Healing Effects of Charcoal

CHAPTER I: Introduction

Charcoal is one of the things that people use in ancient times. It is said that people once used charcoal in drawing in caves and people have used it as a replacement for coke (a type of carbon) in smelting iron. Today charcoal isn’t used only in cooking, smelting, art, but also in health. What is charcoal anyway? Charcoal is a porous material made of carbon. It can be created by burning wood, coconut shells, animal bones, and corn cobs.

Charcoals have been used for medicinal purposes since antiquity. Even Hippocrates and Egyptian doctors have considered charcoal as a medicine or treatment in their time. Tobias Lowitz, A German-Russian Pharmacist, have discovered its decolorizing and deodorizing effects. Karl Hagan, on the other hand had demonstrated that charcoal had “adsorptive” properties.

“Adsorption” is different from “Absorption”. While “Absorption” sucks in the particles and molecules, “Adsorption” attracts the particles to its surface, almost like a magnet. Charcoal is one of the strongest in adsorbing. It can absorb almost anything. According to Severino S. Paypa, the author of “Healing Wonders of Charcoal: A Realistic Guide to Charcoal Therapy”, “The total surface area of all the particles in just one little cube of finely ground charcoal, 2/5 of an inch on each side, is 1000 square meters.” So with that much surface area, it would be enough to swallow 15 gm of strychnine with 15 gm of charcoal without getting affected. (Note: the last sentence which you have read was an experiment done a professional. Pls. do not execute or try this as you might risk your life.)

                                                                           
                                                               

                                                                              How Charcoal “Adsorbs” molecules

Statement of the Problem:

“Health is Wealth”. This is ussualy one of the sayings people would...