Sam Crawford

Signature Assignment

In every part of our lives, in every aspect of modern living, we run across the
substance citric acid. Found in citrus fruits, processed foods, and cleaning supplies,
citric acid primarily acts as a chelating agent. According to scifun.chem.wisc.edu, A
chelating agent is a substance whose molecules can form several bonds to a single
metal ion.
While the technical aspects of citric acids various uses remains unnoticed to
the general populace, the products themselves are on almost every Americans
shelves: from Tang to Orange Glo to Gojo Natural Orange, citric acid not only helps
calcium bond to our red blood cells, but cleans our floors, our dishes, and our
bodies.
In the food industry, the chelation of citric acid helps preserve edibles by
deactivating the enzymes that normally contribute to decomposition. In cleaning
products, it helps isolate heavy metal deposits (like calcium) which would normally
interfere with the effectiveness of detergents and soaps. In our bodies, the chelation
bonds calcium to our RBCs (red blood cells) which leads to in increased ability to
transport necessary minerals (like calcium itself) as well as electron charge, which
bonds to the normally electronegative ion.

References
www.jhbiotech.com/plant_products/chelation.htm

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/bk-2011-1088.ch001
http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/chemweek/chelates/chelates.html