How Does Activated Charcoal Actually Work? 

I'm glad you explained the difference between Adsorbent and Absorbent. Unlike many videos on RU-vid, this one is Ad-friendly.

As someone who has spent two years producing activated charcoal on an industrial level, I would be remiss in not checking a fact or two.First, the biomass is not treated with oxygen as it is pyrolized. An inert atmosphere is required for the pyrolysis reaction to be effective. If oxygen is allowed into the reactor, the biomass does not char, but burn; and yield a product with a high ash content (and a lower iodine adsorption number as a result.)Generally, a facility will fill the reactor with argon or nitrogen in order to make the atmosphere non-reactive (apparently carbon monoxide can work too, but I have my doubts.)Also, activated carbon does whiten teeth. Not because of its adsorbative properties, but for its abrasive nature (i have seen powdered carbon eat through steel as it is piped through low pressure pipes on a weekly basis) if tou rub it on yout teeth, it will ablate tartar and enamel off.Primary consumption of PAC in the US is in the wastewater treatment field, adsorption of poisons and skimming the surface of the carbon allows the discharge of the water back into our waterways.Hope this helps.

For centuries in India, the husk from rice was burnt into charcoal, mixed with Rock salt and occasionally a hint of clove oil or black pepper was used as tooth paste. This practice is still followed in rural parts of southern India and has quite definitive results.

Activated charcoal can also mess with certain medications, so if you're on anti-depressants or hormonal birth control, don't eat charcoal.

Activated Charcoal is one of those things that we're very fortunate to have.

If It helps with hangovers it doesn't necessarily 'adsorb' alcohol, it probably adsorbs the aldehydes from the alcohol metabolism...

Cause maybe, You're gonna be the one who saves me And after all You're my Van Der Waal

One of the biggest advantages of activated charcoal I've personally experienced is in it's application as cabin air filters in cars. Bosch makes one, and it significantly reduces exhaust gases many types of foul smells from the outside environment while commuting especially here in India.

Kudos on the Princess Bride reference!

Whitening teeth with charcoal has been used in Ghana as a traditional means of cleaning the teeth for centuries. I used some together with plantain sticks anytime we visited the village in the early 90s. It works very well

When I hear vdw forces all I can think about is when I asked my high school chemistry teacher for help understanding the differences between the forces we learned about and she said "if you don't know I can't help you" so that was a fun time of my life

I use this stuff in the filters for my home aquariums. Keeps the water very clean.

I would love to see one of these for cbd oil and coconut oil.

Activated charcoal is used for inline odor control filters. It works surprisingly well, there is almost no odor once filtered.

Activated charcoal for iocaine? Inconceivable!

I had really smelly feet and it made by life miserable but upon discovery of charcoal impregnated soles (odoureaters) my life changed dramatically. Since then I have used charcoal in many ways including poultice for joint pains and akin lesions. Worth trying.

Thanks for posting this. Please clarify something that has puzzled me about (activated) charcoal. If it adsorbs so much, how does one know the ingredients that can be included in cosmetic preparations, to ensure that ingredient does not lose its effectiveness, like soap, the superfat of soaps, essential oils of the soap, etc. I have heard about differently charged substances but do not know how to identify the charge of different items.

im an adventist and i feel like some of our cultural health practices r being discovered by more non sda average citizens, like plant-based food and taking activated charcoal. not saying activated charcoal is adventist, but it's what my family has always used in certain situations. it really helped one of my church members when he got bad food poisoning in a foreign country. my church always knew about it but 10 years ago, not many people outside my church/family did

Man I'd listen to him talk about science all the time, his voice is soothing.

And what about that activated charcoal can help with stomaaches,which it can. Have helped hundreads of times throughout life. I dunno if it reduced gas,but when you have hurting stomach,with an watery poop xD ,it always stabilise poop and make it normal. Havent failed a single time. Actualy that was the only benefit i knew what activated charcoal do,but clearly helping against poisons aswell. Good to know.

Very interesting, concisely explained, thank you! Wow very speedy talker yet still easy to follow and understand. Awesome.

I've also heard that it makes a great air filter Either absorbing odors from a Rooms air or as part of an air filtration system

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!!!

Why are burnt foods considered carcinogenic while activated charcoal is considered safe?

Activate my almonds

It definitely works for whitening your teeth. In some cases, you can see it from the first application. Although no scientific, there are many RU-vid videos of people experimenting with it and getting positive results, I'm talking about teeth whitening.

