By Georgina Hagger, Year 12.
In this article I will endeavour to convince you of the magic of Chemistry, through Christmas related examples, and why we should all care a little bit more about not only the science itself but its contribution to our daily lives.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and whilst we all enjoy the lights, presents and the much-anticipated food, the reason behind all of these is forgotten. What makes your turkey go brown, what makes the smell of Christmas trees so enticing and what do your wrapping paper and Sellotape all have in common? To answer all these questions, we need one thing only: Chemistry. Chemistry is what makes this time of the year so enjoyable and yet it is overlooked, ignored and underrated.
When cooking many foods, a reaction called the Maillard Reaction is undergone: such is the case with the iconic Christmas Turkey. This is a chemical reaction between reducing sugars (for example glucose) and amino acids, and the different combinations of these two components is what makes the many different flavour compounds produced in this reaction. In turkey, some of these compounds are furans which produce the meaty, burnt flavours and also pyrazines for the cooked, roasted flavours. This reaction is what makes crisps go golden brown, along with giving some meat its brown colour, as melanoidins are formed which contribute to the brown colouration in cooking.
The smell of Christmas Trees, and pine trees more generally, is much-loved. This scent comes from three main compounds; the two types of pinene (alpha-pinene and beta-pinene) and bornyl acetate. It is this bornyl acetate that produces the pine smell, making it commonly used in fragrances and air conditioners for that fresh aroma. This smell originates from the just three elements that the compound is made from: carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.
When giving a gift at Christmas, or any other time of the year, the wrapping of the present is an important part. Whilst, wrapping paper and Sellotape do not immediately seem to be that similar, they are in fact both based on the same fundamental compound, the very same compound that gives plants their strength: cellulose. Whilst Sellotape needs an additional adhesive element to it, these two items are largely similar.
These ideas are all easy to understand, yet they are never talked about. Chemistry is simply defined as “the branch of science concerned with the substances of which matter is composed” and then how these substances react with each other. When the discipline is defined in such a way it is hard to see how this cannot be part of our everyday lives. Rosalind Franklin, the brilliant and unfortunately often forgotten chemist, once said:
“Science and everyday life cannot and should not be separated.”
However, we seem to have strayed from this, and now Chemistry is just for the people in white coats and goggles, whilst the vast majority of the others, according to a 2015 survey by the Royal Society of Chemistry, seem to only associate the subject with their school days and scientists. Yet we take selfies on our lithium powered smart phones, brush our teeth with our fluoride filled toothpastes and cure headaches with medicine without even knowing how any of this actually happens.
You may now ask, why do we need to know about Chemistry? And there are so many answers to that question; the emergence of disciplines like Green Chemistry to combat the disastrous effect we have on our planet and the shortage of engineers in this country alone, means more Chemists are needed now than ever before. As well as this, there is the simple answer of why should people not know, why should everyone not have the chance to understand the world around them? In recent weeks we have seen guides written by scientists, including chemists, to explain the use of scientific methods – such as DNA fingerprinting – to judges in order to aid better understanding of the chemistry that is used to prosecute and defend people in court. This is just one example of how chemistry is returning to the forefront of society and so needs to be understood.
By encouraging the sciences, and encouraging the explanation of the chemistry we all use; this makes one area of science so much more interesting and accessible to everyone. If everyone can hear about how this discipline is connected to their current situation through the engaging explanations of something like Christmas or cooking or electronics, then perhaps less people will feel marginally indifferent about Chemistry and more will feel interested and passionate about a subject that richly deserves and needs it.
So, as you pull a cracker this Christmas, become disgusted at the bitter taste of a brussels sprout, or watch the fireworks explode at New Year, remember to think about why and how these things happen and add a little bit of Chemistry induced magic to your life.
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