13 Household Products You Should Never Mix
More accidents happen at home than
anywhere else. Many of these can be avoided by just knowing what not to
do. If you avoid these 13 combinations, you’ll save yourself time and
money, and maybe even a trip to the hospital.
1. Different battery brands
Mixing
batteries from different brands can lead to them leaking battery acid.
The reason is that manufacturers use different chemical compositions for
their batteries, which produce different levels of current. When one
runs out of juice, the other can still keep running, but that causes it
to leak, which can damage electronic devices.
2. Rubbing alcohol & bleach
Rubbing alcohol contains ethanol or
isopropyl alcohol, which, when mixed with household bleach that contains
sodium hypochlorite, will create chloroform and hydrochloric acid, as
well as chloroacetone or dichloroacetone. These compounds can cause
damage to the nervous system, lungs, kidneys, liver, eyes and skin.
Also, high levels of chloroform can lead to dizziness, nausea, loss of
consciousness and even death.
3. Ammonia & bleach
This
combination is also very dangerous, producing vapors that can cause
severe damage to your respiratory system. And that’s not the worst thing
that can happen – if there are large amounts of ammonia, you might
create a substance called liquid hydrazine. Liquid hydrazine is highly
toxic and potentially explosive.
4. Vinegar & bleach
If you add a weak acid to bleach, it
creates vapors of toxic chloramine and chlorine. These vapors can cause
serious chemical burns to your eyes and lungs.
5. Vinegar & baking soda
Vinegar is an acid and baking soda is a base – those two cancel each other out, rendering the resulting solution useless.
6. Vinegar & hydrogen peroxide
Combining these two products in the
same container will create a corrosive peracetic acid. In high enough
concentrations, peracetic acid can irritate and even damage your skin,
eyes, throat, nose and lungs.
7. Grapefruit & certain medicines
Compounds in the grapefruit interfere
with enzymes in the stomach, which are in-charge of metabolizing
certain types of medicine. This ends up increasing the level of certain
chemicals in the blood and can lead to a deadly overdose.
8. Alcohol & ibuprofen
Taking ibuprofen on an empty stomach
can damage the stomach-lining. Adding alcohol into the mix stimulates
this process and can worsen the effect. Damage to the lining can lead to
internal bleeding, ulcers and other stomach problems.
9. Alcohol & acetaminophen
Chronic consumption of alcohol causes the body to produce certain enzymes that adversely interact
with acetaminophen. The reaction can damage the liver and even be
lethal. In the U.S. alone, over 200 people die every year due to this
deadly combination.
10. Dairy & antibiotics
Dairy is rich in calcium, and while
it may be good for your bones, its interaction with antibiotics is
anything but. Calcium prevents the antibiotics from being absorbed into
your body, reducing their effectiveness.
Antibiotics that are most affected by dairy are: Ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin and tetracycline.
11. Milk & energy drinks
The acid in energy drinks mixes with
proteins in the milk, causing the milk to curdle very quickly. The
result is usually the same – projectile vomiting…
12. Retinol & glycolic acid or alpha hydroxyl acid
Both of these skin-care products may
help you look younger, but mixing them together is a bad idea. Glycolic
acid has a different level of pH than retinol, so when both are used,
the glycolic acid becomes dominant, reducing the effectiveness of
retinol considerably. It can also cause some skin irritation.
13. Retinol & sunlight
Recent evidence shows that retinol
can become toxic when exposed to direct sunlight, and increase your
chances of getting a sunburn. It is recommended that you only use it at
night, or if you choose to use it during the day – use sunscreen and
avoid direct sunlight as much as possible.
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