help to deal with it but it's an issue if the usage is high enough.

[@agentvx8320]

Sodium chloride is great for cleaning seasoned cast iron, particularly as kosher salt flakes. It doesn't dissolve or melt in hot cooking oil, making it a great mild abrasive for scrubbing without stripping the seasoning like sodium lauryl sulfate has a tendency to, at least when combined with scrubbing. Then you can dry heat the pan to sterilize it, or wash gently with SLS without stripping it too much.

[@That_Chemist]

Good to know!

[@purplealice]

When everything got moldy because of the flooding from Superstorm Sandy the powers that be recommended washing things in borax to kill the mold

[@HiwasseeRiver]

My brain is stuck on nuclear magic - how about (a-boot) Tritium, lights up clock dials. Not super common but magical.

[@caffienatedtactician]

1:39 Coarse salt and rubbing alcohol is used to get resin/smoke residue out of smoking glassware as well

[@1998diegox]

sodium hydroxide is used to make homemade soap. With little water and used oil you can make a lot of soap. Salt is used to preserve and cure food. Here in spain we use it to make ham, chorizos....

[@Lunix_Hardcore]

Real traditional pretzels are made with 3-6% sodium hydroxide sollution and not sodium bicarbonate. They taste way better with sodium hydroxide, even if they look very similiar when using sodium bicarbonate.

[@user255]

NaOH is very useful in removing old grease stains around stove, kitchen hood, etc.

[@Mrs.Silversmith]

Salt water is a disinfectant that you can soak wounds in to keep them clean. It is also used as a rinse for wounds in the mouth. (But tastes totally gross as you can imagine.)

[@lefthandedspanner]

over on this side of the Atlantic, hydrochloric acid is typically used in high-strength toilet cleaners, rather than ammonia (you know it's good if it's got a corrosive symbol on the pack) another use for urea is as an additive to diesel engines, to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions - in Bongland it's sold as an aqueous solution, with the name Adblue propane, butane and isobutane are also used as propellants for aerosols, to replace CFCs, the one disadvantage being that they're a lot more flammable two other commonly used household chemicals are white spirit (petroleum ether), which serves as a paint thinner, degreaser or glue remover, and methylated spirit (denatured alcohol, with a purple dye), as a de-icer and degreaser a bonus fun fact: di- and trichlorocyanuric acid can be used to make acyl chlorides, and are a much less offensive alternative to the reagent cited in textbooks, thionyl chloride

[@That_Chemist]

No that’s a different reagent - cyanuric chloride

[@That_Chemist]

TCCA can only be used if you’re doing a reaction with PPh3 but then you have to deal with TPPO

[@hovant6666]

1:26 tell me you don't have to salt your icy walks without telling me you don't have to salt your icy walks 5:00 NO! helium rises to the top, S tier bay bee

[@SirRebonack]

Ammonium hydroxide (ammonia) is actually great for cleaning windows. Just add a small amount to warm water. It leaves no streaking or residue. If the windows are very dirty you can combine with a tiny amount of dish soap (for the surfactant).

[@elitebelt]

My guy really put salt in E tier because "Lol just used for food seasoning (among other things)" and then puts PROPANE IN S BECAUSE "Lol bbq". Sodium Chloride got shafted hard.

[@neillcoetzer9133]

In South Africa we have this one brand of vodka, I'd use it both as a lab solvent and as a drinking alcohol. It's called royal vodka and is 96% ethanol

[@visasha]

this comment keeps me awake at night

[@m.k.8158]

Similar products are available in the USA 3 brands that come to mind are: Everclear Graves Golden Grain These are all 190 proof (95%)

[@lumipakkanen3510]

I'd bump up sodium chloride. After mopping the floor I rinse the mop using salt water and it tends to smell less compared to rinsing with plain water only.

[@AlexBesogonov]

Citric acid is also really great at removing scaling from tea kettles and coffee machines. It's really great at sequestering metal ions!

[@howiedewin3688]

Trisodium Phosphate! whoopass grease cutter. Mix a little Dawn into a saturated solution and your dishes will literally be 'squeaky clean'. :)

[@stephenjacks8196]

US uses more Salt for road de-icing and driveway deicing etc. I buy a 20 pound bag of de-icing salt but only buy a small eating/cooking salt 1/year. Add more pounds for "water softener regenerator", homemade ice cream, spas, ...

[@dale116dot7]

Lithium is also useful in making thermonuclear weapons.

[@leen3158]

And it's a favorite among do it yourself tweakers LOL!

[@Alterraboo]

living in an area with super hard water, citric acid is my absolute favorite. Best thing for limescale and 100% truly biocompatible

[@6alecapristrudel]

Soap with dodecyl sulfate in it: S tier Dodecyl sulfate powder: F tier The pure stuff is extremely strong lol. It's soap, but evil. It's super light and fluffy and it flies everywhere. Our local chem supplier is kinda shit at packing and I got an order where it had somehow spilled through a "closed" lid, into the entire box. Not all of it, just a light dusting, maybe a teaspoon. Just opening the box and touching the powder stuck to it made my hands feel pruny, wet and wrinkled for the rest of the day. All the plastic bottles that were in the box still feel soapy even after washing them....

[@Xnoob545]

Honestly i watched a few of your stories vids and loved them I've been subbed for a while but never even watched a video of yours for some reason So i finally gave it a shot and liked it Good job on making good videos

[@That_Chemist]

glad to hear it :)

[@Xnoob545]

@@That_Chemist niiice you responded Might join discord

[@SeekingTheLoveThatGodMeans7648]

Ammonium hydroxide (in solutions of household ammonia) is said to help in the laundry and in the kitchen by "softening" oils, and empirically I have found it to be the case upon both mineral and biological oils, though I've having trouble finding a source describing the exact interaction or chemical reaction responsible for this. One chemistry related source mentioned a reaction called "ammonolysis." It's a chemical reaction as "saponification" is, but it is not saponification. Anyhow, I'd give ammonium hydroxide a better rank due to this capability, though highly tempered by its proclivity to give off ammonia gas which is irritating and even choking to breathe. If I am attacking grease in the kitchen with it, I get all the ventilation I can, as from a window and a fan. No, a cooking hood is not necessarily like a fume hood, as some simply pass the air and vapors through a metal mesh filter back into the room without exhausting them.

[@gregdaweson4657]

Paint stripper with dcm in it, valuable to the home chemist.