Hand sanitizers have become an important part of our lives since the outburst of the novel coronavirus epidemic. Taking advantage of this tough time and displaying their opportunistic sides, some manufacturers have begun to provide artificial hand sanitizers in the market with the logo of some famous brands. This is an unfair means to earn money and can put these people behind bars if caught. More than this, what’s important is that the supply of unproductive hand sanitizers in the market can put various lives in danger of acquiring COVID-19 which can be fatal in some cases.
Tissue Paper or Toilet Paper Test
Take a small piece of tissue paper and draw a circle on it with a ballpoint pen. Retain the tissue paper on a flat surface and pour a few drops of your hand sanitizer in the center of the circle. Now, wait for the sanitizer to diffuse and move out of the circle. Apparently, a gel hand sanitizer may take more time than a liquid sanitizer to diffuse. If your sanitizer holds enough alcohol and is effective, the line marked by you will liquefy in it and the color would start to outspread. If the sanitizer is fake, it will diffuse past the line without dissolving the ink. As per the code of paper chromatography, the ink present in the ballpoint pen does not dissolve in water but quickly dissolves in alcohol leading to the spread of the ink. Less alcohol content in a solution cannot dissolve the ink.
Wheat Flour Dough Test
Take a small bowl and add one tablespoon of wheat flour or any other flour that quickly creates a dough with water. Now, add a tablespoon of your sanitizer. Make a dough by kneading the flour and sanitizer. If you succeed in doing that, your hand sanitizer does not contain enough alcohol and is fake. Original hand sanitizer won’t make the flour sticky and will ultimately dry up. This is the most effective test to detect if your sanitizer is original and contains 60 percent alcohol. Notably, flour requires water to turn into a dough as it helps in making the gluten and carbs to swell and become sticky. On the other hand, alcohol does not let the gluten and carbs to hydrate and competes with them for water molecules.
Hair Dryer Test
Take two small bowls. Add 1 tablespoon of hand sanitizer in one and some water in the second one. Heat your hairdryer and then dry both at the same temperature and using the same way. If your hand sanitizer contains enough alcohol, it will dry up faster than water as alcohol has a much lower boiling point than water.
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