The Special Air Service (SAS) is one of the worlds elite and finest army units and they need to know some chemistry to help them survive. He who learns, survives! …..

Purple Chemical

Potassium permanganate (KMnO4) which you see in school as the purple chemical is carried in an SAS medicine kit. It has several uses when added to water. Small amounts turn the water pink and at this low concentration it can be used to sterilize things. A higher concentration leading to dark pink water can be used as an antiseptic. A very concentrated dark purple solution can be used as an anti-fungal agent to treat things like athletes foot.

Rocks

Not the most exciting part of GCSE chemistry, but rocks have their uses. So perhaps you’ll try to learn their names and how they behave (properties) now! Small rocks (stones) can be used to sharpen knives, e.g. sandstone (SiO2), quartz and the extrusive igneous rock granite,

Ever wondered why the pebbles on beaches are smooth? Well at least you may have tried getting the flatter ones to skim across the water! In times of water shortage soldiers put a pebble into their mouth to help reduce water loss from their mouth from respiration. No they are not trying to get blood out of a stone, that’s what teachers do when trying to get a whole classes coursework in on time. Oh, yes i nearly forgot. Pebbles are smooth because they are constantly being moved by tides and waves. They bash into each other and eventually become rounded and smooth. Chip off the old block so to speak.

Extracting the urine

No this is not a cunning way to get in a rude expression. You must not drink urine as it is full of waste toxins that your body is trying to get rid of (excrete). In fact you can get the water back from urine to produce drinking water if it is distilled. Bet they don’t let you try this one at school. But at least it has saved the lives of members of the SAS. Don’t forget distillation is simply evaporation followed by condensation.

(l) –> (g) –> (l)

Ice-breakers

The world’s worst chat-up line. What’s big and white and breaks the ice? Answer: A polar bear! Whatever you do never eat the liver of a polar bear or a seal as they contain dangerous levels of vitamin A. This knowledge should impress your friends?

How to get help

If you have a piece of metal on an expedition like a tin lid this could save your life. Metals can be polished with sand. You get a shiny reflective surface which can be used for signaling. Try this on the inside of your pencil case. Teachers get really annoyed when students try to use shiny surfaces like watches to reflect light onto them. Remember most teachers are trained to have eyes in the back of their heads.

Herbs

Headaches can be helped by chewing the bark or leaves of the willow. Not a tree just for making cricket bats! The chemical in willow is called salicin and it is a constituent (part) of aspirin.

Wounds can be healed quicker by adding the juice of comfrey leaves. One to look up in a plant book or ask an old witch!

Forgot to pack your toothbrush. Never mind because the roots of strawberry plants can used to clean teeth as they are a very good descaler. Small twigs from a cherry tree are also useful for cleaning teeth.

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