Well for me it is incredible. I feel like I have the flu pretty much 25/7 bad yeast digestion issues and I am very sensitive to mold! Well I started the charcoal a few months back and what a difference for me. I could not go to the hallway where mold is without itching and headache instantly and after a few rounds of charcoal no issues at all. I find to it has improved my digestion greatly. Something else I have noticed is for many years I was getting hair testing done which always would show my barium was off the scales high. It would not move or come down at all for over 10 years and I recently did another hair test which showed the barium was over halfway down. I was pleasantly surprised! Look I don't know for sure but I really do see and feel a difference with it. :)

This was superb. Concise and informative. 11/10

Science pet peeve: I would appreciate if the script writers better differentiated between "No evidence" as in no one has researched it, or "no evidence" as in studies were done and came up negative. I think both were mentioned in the context of "no evidence" in the video which made the term ambiguous. Otherwise, love the videos, keep it up!

Yay thank you for answering my question!!! Follow up question. Do products meant for acne that use activated charcoal, really work or is it another case of more research needed? ie. Does it really help to remove dirt and oil? Again thanks!

I've heard that if you're on antidepressants (or medication in general), you should avoid consuming charcoal because it can adsorb them. Is this true?

Thank you for explaining the mechanism of action, but I would've also liked to know what makes it "activated". What's unactivated charcoal? Edit: The interwebs says "activation" means it's made more porous, so, new question: why do we call it "activated" instead of "porous"?

What about activated charcoal in skin care ? I see it all the time, does it actually help my skin

Works great if you've got the runs. And while it might be a case of false causality, whenever i feel like i ate something dodgy i take a coupe of tablets and so far it seems to work.

I can listen to u narrate anything all day

Just because research hasn't done on something, doesn't mean it doesn't work. The researches just haven't proved or disproved it yet. Many things have been working for thousands of years before some researcher decided to prove or disprove it. And research is often skewed.

For those further confused remember this: Absorption is like eating a custard pie Adsorption is like being a victim of slapstick comedy

I really enjoyed how informative this video was for me thank you

I brush with it sometimes and it does seem to make a significant difference, but only up to a point. Full disclosure I am a smoker so it may only be helping with the nicotine/tar staining. After just a few brushings I noticed a significant improvement in the shade of my teeth. However after that results either slowed down a great deal or stoped. I am not plugging any brand here I used a big ol bag of generic activated charcoal. It's quite cheep so I recomend trying it if your a smoker or have other habbits resulting in stained teeth. It is not going to make them actor calibre white but in my experiance at least made a big difference for little cost.

Assuming the carbon could adsorb alcohol.. Wont work for hangover when the alcohol has already left the digestive tract. If and only if it adsorbs alcohol, it may prevent that amount of alcohol from entering your blood stream but food in general might be just as good or better.

You see now, this dude explains stuff like he is explaining it to ME (the one who landed on his video) and not my mom or dog. He is smart and I subscribed.

It's odour absorption quality is magical. No doubt.

ONE WAY TO FIND MORE ABOUT ACTIVATED CHARCOAL WOULD BE TO TRY IT.

Older viewers probably first heard the term "activated charcoal" in TV commercials for Tareyton cigarettes. The section of activated charcoal in their filters was their big gimmick/selling point.

For once I arrived at SciShow not because they popped up, but because I asked exactly the title of this video.

Interesting how I was just thinking about it today when I used this product made of "activated charcoal and black sugar."

Update? Would love to hear more!

SciShow is life

I only learned a few years ago that you can swallow active charcoal. Previously I only knew it as a filter in gas masks and joints.

This dude never blinks

There may not have been studies yet, but I can attest to its whitening abilities for teeth. My teenagers and I all brush with activated charcoal powder occasionally because it does dramatically whiten our teeth. As for using it to detox-- When people want to take it regularly I also remind them that it can bind with other things in your stomach that you might not want to remove, like vitamins and needed medications too.

had food poisoning today, was in sheer pain. took 2 pills of activated charcoal, woke up fine.

In Medical Missions in Yolanda Typhoon victims (Philippines) thousands of lives saved😁thank you

Thank you!

Square meters! Finally you are not talking of body parts, very good!

I've never been here so early!! I love SciShow!!!!!

Thanks dear ❤

Will try activated charcoal help firm up stools sometimes when it's too loose. However, probably not good to take all the time because it can disrupt nutrition absorption.

thank you

Then why does the hospital give you activated charcoal for alcohol poisoning if it doesnt absorb alcohol

Thanks man

Good info! Merry Christmas everyone!!!

You say Van der Waals forces are attractions between uncharged molecules, but that's just London Dispersion forces, and not Dipole-Dipole forces (which are included under Van der Waals). It seems inappropriate in this context to refer to the intermolecular attractions as anything more than London Dispersion forces.

easy. all you need to do is go to the website, click on "Purchase License", login to paypal, and enter the activation code they give you.

