Is scale harmful to the human body?

If you use an electric kettle to boil water for a long time, a layer of white substance will form on the inner container wall of the kettle over time. So this so-called white thing is scale. It's incredible, but scale will definitely cause some harm to the human body. Scale contains calcium carbonate and some metal elements, so the answer to the question of whether scale is harmful to the human body is yes. Below is a detailed answer to this question.

1. Water rust is scale. Experts say that the main components of scale are calcium carbonate and some heavy metal elements. After sampling and analysis by relevant parties, each gram of scale contains 12 mg of lead, 21 mg of arsenic, 44 mg of mercury, 3.4 mg of cadmium, 24 mg of iron, and some carcinogens such as nitrite. It is obvious that if scale is not removed in time, some of the harmful substances in it will be easily absorbed by the human body, which will endanger human health over time and cause lesions or functional disorders in the nervous, digestive, urinary and hematopoietic systems.

Especially in summer, many people like to use old thermos bottles to hold tea, milk and other fruit drinks, which is more harmful than helpful. Because scale contains heavy metals that are harmful to the human body, it will dissolve when it encounters chemical components such as acids, alkalis, alcohols, and esters. If scale enters tea, milk, and juice, it will be very harmful to people after drinking.

Water hardness refers to the content of all salts in the water, such as carbonates, bicarbonates, chlorides, sulfates and nitrates of calcium, magnesium, iron, aluminum, and manganese. It often contains small amounts of harmful elements such as mercury, cadmium, arsenic and lead. The unit of water hardness is usually measured by converting all salts in the water into calcium carbonate. When the hardness of water is less than 150 mg/L in terms of calcium carbonate, it is called soft water; 150-450 mg/L is called hard water; 450-714 mg/L is called high hard water; and greater than 714 mg/L is called extra hard water. The national sanitary standard for drinking water hardness is less than 450 mg/L (measured in calcium carbonate).

High hardness of water has a serious impact on industrial production and people's life and health. In industry, using high-hardness water for slurry washing and bleaching and dyeing textiles is prone to spots, flowery, dull colors, and reduced whiteness, resulting in waste and inferior products; using hard water to make wine is likely to cause fruit wine and beer to become turbid and precipitate, and thus be scrapped; hard water cannot be used for chemical experiments, papermaking, pharmaceuticals, electronics, chemicals, food and beverages and other industrial water, otherwise waste will be produced and serious accidents will occur; using hard water to wash clothes is likely to make textile fibers hard and brittle and damage them; using hard water to take a bath or wash your hair will cause a sticky and astringent feeling; using hard water to cook beans and meat is not easy to cook thoroughly; using hard water to boil water is likely to cause scale on the kettle, wasting more than 1/3 of the fuel.

2. Methods to prevent scale accumulation in the kettle

Put some clean cotton yarn in the kettle. When you boil water, scale will accumulate on the cotton yarn. Replace or clean the cotton yarn regularly.

Before using a newly bought kettle, put half a pot of sweet potato into it and fill it with water. Heat it and cook it. This will prevent scale from depositing when you boil water next time. In addition, when boiling water, you can put a magnet in the kettle. When the water temperature reaches 30°, take out the magnet and then boil the water. This will become magnetized water. Not only will scale not form in the kettle, but drinking this water regularly can also prevent stones and stomach problems.