by Kaharz » Fri May 09, 2014 11:44 am
jake wrote:Hey, tap water is purified and prepared. Just cause it's a compound and not an element doesn't disqualify it from chemical substance.
Tap water is actually a mixture, mostly in the form of a solution. That is what disqualifies it as a chemical substance, not the fact that is not an element. If it was completely pure water, then yes, it would be a chemical substance. Pure compounds are chemical substances because they have a constant chemical composition. The chemical substance 'water' is always H2O. However, tap water is H2O mixed with a varying amount of other chemical substances and a few other things as well. Since the composition of that mixture is not fixed, it is not a chemical compound by the technical definition. I know this all rather nit-picky, but since everyone was being all "hur hur, everything is chemicals dumbass" about the no chemicals added, I felt I'd be all "hur hur, not if you want to use the technical definition." Yes, advertising as 'no chemicals added' and 'all natural' is still asinine, but can be technically correct. Which is part of the problem. If a lot more people understood this stuff, then they might not be as impressed by such weak marketing ploys. Saying something is 'all natural' is basically saying, "We know mostly what is in here, but we aren't exactly sure in what amounts and there is probably some shit* mixed in that we don't know about at all."
What it's really exploiting is people's weird and arbitrary notions of artificiality.
I believe I said almost exactly that in the second half of my last sentence.
To review, they are not technically lying because they did not add any chemical substances by the technical definition unless they used some amazingly distilled water. The end product certainly contains loads of chemical substances. It is in fact comprised completely of chemical substances, which was everyone else's overly reductionist joke. But as mixtures or other substance without a fixed composition, the ingredients and total product are not chemical substances.
*Literal shit could be one of those things they don't know is in there.
[quote="jake"]Hey, tap water is purified and prepared. Just cause it's a compound and not an element doesn't disqualify it from chemical substance.[/quote]
Tap water is actually a mixture, mostly in the form of a solution. That is what disqualifies it as a chemical substance, not the fact that is not an element. If it was completely pure water, then yes, it would be a chemical substance. Pure compounds are chemical substances because they have a constant chemical composition. The chemical substance 'water' is always H2O. However, tap water is H2O mixed with a varying amount of other chemical substances and a few other things as well. Since the composition of that mixture is not fixed, it is not a chemical compound by the technical definition. I know this all rather nit-picky, but since everyone was being all "hur hur, everything is chemicals dumbass" about the no chemicals added, I felt I'd be all "hur hur, not if you want to use the technical definition." Yes, advertising as 'no chemicals added' and 'all natural' is still asinine, but can be technically correct. Which is part of the problem. If a lot more people understood this stuff, then they might not be as impressed by such weak marketing ploys. Saying something is 'all natural' is basically saying, "We know mostly what is in here, but we aren't exactly sure in what amounts and there is probably some shit* mixed in that we don't know about at all."
[quote]What it's really exploiting is people's weird and arbitrary notions of artificiality.[/quote]
I believe I said almost exactly that in the second half of my last sentence.
To review, they are not technically lying because they did not add any chemical substances by the technical definition unless they used some amazingly distilled water. The end product certainly contains loads of chemical substances. It is in fact comprised completely of chemical substances, which was everyone else's overly reductionist joke. But as mixtures or other substance without a fixed composition, the ingredients and total product are not chemical substances.
[size=85]*Literal shit could be one of those things they don't know is in there.[/size]