Chemical Contaminants Search Results

How To: Make Coffee Mugs Gleam Like New with This Little-Known Cleaner

If you consider yourself a regular coffee, tea, or hot chocolate drinker, you probably have a kitchen cabinet full of stained mugs that refuse to scrub clean. Thankfully, there is a better solution that doesn't involve continuing to fight those stains with a sponge, bleach, and elbow grease. The answer to your coffee or tea stain problems is Cafiza: an awesome espresso machine cleaning product that is popular amongst professional baristas... but also doubles as an extremely effective ceramic ...

How To: Make an Instant Slushy

Want a to make any drink into a delicious semi-frozen drink called a slushy? Usually this means putting your desired drink in the freezer and waiting until it reaches the desired state of being frozen. However, with this awesome method you can have a frozen slushy drink in just a few minutes!

How To: Safely Put Out a Grease Fire (And Prevent Them Altogether)

Hopefully you never have to deal with a grease fire, but if it happens, how you handle it is important. A grease fire isn't like a regular fire, and trying to put it out the same way can make it worse. Grease fires are caused by letting oil get too hot, so the best way to prevent them is to never leave your kitchen unattended. Oil smokes before it burns, so if you see your pan start to smoke, take it off the heat before it has a chance to catch fire. If you're outside grilling, you can add a ...

How To: Clever Chemistry-Based Cures to Common Kitchen Conundrums

You probably already know that cooking involves a ton of chemistry. Bread rises because of the reaction between the flour and leavener, and the delicious crust on your steak is formed by the Maillard reaction. Understanding the chemistry going on behind the scenes is one of the best ways to improve the quality of your food—it's much easier to fix a problem when you know what's causing it.

How To: Turn a Pint of Ice Cream into a Freakin' Loaf of Sweet Bread

Cooking may be an art, but baking is a science. It requires precise measurements since the outcome is based on chemical reactions. Using too much or too little of one ingredient can be the difference between perfect, crunchy-yet-chewy cookies and the dreaded "one big cookie." That's why frozen cookie dough and pre-made bread and cake mixes are so popular. They're easy to throw together, and pretty much guarantee success every time. But what if you're feeling so lazy that you don't even want t...

How To: Make Your Own Twinkies and CupCakes (Now That Hostess Is Closed Down)

As a kid, I remember hearing the myth that Twinkies could last forever. The rumor was that they were made from chemical ingredients that caused the Twinkies to stay fresh and edible for years and years. Right along with the cockroach, Twinkies were supposed to be the only survivors of the nuclear holocaust that would destroy the entire world. As I got older, I realized the rumor wasn't true. Twinkies actually have a shelf life of just 25 days. And with the news that Hostess is going out of bu...

How To: Crush a soda can with heat and cold water

Want to find out how you can squash a can of Coke with a little science? Just watch this video tutorial to see how to crush a soda can with heat and cold water. You will need to get an empty can of Coke (or Pepsi if you prefer) with a little water inside, something to hold the soon-to-be-hot can with, a bowl, ice, water and salt. You can impress your friends with this trick, all without using your own force... a little chemical and temperature change goes a long way.

How To: Get movie star hair

Movie star hair is all about combining healthy hair with haircare products that contain silicone chemicals. Learn about using hair extensions, curling irons and haircare products to get movie star hair in this free video on haircare from an experienced hairdresser.

How To: Get rid of a perm

If a perm is too curly, get rid of the perm by shampooing the hair, applying a heavy conditioner and using a chemical straightener. Discover how hair salons can get rid of perms with this free video from an experienced hairdresser.