Tag: kitchen

Limescale Chemistry

The Chemistry of Limescale

Limescale Chemistry
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Limescale is a substance you’ve undoubtedly encountered, be it clogging up your kettle, or building  up on your bathroom surfaces. But how does it get there in the first place, and how do limescale removers work to get rid of it? Those are the questions this graphic aims to answer.

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Baking Bread: The Chemistry of Bread-Making

Infographic on the chemistry of making bread. Mixing flour proteins (glutenin and gliadin) with water forms a gluten network, held together by hydrogen bonds and disulfide crosslinks. Kneading dough strengthens the network. Starch in flour is converted by enzymes into sugars, which are used by the yeast during fermentation. Sugars also participate in flavour-forming browning reactions. Yeast fermentation produces carbon dioxide, bubbles of which cause the bread to rise. Fats weaken the gluten network and give a softer bread. Baking soda produces carbon dioxide during baking, helping bread rise.
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Though chemistry teachers might have to regularly field questions about the chemistry of ‘Breaking Bad’ these days, baking bread is probably more likely to figure on a list of their recreational activities. Bread-making is a process that seems simple, essentially involving the mixing of just four ingredients. However, there’s a lot more chemistry to it than meets the eye; here we delve into the science to work out what’s going on in your loaf.

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