REWARD for 100% chemical free material

Science
REWARD for 100% chemical free material

Make Pt1381
This is a pretty interesting idea, taking the word chemical “back” as something good… or at least not “poisonous”… I agree!

The Royal Society of Chemistry is today reclaiming the word chemical from the advertising and marketing industries.

It has been misappropriated and maligned as synonymous with “poison”. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) recently defended an advert which perpetuated the myth that natural compounds are free of chemicals.

The truth, as any right-minded person will say, is that everything we eat, drink, drive, play with and live in is made of chemicals – both natural and synthetic chemicals are essential for life as we know it.

If, as the ASA says, the public believes materials can be “100% chemical free”, the RSC will soon be inundated with examples from people wishing to claim the £1 million pound bounty announced today by the RSC.

Dr Neville Reed, a director of the RSC, said today: “I’d be happy to give a million pounds to the first member of the public who could place in my hands any material I consider 100% chemical free.

“Should anyone do this, we will see thousands of years’ worth of knowledge evaporate before our eyes. We would have to tear up the textbooks, burn the degree certificates and retrain the teachers.”

The manufacturers of a popular “organic” fertiliser recently drew the attention of the public when it claimed in promotional materials the product contained no chemicals whatsoever.

The product’s manufacturer makes the fantastic claim to be “100% chemical free” in its advertising and on its packaging. The back of the packaging lists its chemical-free ingredients, which include phosphorus pentoxide and potassium oxide.

More:
Make Pt1332-1
The Chemistry gift guide – Celebrating chemistry and inspiring the next generation of chemists!

24 thoughts on “REWARD for 100% chemical free material

  1. Gary B Puckett says:

    I believe the appropriate literary reference here is “The Emporer’s New Clothes.”

  2. thinker says:

    plasma?

  3. Anonymous says:

    I believe (which means I may be wrong) that chemicals are all materials composed of elements. This would leave anyone capable of producing a subatomic particle (such as a proton, neutron, electron, positron, quark, gluon, photon, neutrino, ect) in a position to win. I could easily shine some photons at the judges, but a neutron beam would be more fun.

  4. zweistein.myopenid.com says:

    he said “place in my hands, any material”

    Can you really call subatomic particles a material, and could you place it in his hand?

  5. Troy says:

    I work as a graphic designer in the marketing department of a chemical company. We basically make soap. Saying “chemical” in any marketing materials in a big no no. We say “product” instead because the word “chemical” has bad connotations.

  6. BigD145 says:

    Your thoughts are just a mass of chemical reactions. Thought in advertising? Yeah, that probably would be considered a bad thing for any company.

  7. Anonymous says:

    “Can you really call subatomic particles a material, and could you place it in his hand?”

    Oh, they would be in his hand alright (in more ways than one)!

    It all depends on your definitions. If a matirial is ‘The substance or substances out of which a thing is or can be made [1]’, and a substance is ‘That which has mass and occupies space[1]’, then I don’t see why a subatomic paricle is not a material.

    References:
    [1]

    p.s. yes, the reference would not hold up to acedemic rigor.

  8. Anonymous says:

    “Can you really call subatomic particles a material, and could you place it in his hand?”

    “Can you really call subatomic particles a material, and could you place it in his hand?”

    Oh they would be in his hand alright (in more ways than one)!

    It all comes down to your definitions. If a material is ‘The substance or substances out of which a thing is or can be made [1]’ and a substance is ‘That which has mass and occupies space [1]’, then I don’t see why a subatomic particle would not qualify as a material.

    References:
    [1] http://www.thefreedictionary.com

    p.s. I know the reference would not stand up to acedemic rigor.

  9. The Strange Attractor says:

    …1 liter of the best vacuum money can buy in a glass container (itself not included in the bargain). The contents of this vessel, but not the vessel itself, are chemical-free. BTW, I sell by volume, not by weight…some settlement may not occur in shipping

    You can deposit my cash in the usual Cayman account. Thanks.

  10. Mattyfu! says:

    I have a similar problem with products that are labeled as “all natural” (see:cosmetics industry). There is no such thing as something made out of unnatural materials, it all comes from somewhere/something occurring naturally but at what point of refining something down to it’s elements and mashing it with others does it stop being natural?

  11. Newtkeeper says:

    Well, I have a few thoughts. Light was my first idea, but you can’t really hold that in your hand, so it may not count. Black holes or neutron stars sounded promising (being made of nonelemental matter), but I don’t have any on hand. Anyway, they’re too heavy to send by post.

    Anyone know where I can get my hands on some hard vacuum?

  12. Newtkeeper says:

    Well, I have a few thoughts. Light was my first idea, but you can’t really hold that in your hand, so it may not count. Black holes or neutron stars sounded promising (being made of nonelemental matter), but I don’t have any on hand. Anyway, they’re too heavy to send by post.

    Anyone know where I can get my hands on some hard vacuum?

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