Chemicals for Consumers

SPM Chemistry Form 5 Notes – Chemicals for Consumers (Part 12)

13 July 2012

The SPM Form 5 students will need to study the Chemicals for Consumer as the most important chapter in Chemistry. Berry Berry Easy would like to present you the Modern Medicine. This subtopic is one of the frequently asked subtopic in Form 5 SPM Chemistry. Medicine is an applied science or practices that has been carried [...]

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SPM Chemistry Form 5 Notes – Chemicals for Consumers (Part 11)

4 July 2012

This post is from the series of Chemical for Consumers for SPM Form 5 Chemistry by Berry Berry Easy. Part 11 of the notes provide Form 5 students on traditional medicine about characteristics and its uses. Folk medicine or traditional medicine comprises knowledge that developed over generations. This practice known as traditional medicine such as herbal, Islamic medicine, traditional [...]

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SPM Chemistry Form 5 Notes – Chemicals for Consumers (Part 10)

20 September 2011

Food dyes or food colourings are substances added to food (include solid food and drinks) to give it a new colour. It must be noted that food dyes can be synthesised or can also be obtained naturally. Tartrazine E102 is an example of artificial dye, while pandan leaves are sources of natural dye. [Tartrazine or [...]

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SPM Chemistry Form 5 Notes – Chemicals for Consumers (Part 9)

17 September 2011

Food thickeners are substances which increases the viscosity (in laymen terms, “flowability”) of food without significantly altering other phyiscal or chemical properties. The thickeners are usually based on proteins (such as collagens, gelatins and egg whites) or polysaccharides (such as pectin, starches and vegetable gums). The food thickeners used are relatively specific to the type [...]

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SPM Chemistry Form 5 Notes – Chemicals for Consumers (Part 8 )

15 September 2011

Food stabilisers are typically used in food production to provide a firmer texture to food. It works by stabilising emulsions through the inhibition of reactions between chemicals in food. (It should be noted that they are not true emulsifiers.) This part, Part 8 of notes from Berry Berry Easy on the Form 5 chemistry chapter [...]

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SPM Chemistry Form 5 Notes – Chemicals for Consumers (Part 7)

13 September 2011

Food flavouring or flavour enhancers are food additives to gives or strengthen the taste/smell of a particular food. It allows food to be sweet, sour, salty, bitter and so on. It should be noted that natural flavour extracts have high costs, so usually synthesised commercial flavourants which are chemical equivalent to the corresponding natural flavours [...]

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SPM Chemistry Form 5 Notes – Chemicals for Consumers (Part 6)

11 September 2011

Antioxidants are added to food as food additives to act as preservatives. This prolonged the edible period of food and retain its nutrient by inhibiting the effects of oxygens on food (oxidation), which is directly beneficial to human health. Natural antioxidants may include ascorbic acid and tocopherols, while common synthetic antioxidants include TBHQ, BHA and [...]

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SPM Chemistry Form 5 Notes – Chemicals for Consumers (Part 5)

9 September 2011

Food additives are added to food to improve its flavour, appearance and functional aspects. Most Berry Readers will imagine food additives to be of synthetic nature and involves a lot of industrial chemistry. However, this is a misconception as additives have been used since ancient times with natural food additives such as salt (salting), vinegar [...]

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SPM Chemistry Form 5 Notes – Chemicals for Consumers (Part 4)

7 September 2011

As you would have known in the previous post that soaps and detergent do have their differences. This post, Part 4 in the series of notes on Chemicals for Consumers by Berry Berry Easy for SPM Form 5 Chemistry is about the effectiveness of the cleansing actions of the two products in different conditions. The [...]

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SPM Chemistry Form 5 Notes – Chemicals for Consumers (Part 3)

5 September 2011

Soaps and detergents are typically considered by many to be the same, due to both being surfactants which are also washing compounds. However, they are very different as soaps are made of natural material while detergents are more synthetic. The effects of soap as a washing compound is negatively affected when they react with minerals [...]

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SPM Chemistry Form 5 Notes – Chemicals for Consumers (Part 2)

3 September 2011

Detergents are surfactant which works like soap but is not affected by hard water. The amphiphilic nature of detergent allows the removal of oil and grease from a surface when mixed with water. This is due to the polar (hydrophilic) and non-polar (hydrophobic) nature working together to mix oil/grease which are hydrophobic compounds with water. [...]

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SPM Chemistry Form 5 Notes – Chemicals for Consumers (Part 1)

1 September 2011

Chemicals for Consumers consist of many everyday product used in society such as soap, detergent, alcohol, food additives, insect sprays, paints, petrol, medicines and many others. The understanding of the use and associated risks involving the chemicals contained in the consumer products are crucial to reduce the potential harmful effects of chemicals for consumers. In [...]

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