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Spraying Chemicals for Disinfection

By Doug Collins, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Bucknell University (@EarthMechanic) We have known for nearly a century that ‘germs’ (viruses, bacteria, and other microbes) are the causes of infectious disease. Most of the diseases that we worry about on a regular basis can be slowed or stopped by washing our hands, cleaning surfaces, and staying […]

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Disinfectants and COVID-19

By: Delphine Farmer (@ChemDelphine) and Marina Vance (@marinavance) With growing concerns over Coronavirus, more people are turning to the power of disinfectants to clean surfaces – and that is giving rise to a new set of indoor chemistry. While ordinary soap is surprisingly effective at breaking down the Coronavirus, bleach, alcohol, and ammonia are all […]

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Indoor Ammonia: It’s all about that base

Since ammonia concentrations are much higher indoors than outdoors, there must be indoor sources which emit ammonia. We know that ammonia is emitted from cleaning products, building materials, tobacco smoke, cooking activities, and humans (through exhaled breath and sweat).

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