Uses of ammonia in daily life
You probably use more ammonia than you know. It’s a material that is commonly used around the home each and every day. So, read on to find out more about ammonia and its key uses.
What is Ammonia?
Created by a reaction between nitrogen and hydrogen, ammonia is a raw materialwith all kinds of uses. When in concentrated form, ammonia can be hazardous and dangerous. So, it has to be handled carefully. But when it’s used in household products, it will not be in a concentrated form anyway. Any company that produces and stores it has to be tightly regulated to ensure safety. Now it’s time to look at the everyday uses of ammonia.
Drugs and Cosmetics
There are many different ways in which ammonia can be used in the medical industry. For a start, it is used to stop people from fainting. Its strong smell helps it prevent such instances. But it can also be used to create certain vitamins. And it is also used to create sulfa drugs. The cosmetics industry also regularly uses ammonia, so there could be ammonia in the beauty and cosmetics products you use.
Cleaning the Home
Ammonia is commonly used in cleaning products that can be used for different kinds of cleaning tasks around the home. Diluted ammonia is often used to clean hardwood floors and pieces of furniture. For the best results, many people also use ammonia when cleaning windows. It gets rid of any residue and leaves the glass clean and clear. It also functions as a very good degreaser, making it perfect for cleaning ovens
Removing Stains from Clothes
It can also be used for cleaning other things, aside from the home. It’s very good at removing food and drink stains from fabrics. This makes it good for cleaning certain types of furniture. But it’s more commonly used as a stain remover for clothing items. Wine stains are commonly solved with an ammonia-based product. They don’t do damage to the clothes as long as it’s used in small quantities. If you use too much, it might cause a problem though.
Plastics
Plastics are widely used, as we all know. Plastics have to be manufactured using ammonia though. Without ammonia, manufacturing plastics would simply not be possible. Plastics manufacturing use ammonia on a vast scale. There are ammonia plants that produce large quantities of ammonia that then goes on to be used by plastic manufacturing companies. So, any piece of plastic you’ll find in your home will have been created using ammonia at some point in time.
Fertilisation
Manufacturing strong fertilisers would be impossible if not for ammonia. It can be converted into nitric acid, which is also used in fertilising. These synthetic fertilisers are now used all over the world. And without them, it would be pretty much impossible to grow the crops that the world needs to feed its overall population. So, the chances are that the food you eat each day will have been grown with the help of ammonia.