Eli5 – what “activates” charcoal? And how does that make it good for you?
In: 31
Charcoal is made of carbon, and carbon bonds really well with other atoms. Activated charcoal is charcoal whose structure has been made more porous which creates more surface area for forming bonds. It’s not really ‘good for you’ in the way advertisers try to claim. In medicine it’s used when someone has swallowed something poisonous or overdosed on something. Any of the substance that’s still left in the digestive tract will bond to the activated charcoal instead of being absorbed. Then it can just pass through the digestive system and out of the body. (This is why people shouldn’t consume things with activated charcoal if they are taking any medication. There’s a risk they won’t absorb as much of the medicine as they should.) The activated charcoal, however, cannot do anything about any of the substance that’s already been absorbed by the body or remove any supposed toxins in your organs or blood or anything like that
It takes the bad stuff out without putting any bad stuff in. It’s handy if you’re poorly because you put a bad thing in your mouth.
Many substances stick to the surface of charcoal. If you can make it spongelike on a microscopic level, it will have a lot of surface and so it can collect a lot of gunk. Like a molecular mop.
That’s what activating charcoal does. It riddles the material with microscopic holes and/or craters.
It’s great for absorbing nastiness in your stomach, but that’s about the extent of its medical application.
So is activated charcoal good for the face since it will absorb dirt and stuff?
[deleted]
It is good for you to use in your daily life in a couple of simple ways. 1. It can be used as a passive room deodorizer: several small companies sell one pound packs of activated charcoal sewn up in fabric bags. You just leave it in your smelly place for a few months. When it stops working, put it out on your porch in the sun for a few hours, and then put it back in place inside. 2. It is a common element in water filters like britta, etc. When the water passes through the activated charcoal, many heavy metals and chemical additives stick to the charcoal, and you are left with purer water.
I read it the other day on some other post. Charcoal’s pores are filled with tar and other substances. “Activation” process makes the substances to evaporate, leaving room for other chemicals, like toxins, to be absorbed and trapped there.
Thank you for clarifying! Was curious if what I was thinking was right since it was advertised like that.
Charcoal is porous, but stuff like salt and other soluble elements are still in the charcoal. Activated means they blast steam through it to dissolve and remove these extra materials, thus making it more porous on the atomic level.
I make poor mans version of ‘activated’ charcoal, by boiling it instead of steam, because I do not have a industrial facility to steam it.
Properly activated charcoal is processed by treating it with high pressure extremely hot steam. This causes it to ‘foam up’ on the molecular level giving it an extremely large surface area to volume ratio.
Activated charcoal is very good at capturing other molecules and is used to treat poisonings, and to filter water, for this reason. It can also be used to capture foul odurs and remove stains, for the same reason.
As for being good for you, that really only applies if you have something that needs filtering out for some reason- poison of some kind in the gut, for example. Or nicotine/coffee stains on teeth.
Otherwise, charcoal, even activated charcoal, is fairly inert and unreactive at body temperature and doesn’t do much of anything.
Latest Answers