chemical reaction in everyday life

    Examples of Chemical Reactions in Everyday Life 

When you mix chemicals in a lab, it's easy to see the reaction, but lots of chemical reactions occur in the world around you every day. Martin Leigh/Getty Images

Chemistry happens in the world around you, not just in a lab. Matter interacts to form new products through a process called a chemical reaction or chemical change. Every time you cook or clean, it's chemistry in action. Your body lives and grows thanks to chemical reactions. There are reactions when you take medications, light a match, and take a breath. Here's a look at 10 chemical reactions in everyday life. It's only a small sampling since you see and experience hundreds of thousands of reactions each day.

Photosynthesis Is a Reaction To Make Food 

   Chlorophyll in plant leaves converts carbon dioxide and water into glucose and oxygen. Frank Krahmer/Getty Images

Plants apply a chemical reaction called photosynthesis to convert carbon dioxide and water into food (glucose) and oxygen. It's one of the most common everyday chemical reactions and also one of the most important since this is how plants produce food for themselves and animals and convert carbon dioxide into oxygen.

6 CO₂ + 6 H₂O + light → C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6 O₂

Aerobic Cellular Respiration Is a Reaction With Oxygen 

Aerobic cellular respiration is the opposite process of photosynthesis in that energy molecules are combined with ​the oxygen we breathe to release energy needed by our cells plus carbon dioxide and water. Energy used by cells is chemical energy in the form of ATP.

Here is the overall equation for aerobic cellular respiration:

C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂ → 6CO₂ + 6H₂O + energy (36 ATPs)

Anaerobic Respiration - Everyday Chemical Reactions 

Anaerobic respiration produces wine and other fermented products. Tastyart Ltd Rob White/Getty Images

In contrast to aerobic respiration, anaerobic respiration describes a set of chemical reactions that allow cells to gain energy from complex molecules without oxygen. Your muscles cells perform anaerobic respiration whenever you exhaust the oxygen being delivered to them, such as during intense or prolonged exercise. Anaerobic respiration by yeast and bacteria is harnessed for fermentation, to produce ethanol, carbon dioxide, and other chemicals that make cheese, wine, beer, yogurt, bread, and many other common products.

The overall chemical equation for one form of anaerobic respiration is:

C₆H₁₂O₆ → 2C₂H₅OH + 2CO₂ + energy

Combustion Is a Type of Chemical Reaction 

Every time you strike a match, burn a candle, build a fire, or light a grill, you see the combustion reaction. Combustion combines energetic molecules with oxygen to produce carbon dioxide and water.

For example, the combustion reaction of propane, found in gas grills and some fireplaces, is:

C₃H₈ + 5O₂ → 4H₂O + 3CO₂ + energy 

Rust Is a Common Chemical Reaction 

Alex Dowden/EyeEm/Getty Images

Over time, iron develops a red, flaky coating called rust. This is an example of an oxidation reaction. Other everyday examples include formation of verdigris on copper and tarnishing of silver.

Here is the chemical equation for the rusting of iron:

Fe + O₂ + H₂O → Fe₂O₃. XH₂O

Mixing Chemicals Causes Chemical Reactions 

Baking Powder and baking soda perform similar functions during baking, but they react differently with the other ingredients so you can't always substitute one for the other. Nicki Dugan Pogue / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0

If you combine vinegar and baking soda for a chemical volcano or milk with baking powder in a recipe you experience a double displacement or metathesis reaction (plus some others). The ingredients recombine to produce carbon dioxide gas and water. The carbon dioxide forms bubbles in the volcano and helps baked goods rise.

These reactions seem simple in practice but often consist of multiple steps. Here is the overall chemical equation for the reaction between baking soda and vinegar:

Batteries Are Examples of Electrochemistry 

Batteries use electrochemical or redox reactions to convert chemical energy into electrical energy. Spontaneous redox reactions occur in galvanic cells, while nonspontaneous chemical reactions take place in electrolytic cells.

      Digestion- Everyday Chemical Reactions

 

Thousands of chemical reactions take place during digestion. As soon as you put food in your mouth, an enzyme in your saliva called amylase starts to break down sugars and other carbohydrates into simpler forms your body can absorb. Hydrochloric acid in your stomach reacts with food to break it down, while enzymes cleave proteins and fats so they can be absorbed into your bloodstream through the walls of the intestines.

Acid-Base Reactions- Everyday Chemical Reaction 

 

When you combine and acid and a base, salt is formed. Lumina Imaging/Getty Images

Whenever you combine an acid (e.g., vinegar, lemon juice, sulfuric acid, muriatic acid) with a base (e.g., baking soda, soap, ammonia, acetone), you are performing an acid-base reaction. These reactions neutralize the acid and base to yield salt and water.

Sodium chloride is not the only salt that may be formed. For example, here is the chemical equation for an acid-base reaction that produces potassium chloride, a common table salt substitute:

HCl + KOH → KCl + H₂O

Soaps and Detergents - Everyday Chemical Reactions 

Soaps and detergents clean by way of chemical reactions. Soap emulsifies grime, which means oily stains bind to the soap so they can be lifted away with water. Detergents act as surfactants, lowering the surface tension of water so it can interact with oils, isolate them, and rinse them away.