Chemistry and Real Estate in Action
Remember your 9th grade chemistry class? I vaguely do, but I do remember my chemistry teacher, Mr. Evans. He was one of the teachers I feared most at my high school. So I made sure I paid attention in class to avoid the glare of disdain from Mr. Evans!
However, chemistry wasn’t my favorite class. Maybe like me, you thought, “when am I ever going to use this knowledge?” Fast forward a couple of decades and I’m finding that 9th grade chemistry class useful in real estate.
Chemistry and Real Estate in Action
Helium (and open house balloons)
Helium is lower in density than the air around us, therefore a balloon filled with helium will rise.
Living here in the Pacific Northwest, I thought that my helium-filled open house balloons dropped to the ground because it was raining and they had gotten wet. But that’s not the case. Helium is affected by temperature.
When the temperature of the outside is cooler than the helium inside of the balloon, the helium particles shrink, the balloon appears to be deflated and it sinks to the ground.
(Research is still pending on whether helium-filled open house balloons results in an open house sale.)
Carbon Monoxide detectors
In 2012, the State of Washington made it mandatory for dwellings that were being sold or rented to have carbon monoxide detectors installed in the dwelling.
This is more of a pet-peeve of mine and less about chemistry but it is annoying when an agent emails or texts me about the CO2 detectors. If we had CO2 detectors, then they would be going off constantly because CO2 is carbon dioxide, which is produced when we exhale.
Carbon monoxide is an odorless gas that is toxic to humans and animals in high quantity.
The abbreviation for Carbon Monoxide is CO. It’s not CO2. CO2 is Carbon Dioxide (hint: “di” means two).
There are lots of other chemistry and real estate stories to tell. What are yours?
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