What Chemicals Are in My Bedding? The public, not only in America, but in Europe and the rest of the world, has become keenly aware of the use of chemicals in commonly used items. One major industrial firm1 used the slogan, "Better Living Through Chemistry" until dropping it in response to public concerns over the effects of many chemical compounds on health and the environment. It has become fashionable to deride or hold in suspicion anything labeled "chemical" or "synthetic." But this...
Ubiquitous Vinyl - It Is Everywhere Vinyl - it is literally everywhere. It covers our houses, carries water into the house and sewage out, and bags our food and our garbage. It is hard; it is soft. It can be the box and the wrapping. We can pour out of it, drink from it, eat off it, and eat with it. It can protect our mattress, and in some cases can be the mattress. And it can be the casing on our remote. So what is vinyl? And how can it be used for so many things? When we say "vinyl"...
What Are You Sleeping on? The Ingredients List for Mattress Recipes What are you sleeping on? A few of the readers of this article may sleep in a sleeping bag or on folded blankets or quilts on a sleeping mat or an air mattress, especially if they are camping at the time and using a smart phone or tablet. Most of us, however, sleep on beds of one sort or another, also including sofas, futons, semi sleepers, and built-in beds. The most common configuration for a bed in North America is a...
Coconut and Coir Coconuts are not only something you can eat, but something you can sleep on. Coconuts are the fruit of the coconut palm (Cocos nucifera), a tree naturally found on tropical coasts. The coconut palm has spread by means of its bouyant seed floating on water, following ocean currents and tides. From beaches, it spreads to nearby low areas by dropped seeds. Coconuts are rather large and heavy for seeds, so coconut palms do not naturally range far from the shoreline. However,...
Polyethylene Penicillin was discovered by accident when Alexander Fleming noticed bacteria dying in the presence of certain molds. Vulcanization of rubber by sulfur was also accidentally discovered by Charles Goodyear. In 1898 in Germany, Hans von Pechmann accidentally synthesized polyethylene. It took longer for polyethylene to become widely used than for rubber and penicillin, but now it is one of the most widely used food packaging materials. And it is also being used in...
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