I just finished learning about industrial wastewater treatment and just wanted to relax a bit before going to bed ... then I saw this video.

he's doing it again, when he speaks he always turns his head to his left and then turns his eyes to the right like a flounder

I hear it's good for acid reflux. Anyone know anything about that?

Thanks

So glad to know how it works in depth! I work in a lab and use this all the time for our filters so I'm glad that I won't just be mindlessly using it now! Thanks!

learn something new everyday! Thank You

Too late SciShow, video games taught me this already! Go figure. Still appreciated.

I love the subtle princess bride reference

What a fantastic explanation. Subbed

Albeit not super related, I think it should be "Dispersion (or London Dispersion) forces" instead of the more general "Van der Waals" forces, since the latter is the overall term for all Intermolecular forces, while the former is basically a Van der Waals force acting upon nonpolar molecules where instantaneous dipoles occur due to electron arrangement.

Thanks brother

My training has always been that activated carbon is normal carbon that’s been superheated which converts C+ to C++ and thereby it’s a magnet for any chemical with an overall negative charge such as alcohol otherwise known as ethanol….. Happy to stand corrected but that’s what I was taught

comparing taking activated charcoal to eating a black burger bun is quite silly, especially after it was explained that it's not just burnt carbon, but carbon that then is exposed to heat or acid. otherwise, this is a wonderfully informative video. thank you!

They also use it in gas mask filters! Though I'd like to know why the AC goes off in the filters after a while even without them being used in hazardous environments?

You should explain chaos theory that would be cool

A C T I V A T E D A L M O N D S

Cool thanks

This really activates my almonds.

I keep seeing the Exon-Mobile algae bio fuel ad. I live in Iowa where we are all but surrounded by bio fuel plants already pumping out billions of gallons of grain based fuels. We also have a few abandoned plants who's supposed purpose was to make biomass fuels out of the leftover stalks from grain production, but their real purpose was to burn up green energy grant money on projects that didn't work much like the premise of the film and play "The Producers". Algae bio fuels are the exact same kind of project. The reason that a huge polluting oil company backs this stuff is because it makes them look like they are trying to be green and steals grant money away from green energy projects that might actually work and reduce the country's dependence on their oil.

I love the Princess Bride reference

Wow thanks for sharing. Coz explain it more specific in a short time.

This video is first uploaded I thought they were talking about an activated carbon not activated charcoal I'm glad I watched the video

What about as a facial cleanser? That's a hugely popular use for this stuff. In that case I guess it would work pretty well to clean out your pores.

Thank you so much

Idk but it sure helps with my acne.

Are Vanderwalls forces the same as Lindon forces or dispersion forces?

You have done well

My teeth are whiter. But not by the charcoal alone. But I will say that it does clean teeth just as good as toothpaste. And I don't know about your gas, but it does work for mine. For hangovers though, I still recommend milk thistle and/or dandelion (liver cleaning herbs).

It makes sense for absorbing alcohols, since they are organic, carbon based compounds.

Also useful for adsorbing certain smells. And in fish tank filters

Thanks for the science. 👍✌🥃

Merry Christmas people! :)

Good, it does what I would use it for, thanks

Us aquarists know that activated charcoal binds well to tannines, a compound present in all plant matter that likes to color aquarium water a nice brownish yellow (it is however otherwise harmless). Does that hue sound at all familiar, speaking of teeth whitening?

In a pinch (so to speak), would eating burnt toast help ease a stomach ache caused by eating some-what spoiled food?

So i'm not one to jump on trends, and never would have bought it for myself, but my friend bought me activated charcoal "tooth whitening powder" and activated charcoal toothpaste. I did a bunch of reading first and determined that charcoal is porous and therefore absorbs bacteria/stains, but the particles are to large to absorb into the porous material that is teeth, so the teeth cannot be stained black but the charcoal can suck surface stains off of teeth. I read the main problem is that its abrasive and can damage enamel, so rather than brush with the abrasive powder i gently apply it on my teeth and leave it there for a few minutes then rinse it out and brush gently with the charcoal toothpaste (which actually feels much less abrasive than standard toothpastes) and to my absolute shock my teeth were shades whiter from my first attempt! Now the reason i was so shocked (aside from the fact that it actually worked, and so soon at that) is that i was born with yellow teeth. Something to do with my mom or her medications but i was born with yellow teeth and when my adult teeth came in they were a shade yellow as well. I always assumed my teeth could never be white. While they are not magazine cover white yet, they are significantly improved! I am only worried that my teeth are white as a result of stripping away some protective layer and revealing white (yet exposed) material underneath. Is it actually possible its working with no ill effect!? I thought it was all hype i never imagined the stuff could work for dental purposes (in fact i thought it would likely do more harm than good) as is usually the case when something's too good to be true.