Chemistry is everywhere in the world around us – so why are we so scared of it, asks Dr Mark Lorch.
I really enjoy my job, I’m a chemist in academia. I get to wallow in the fascinating world of research science and then pass on my passions to eager young minds.
But my job is even better than that. I’m an academic who gets let out of my ivory tower and into schools, shopping centres and festivals where I perform all the most entertaining chemistry. And I pull out all the stops – liquid nitrogen gets sloshed around in abundance, hydrogen balloons are ignited like mini-Hindenburgs, and ethanol-fuelled rockets zip around the playgrounds. Chemistry is fun.
So why is everybody scared of chemicals?
Because we are, aren’t we? The very word chemical is often synonymous with toxin or poison. We use phrases like “it’s chock-full of chemicals” to imply something is artificial and bad for you.
Meaningless slogans like “chemical-free” pop up on products in health food stores and billboards. And nobody seems to mind, least of all the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). I know – I’ve complained to them and they told me that consumers clearly understand that “chemical-free” really means “free of synthetic chemicals”.

I don’t get the distinction. Why are synthetic chemicals worse than natural ones? Why is the synthetic food additive E300 bad, while the vitamin C in your freshly squeezed glass of orange juice is good? (Even though they are both the same thing.)
Chemistry is fascinating because of the way it can be used to synthesise new stuff – it’s like molecular Lego. The fact that everything is made from 100-odd building blocks is remarkable. Throw chemicals in a pot in the right way and you can build the world around us.
So why is chemistry the bad boy of the sciences? Why is there this chemophobia? Biology doesn’t get a bad rap – quite the opposite. Biology has amazing animals, plants, the human genome project and David Attenborough. It’s natural and good.
What about physics? Well, physics is just pretty damn cool. It’s got stars, lasers and the most impressive machine ever built – the Large Hadron Collider. All fronted by Brian Cox beautifully explaining the wonders of the universe. It doesn’t get any cooler than that.