CHEMISTRY IN EVERYDAY LIFE

DRUGS AND ALCOHOLS:

WHAT IS DRUG??

Any substance, other than food, used in the

prevention, diagnosis, all aviation or treatment of
a disease is called a drug. A drug may also be
defined as a chemical which, when taken in some
way alter the body function. Drug is also known
as a medicine. Generally, the term drug is applied
to any stimulating or depressing substance that
can be habituating or addictive.
MEANING OF ADDICTION:

Addiction is the habitual, psychological

and physiological dependence on a
substance or practice which is beyond
voluntary control. A person who is
habituated to a substance or a practice,
especially a harmful one, is called an
addict.
CLASSIFICATION OF DRUGS:
TYPE OF DRUGS EXAMPLES EFFECTS

Depress CNS activity give

1. Sedatives and Barbiturates,
feeling of calmness,
Tranquillizers Benzodiazepines
relaxation, drowsiness.

Opium, morphine, codeine, Suppress brain

2. Opiate Narcotics
heroin activity,Relaxed pain.

Make a person more

Amphetamines, Caffeine,
3.Stimulants wakeful, alert and active,
cocaine
cause excitement.

LSQ, Mescalin, psilocybin, Alter thoughts, feeling and

4.Hallucinogens
Ganja, chares, Hashish perceptions.
STRUCTURES OF SOME
MENTIONED DRUGS:

Opiate Narcotics:

MORPHINE
CODEINE
 HEROIN

Sedatives and
Tranquillizers:

Barbiturates Bbenzodiazepines
 Stimulants :

CAFFEINE COCAINE

Hallucinogens:

PSILOCYBI
MESCALIN
COMBINATION OF DRUGS AND
ALCOHOLS:

Some addicts use mixtures of drugs to have

immediate ‘kick’ or ‘charge’. Simultaneous use
of drug and alcohol may produce dangerous
effects, including death. When barbiturates and
alcohol are taken together, each doubles the
effect of the other. A mixture of cocaine and
heroin called speed ball, gives spontaneous kick
of cocaine and prolonged pleasure of heroin.
 Combination Effect

1. Alcohol + Barbiturates. Markedly increased depressant effect.

2. Alcohol + Antihistamines. Marked drowsiness.

3. Alcohol + Valium. Dramatically increases sedative effect.

Decreased coordination increased

4. Alcohol + Marijuana or Hashish.
reaction time impaired judgment.

5. Alcohol + Aspirin. Increased changes of damage to gastric

mucosa.
 SOCIAL DISEASE - SMOKING,
DRINKING AND USE OF DRUGS:

Smoking and drinking and use of drugs frequently or

regularly are social diseases. They adversely affect the
health of the addicts and the society. Young people take
to these habits for fun, show off or curiosity, as an
adventure or feeling of freedom, or as a gesture of
defiance against the elders who themselves indulge in
these activities but check the youngsters. Other factors
that make people take to these vices are inability to face
problems of life indifference shown by members of the
family, and encouragement or pressure by friends.
Temporary escape from the life problems
and mental relaxation felt on taking the
drugs in the beginning increase person’s
interest in them. Soon they become
habitual and find it difficult to leave. The
daily dose to get the desired effect
increases with time.

As in other countries, the menace of drug

addiction is spreading in India also. A
large number of our young men and
women have taken to intoxicants. About
87.6% drug addicts are between the ages
of 14 and 25 years.
 TOBACCO:

Sources:
It is a native of South Africa, where the
Red Indians first started smoking. Now
the tobacco plant has spread the world
over. It has large, quote to lanceloate
leaves and terminal clusters of tubular,
white or pink flowers.
 Effect of Nicotine:
• (i) Stimulates conduction of nerve impulses.

• (ii) Relaxes the muscles.

• (iii) Releases adrenaline, increasing heart beat rate and

pressure.

• (iv) Increased blood pressure due to smoking chances

the risk of heart diseases.

• (v) Retards fetus growth in expecting mothers.

• (vi) High concentration of nicotine paralyses nerve cells.

 ALCOHOL:
Sources:
Ethyl alcohol, or ethanol, flammable, colorless liquid
having a penetrating odor and burning taste. It is one of
the products of the distillation of fermented grains, fruit
juices and starches with the help of yeast enzymes. It is
the principal constituent and the intoxicating principle of
wines.

