>Why the Watermelon will not Ripen in your Armpit <

Rachel... this is something I have often wondered about.

Mick
Hilo, Hawaii

----- Original Message -----
From: Rachel Cogent <Gnarlodious@EARTHLINK.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2001 4:27 PM
Subject: Re: Molassas To Fix Rust -- New Scientist Article

> Hey this is the most interesting thing I have read all week!
> Maybe this professor can tell me why my mouth hurts after I eat pineapple.
>
> Entity Derek Drew spoke thus:
>
>
> Question
> I have a friend who uses molasses to clean rust off old iron items
> collected from the bush. The rusty iron article is placed in a jar of
> molasses solution (nine parts water, one part molasses) and left for two
> weeks. After this time, the article comes out clean and almost shiny. What
> is happening here?
>
> Answer
> Molasses contains chelating agents. These are made of molecules that are
> shaped a bit like the claws of a crab--the word chelation comes directly
> from the Latin word chele, meaning claw. They can envelop metal atoms on
> the surface of an object, trapping them and removing them. Molasses owes
> its properties to cyclic hydroxamic acids which are powerful chelators of
> iron.
>
> More of these compounds are found if the molasses is derived from sugar
> beet rather than cane sugar. The plants from which molasses is made
> presumably use these chelating agents to help them extract minerals from
> the soil. Interestingly, there are aerobic microorganisms that use similar
> cyclic hydroxamic acids to scavenge iron. So plants and microbes appear to
> use the same chelation strategy to obtain their daily ration of iron.
>
> The same process is at work when you clean old coins with Vegemite or
> cola. The power of chelating agents also explains why the insides of
> tomato tins need to be lacquered. The citric acid in the tomatoes would
> dissolve the metal of the container if the lacquer were not present.
> Household cleaning agents, especially detergents and shampoos, also rely
> on chelation. These soften water to make it more effective during the
> cleaning process.
>
> Chelation has its uses in medicine, too. EDTA or ethylenediamine
> tetraacetic acid is used as a chelating agent to control levels of calcium
> in the body and can reduce the effects of mercury or lead poisoning.
>
>
> Ben Selinger, Department of Chemistry, Australian National University. Ben
> Selinger is the author of Chemistry in the Marketplace and Why the
> Watermelon will not Ripen in your Armpit (Allen & Unwin)
>