Modes of Use:
Alcohol is taken in low concentration, as the beer, toddy
and wine and in relatively high concentration as arrack,
brandy, whisky, rum, gin, vodka etc.
 Addiction:
Addiction to alcohol is called alcoholism.
Alcoholics are found in all sections of
society. Alcohol causes intoxication and
thus, acts as a poison. The drinkers begin
with small doses, but many of them soon
start consuming large doses and become
addicts. By the time they realize that
drinking is adversely affecting them; it is
too late to give it up.
 What Happens when Alcohol
gets in stomach:
Alcohol is quickly absorbed in the stomach and upper
part of small intestine and reaches all the tissues in
minutes. Its oxidation starts at once and a large amount
of heat is produced. Since heat is not needed in the
body, it is taken up by the blood and carried to the skin
for dissipation. Since the receptors of heat are located in
the skin, the rush of blood to the skin gives a false
impression of warmth in the body. The blood supply of
internal organs is greatly reduced resulting in fall of
temperature in them. Energy released by alcohol is not
used in any life process. Rather the energy derived from
food is used up in ridding the body of excess heat.
SOAPS AND DETERGENTS :
SOAPS:
Soaps are the sodium and potassium salts of
the long chain carboxylic acid. A soap
molecule consists of a long hydrocarbon
chain (composed of carbons and hydrogen)
with a carboxylic acid on one end which is
ionic bonded to metal ion usually a sodium
or potassium.

A soap has a large non-ionic hydrocarbon

group and an ionic group COO-Na+.
 EXAMPLES OF SOAPS:
• Sodium stearate (Chemical formula: C17H35COO-Na+)
• Sodium palmitate (Chemical formula: C15H31COO-Na+)
• Sodium oleate (Chemical formula: C17H33COO-Na+)

Saponification:

The process of making soap by the hydrolysis of fats

and oils with alkalies is called saponification.

Soap is made by heating animal fats or vegetable oil

with concentrated sodium hydroxide (NAOH).

Fat or Oil + NaOH → Soap + Glycerol

MICELLES – SOAP MOLECULES:
A soap molecule has two ends
with different properties:

• (i) A long hydrocarbon part

which is hydrophobic (i.e. it
dissolves in hydrocarbon).

• ii) A short ionic part containing

COO-Na+ which is hydrophilic
(i.e. it dissolves in water).
WORKING OF MICELLES:

MECHANISM OF SOAPS
When a dirty cloth is put in water containing soap then the
hydrocarbon ends of the soap molecule in the micelle attach
to the oil or grease particles present on the surface of dirty
cloth. In this way the soap micelles entraps the oily particles
by using the hydrocarbon ends. The ionic ends of the soap
molecules remain attached to the water when the dirty cloth
is agitated in soap solution. The oily particles present on its
surface gets dispersed in the water due to which the cloth
gets clean.
 Advantages:

• Soaps are eco-friendly and bio

degradable.

Disadvantages:

• Soaps are not suitable in the hard water.

• They have weak cleansing properties than

detergents.
 DETERGENTS:
• Detergents are the sodium salts of long chain
benzene sulphuric acids.

• Detergents are primarily surfactants, which could

be produced easily from petrochemicals.
Surfactants lower the surface tension of water,
essentially making it 'wetter' so that it is less
likely to stick to itself and more likely to interact
with oil and grease.

• The ionic group is in a detergent is so3- Na+

EXAMPLES OF DETERGENTS:
Two basic examples of well-known
detergents of the sulphonate group or the
sulphate group are:
 CLEANSING ACTION OF
DETERGENTS:
Synthetic detergents have the same type of molecular
structure as soaps i.e. a tadpole like molecule having
two parts at each end i.e., one large non-polar
hydrocarbon group that is water repelling (hydrophobic)
and one short ionic group usually containing the or
group that is water attracting (hydrophilic). Thus the
cleansing action is exactly similar to that of soaps
whereby the formation of micelles followed by
emulsification occurs. However, synthetic detergents can
lather well even in hard water. This is because they are
soluble sodium or potassium salts of sulphonic acid or
alkyl hydrogen sulphate and similarly form soluble
calcium or magnesium salts on reacting with the calcium
ions or magnesium ions present in water. This is a major
advantage of the cleansing property of detergents over
soap.
ADVANTAGES OF DETERGENTS:
• Since detergents are the salts of strong acids they do not
decompose in acidic medium. Thus detergents can
effectively clean fabric even if the water is acidic.

• Synthetic detergents are more soluble in water than

soaps.

• They have a stronger cleansing action than soaps.

• As detergents are derived from petroleum they save on

natural vegetable oils, which are important as essential
cooking medium.
DISADVANTAGES Of DETERGENTS:
• Many detergents are resistant to the action of biological
agents and thus are not biodegradable. Their elimination
from municipal wastewaters by the usual treatments is a
problem.

• They have a tendency to produce stable foams in rivers

that extend over several hundred meters of the river
water. This is due to the effects of surfactants used in
their preparation. Thus they pose a danger to aquatic
life.

• They tend to inhibit oxidation of organic substances

present in wastewaters because they form a sort of
envelope around them.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SOAPS
AND DETERGENTS:
SOAPS:
They are metal salts of long chain higher fatty acids.

These are prepared from vegetable oils and animal

fats.

They cannot be used effectively in hard water as they

produce scum i.e., insoluble precipitates of Ca2+,
Mg2+, Fe2+ etc.
DETERGENTS:
These are sodium salts of long chain
hydrocarbons like alkyl sulphates or
alkyl benzene sulphonates.

They are prepared from hydrocarbons

of petroleum or coal.

These do not produce insoluble

precipitates in hard water. They are
effective in soft, hard or salt water.